Mid-month language development update.

[rivka]

I didn't realize how much, and how quickly, her language would still be changing after we got to the point of "too many vocabulary words to count." But the verbal changes are coming so fast that I don't want to wait for the next monthly developmental update. So here's the All-Language Edition of "New Things I'm Noticing Lately."

In no particular order:

• Adjectives in the right place - "black fork," "big ball." She used to just string the words together ("ball...blue!"), but now they are clearly adjectival phrases.


• Colloquialisms: "here you go," "that way" (for a direction), "oh boy!" "me too," "see you later." Probably not a colloquialism, but too cute not to mention here: "oh, help!"


• Use of "other" and "another." For example, narrating her display of "foot... other foot." Watching me take pork chops out of the pan and put them on a plate: "Another one... another one... another one."


• Three-word phrases; most worrisomely, "Alex drink coffee."


• Use of the possessive. Oddly enough, "mine!" is very rare. But she likes to go around the table at dinner and point out "Mama's chair... Papa's chair... Alex's chair."


• The -ing form of verbs. If she's still on the floor, she'll probably say "Climb chair?" If she's stretched out on the chair seat on her belly, trying to pull her legs up, she'll probably announce, "Climbing!"


• Plurals, sometimes. I have heard her use the plural form deliberately: she put on a hat and said "hat!", and then when I made a big deal out of wearing one too, she said "hatssss!" But she's inconsistent, and besides, one of her favorite plurals is "feets."


• Narrating past events. Obviously this is very, very simple - just a few words. But, for example, after an action-packed day she recounted with great excitement at bedtime: "Zoo...library... goats!"


• The development of verbal bargaining. "No church - library!"


• In related news, we're seeing liberal use of "-time" to designate things she would like to do. "Lunchtime!" "Librarytime!" "Zoetime!" "Naptime!"


• More use of people's names, if she knows them ("Hi, Leo!"). If she doesn't, she'll sometimes say "Hi, people!" or, with unknown kids her own age, "Bye, friend."


• A ridiculous vocabulary. She'll pull at the refrigerator door asking for "pomegranate seeds." When we go outside, she'll scan the sky for a "he'copter." In her animal book, she points out and names the flamingo, rhinocerous, hippopotamus, kangaroo, centipede.


• Much clearer articulation. Sometimes we don't understand her, and often we have to translate for people outside the family. But, for example, the fruit formerly known as "s'raw" is now "strawberry."


• Echolalia. In spades.


• Hilariously, she points at her picture or her reflection in the mirror and announces, "You!"

We went to the library today. On our way out afterward, I said, "Thank you for being such good company at the library, Alex. I had a nice time with you."
"Thanks, Mama," she said.

...Wow. I know it sounds like a simple, even trivial thing, but... wow.

Comments

[chiefted]

I do love watching her grow, even if by way of livejournal.

Three-word phrases; most worrisomely, "Alex drink coffee."

Take some solice in the fact that she isn't saying "Alex drink venti triple shot vanilla latte"

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Well, of course not - she's not up to seven-word sentences yet. But I fear that it's only a matter of time.