As Sam and Anna grow older, I am discovering more and more how fascinated I am with their language development.
In the last few weeks, Sam has really mastered the use of the words there, this, that, etc. we hear a lot of "I want this" or "What is that?" although this, that and there are used in multiple contexts. It also feels like they are at a stage where they are learning a hundred words a day. It seems like a word only has to be said to them a few times and they've got it. For example, we pass a water fountain on the highway on the way home from daycare. After asking "What's that water?" once and being reminded one other time, Sam now loves to point out "Water fountain over there!" every time we drive past. It is the same way with the two water towers near our exit off the highway. I asked him once if he knew what was inside the water tower, and he replied "water" (although I think he was just repeating the word water at the time)... so I of course praised him for good thinking after telling him he was right and he hasn't forgotten. Now it's an exclamation of "Two water towers! Water in there!" every time we drive by. This week I took it one step further and told Sam and Anna that the word on the white water tower says _____, because it is the name of our town. So I told them that _____ is where we live and now, when I ask either Sam or Anna, "Where do you live?" both can reply _____ more often than not.
Anna's defining language characteristic right now is her order giving. She's certainly come to the realization that if she communicates what she wants you to do well enough, she can often get what she wants. Unfortunately, her frequent "Walk away!" complete with finger pointing much of the time makes her seem quite bossy and rude, so we're working on getting her to include "please" with her favorite phrase 100% of the time. But really, when she's saying "Walk away!" it could mean a whole host of things- 1.) please stop so I can try to do it myself 2.) I want you to leave me alone 3.) I don't want to play with what you are playing 3.) I am worried you are gong to take what I have 5.) if you are with me, I am directing you where I want to go with you 6.) I think you should be somewhere else doing something else- like if it is dinner time and she wants us to be making dinner or if she wants to play with us and she wants us to do something specific in her pretend play, like go grocery shopping with the play carts, or take a pretend nap (a top favorite pretend play activity).
Another cute language story: I've been practicing getting both Sam and Anna to say their first and last name when asked "What is your name?" and they have been doing pretty well. (We usually practice stuff like this while driving somewhere stuck in carseats.) One day this week, Anna decided to say "Mama (last name)! Daddy (last name)!" after saying her full name. And again, I told her that she was right then praised her for good thinking, and that we do have the same last name as her and Sam. Then Sam piped in Bella (last name)! Bella is our dog... so they are definitely making connections between being part of our family and what that means! They found it amazing (like eyes and mouths wide open amazing) when I told them their Grandpa Dan, Grandma Joanne and Aunts Lindsay and Mary also had the same last name.
I also think it is interesting how the same word can come out so differently between the two of my same-age children. While generally Anna has better pronunciation and definitely a better signing vocabulary (she has a much better body awareness and can pick up new signs very quickly after watching and practicing only a few times), Sam is much more vocal in playing with language and repeating things. Sam's vocal "orange" has a definite /j/ sound at the end... or sometimes a /sh/. Anna's has a Hebrew /ch/ sound at the end making it come out /oranch/- such a funny harsh guttural sound coming out of a little peanut!
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Showing posts with label words. Show all posts
Friday, April 13, 2012
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Words, Words, Words!
Just for fun, I tried to think of all the words Sam and Anna now have in their vocabulary. At 16 months, here is the best list I can come up with. This will probably be my last list of words because their word knowledge seems to be growing exponentially every day.
Between the two of them they say:
Mama, Mom, Dada, Bella, Sam, Anna, Grandma, Grandpa, Zach, bone, milk, water, all done, more, on, off, light, out, shoes, socks, belly button, gentle, boo, giggle (yes, Anna actually says giggle giggle- so cute!), hi ,bye, go, thank you, hat, baby, Baby Signing Time, sit, down, up, block, box, eye, nose, teeth, I love Mom, wow, uh oh, baa (sheep sound), moo, bawk (chicken sound), tweet (bird sound), woof, dog, meow, horse, neigh, duck, quack, that, wha's that?, diaper, ball, boat, bus, bath, fish, banana, strawberry, blueberry, yum, blue, green, back, book, door, fan, good girl, eat, no- and probably more that I can't think of. (There's a few words that one says but not the other, and visa versa, but mostly they have the same # of words).
