Language Development

This morning I lay in bed thinking about Grady's recent language development. All of a sudden, I would say around 16 months he realized he could say, or at least try and say what we did. As a parent, this has to be one of the most rewarding experiences so far. Teaching my child how to communicate his thoughts and feelings with the world.

We never "did" sign language because I firmly believe, if you are lucky enough to be with your baby 24/7, you don't need sign language to figure out what they need. Plus you have plenty of time to spend reading to them and showing them flash cards, which is how we pass our time. I honesty read Grady about 20 books a day. These are not necessarily different books as he has some favorites, which I could recite without the actual book at this point. And this is not because I force him to sit down and listen to a story because we all know we can't make a toddler do much but it is because he absolutely has a love of books, pictures, language and learning.

Here are the words he knows at this time, in no particular order except how I remember them...

• Mama-Eye-Hot-Cracker-Outside
• Dada-Ear-Cold-Hi-Thank you
• Gretta-Tootsies-Cool-Bye-bye
• Dog-Potty-Good-Music-Wow
• Walk-Bath-Hungry-Dancing
• Sit-Morning-Thirsty-Shake
• Car-Night Night-TV-More
• Truck-Blankie-Shoes-Book
• Bus-Bottle-Fruit Snacks-Read
• Wheel-Water-Baby-Banana

Here is a video of Grady with the dogs, taken about a month ago.