It's amazing to me that just a little over a month ago, Anna could say 12 words and Sam had a vocabulary of 24 words, and now they are regularly using 70+ words throughout the week.
They also sign a lot of the words they say:
Mom, grandma, grandpa, milk, dog, shoes, water, more, thank you, all done, hi, bye, baby, baby signing time, ball, diaper, strawberry, banana, eat, fish, horse, bath, boat, bus, hat, book, etc.
But some things they sign without saying the words are:
Wash hands, soap, please, bird, train, airplane, car, brush teeth, drink, - and probably more that I can't think of. If they want to sign something, but don't quite get how to make it, both Sam and Anna move their hands around to sign "signing." It's kinds cute to see them attempt to tell us something that way.
Now they use 35+ signs, and a month ago Sam was making 15 signs while Anna made 13.
It is so great to be home with them this summer to witness their communication really take off. This is a really fun age- yes, they are always on the go and wear me out, but it's wonderful to understand what's going on in their brains so often. Since they are understanding directions and following them more and more, our daily routine is that much easier as a result. Sam and Anna understand when I say, go get your shoes, a book, etc. and do what I ask. They understand when I say it is time to eat, and go to their highchairs. If I say, time to clean up (okay, I do sing a song too), both Sam and Anna start putting things back where we keep them. Sometimes, they remember that it is time to clean up before we do something else like eat or go somewhere and start picking up before being told (If only I could get them to keep doing this for the rest of their lives!) If either my husband or I ask if they want to go somewhere, they go to the door and pick up their shoes. Of course they understand what no means, and sometimes follow that direction. They understand "sit down" "get your milk" "bath time" "be nice (or gentle)" as well.
Between the two of them they say:
Mama, Mom, Dada, Bella, Sam, Anna, Grandma, Grandpa, Zach, bone, milk, water, all done, more, on, off, light, out, shoes, socks, belly button, gentle, boo, giggle (yes, Anna actually says giggle giggle- so cute!), hi ,bye, go, thank you, hat, baby, Baby Signing Time, sit, down, up, block, box, eye, nose, teeth, I love Mom, wow, uh oh, baa (sheep sound), moo, bawk (chicken sound), tweet (bird sound), woof, dog, meow, horse, neigh, duck, quack, that, wha's that?, diaper, ball, boat, bus, bath, fish, banana, strawberry, blueberry, yum, blue, green, back, book, door, fan, good girl, eat, no- and probably more that I can't think of. (There's a few words that one says but not the other, and visa versa, but mostly they have the same # of words).
It's amazing to me that just a little over a month ago, Anna could say 12 words and Sam had a vocabulary of 24 words, and now they are regularly using 70+ words throughout the week.
They also sign a lot of the words they say:
Mom, grandma, grandpa, milk, dog, shoes, water, more, thank you, all done, hi, bye, baby, baby signing time, ball, diaper, strawberry, banana, eat, fish, horse, bath, boat, bus, hat, book, etc.
But some things they sign without saying the words are:
Wash hands, soap, please, bird, train, airplane, car, brush teeth, drink, - and probably more that I can't think of. If they want to sign something, but don't quite get how to make it, both Sam and Anna move their hands around to sign "signing." It's kinds cute to see them attempt to tell us something that way.
Now they use 35+ signs, and a month ago Sam was making 15 signs while Anna made 13.
It is so great to be home with them this summer to witness their communication really take off. This is a really fun age- yes, they are always on the go and wear me out, but it's wonderful to understand what's going on in their brains so often. Since they are understanding directions and following them more and more, our daily routine is that much easier as a result. Sam and Anna understand when I say, go get your shoes, a book, etc. and do what I ask. They understand when I say it is time to eat, and go to their highchairs. If I say, time to clean up (okay, I do sing a song too), both Sam and Anna start putting things back where we keep them. Sometimes, they remember that it is time to clean up before we do something else like eat or go somewhere and start picking up before being told (If only I could get them to keep doing this for the rest of their lives!) If either my husband or I ask if they want to go somewhere, they go to the door and pick up their shoes. Of course they understand what no means, and sometimes follow that direction. They understand "sit down" "get your milk" "bath time" "be nice (or gentle)" as well.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Language Explosion
We have certainly hit the communication explosion stage around here. I'm beginning to lose track of the number of things Sam and Anna say and sign- not to mention all the things they understand!
At almost 15 months old, Sam and Anna both sign milk, goodbye, more, all done, bath, eat, baby signing time, baby (by itself) and please. Sam also signs dog, ball, banana, horse, hat, as well as shoes and Anna has signed doll, soap, bird and fish as well. Sam signing count: (15), Anna signing count: (13) Not too shabby, I think, considering they only get baby sign reinforced at home and not at daycare. We do occasionally watch Baby Signing Time DVDs, but not every day. I know I've said this before, but I am so excited to see what they pick up once they are at home with me all day long and get signing reinforced whenever they are awake!
Verbalizing words has really taken off for Sam, although Anna seems less interested in forming actual words lately. She's definitely got her own gibberish language and will "talk" your ear off in her own way. They both say Mama, Dada, Bella, all done, water, uh oh, door, bone and hi. In addition to those, Sam says: Baa, moo, no, Anna, book, bird, that, what's this, blue, ball, block, box, light, out, and Zach (child at daycare) and Anna says : belly button, bye bye, and baby. Sam word count: (around 24 words), Anna word count: (around 12 words) I'm probably missing some but it is getting a little hard to keep a mental list of who says what!
As far as understanding what we are saying, there is little we do on a regular basis that they don't show they understand. They understand when we dress them the names of the articles of clothing we are putting on and where they go by name. Anna can point to her nose, hair, and belly button (her favorite) when asked (Sam hasn't shown much interest in body parts yet). They know our getting ready for daycare, or a walk, or to eat, or bath time routines and will start doing any of those things if you ask them if they are ready for one of them.
They turn more and more into toddlers every day, and farther and farther away from the baby stage. Even though it was only about a year ago, it is hard for me to fathom what my 5 lb tiny twins were like compared to now!
At almost 15 months old, Sam and Anna both sign milk, goodbye, more, all done, bath, eat, baby signing time, baby (by itself) and please. Sam also signs dog, ball, banana, horse, hat, as well as shoes and Anna has signed doll, soap, bird and fish as well. Sam signing count: (15), Anna signing count: (13) Not too shabby, I think, considering they only get baby sign reinforced at home and not at daycare. We do occasionally watch Baby Signing Time DVDs, but not every day. I know I've said this before, but I am so excited to see what they pick up once they are at home with me all day long and get signing reinforced whenever they are awake!
Verbalizing words has really taken off for Sam, although Anna seems less interested in forming actual words lately. She's definitely got her own gibberish language and will "talk" your ear off in her own way. They both say Mama, Dada, Bella, all done, water, uh oh, door, bone and hi. In addition to those, Sam says: Baa, moo, no, Anna, book, bird, that, what's this, blue, ball, block, box, light, out, and Zach (child at daycare) and Anna says : belly button, bye bye, and baby. Sam word count: (around 24 words), Anna word count: (around 12 words) I'm probably missing some but it is getting a little hard to keep a mental list of who says what!
As far as understanding what we are saying, there is little we do on a regular basis that they don't show they understand. They understand when we dress them the names of the articles of clothing we are putting on and where they go by name. Anna can point to her nose, hair, and belly button (her favorite) when asked (Sam hasn't shown much interest in body parts yet). They know our getting ready for daycare, or a walk, or to eat, or bath time routines and will start doing any of those things if you ask them if they are ready for one of them.
They turn more and more into toddlers every day, and farther and farther away from the baby stage. Even though it was only about a year ago, it is hard for me to fathom what my 5 lb tiny twins were like compared to now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)