Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Tower of Babble Babble Babble

Max is 20 months old and on the cusp of a vocabulary explosion. I can feel it. I thought it might be good to record what words he can say now.



This is not bragging. This is me being completely obsessed with language and lists. (OK, maybe a little bragging.)




Of course, only a few of the words below are articulated as clearly as you and I might say them. Max can't really make the "L" sound at the end of "ball," but we all know he is saying "ball" when he is saying "baaa-uh." (The fact that he is usually carrying his big orange bouncy ball is a pretty good clue.)



A few words come out "baaa-uh," but if you listen carefully to inflection you can tell whether he is saying "ball," "bottle" or "block." Other words don't sound anything like the real word -- he says "beeps" for "grapes" -- but we know what he means and that counts as a word in my book. That is what language is for, after all. Communication.



It is hilarious how he says "triangle" and "rectangle." There are at least six extra syllables in there, but he gets an "A" for effort.



Speaking of "A," I'll also note that he is beginning to correctly identify and say some letters and numbers, including: A, B, D, E, O, R, T, 2, 8 and 9.



All of these words for the past several months, and only a few days ago did Max finally call his parents Mama and Dada. His first word ever was "Grandpa," starting out as "Papa" but moving fairly quickly to "Gam-pa." My mother is beside herself that he still hasn't called her "Woo" yet. (That's another story how she got that moniker.) Max learned both "Brother" and "Gabe" (which comes out "Ge-eee") but still no "Woo."



Here's the bragging part. All of the words listed below are what Max says in context or in correct identification. He can speak a lot more words, often just repeating what someone else is saying, but this list is really about what he can say about the things he knows.



NAMES

Dada

Mama

Brother

Gabe

Grandpa

Baby (any little baby he sees)



ANIMALS

dog

cat

pig

moo moo (for "cow")

bird

duck

horse

mouse

goat

bear

lion

hippo

bug

dinosaur



AT THE TABLE

cup

spoon

fork (comes out "bork," too cute)

knife

grapes ("beeps")

cookie

cracker

pouch (those squirty puree things)

bottle

cheese

banana

carrot

peas

corn

cake



BODY

hair

ear

eye

nose

teeth

mouth

toe

head

pee pee (fear not, I will teach him anatomical words)



TOYS/CHARACTERS

ball

block

boat

map (from "Dora the Explorer")

backpack (ditto)

Thomas (as in the Tank Engine)

Blue's Clues

Bot (from "Team Umizoomi")

Elmo

Bubble Guppies (he hits all of the syllables, but not exactly in the right order)

Bubble Puppy ("Bup Pup")

SpongeBob ("Bob Bob" -- and thanks, Gabe, for the early exposure)



HIS WORLD

car

truck

crane

choo choo (for "train")

book

bath

sock

shoe

hat

tissue (one of my favorites, and one of his most clearly articulated)

bubble

balloon

pumpkin

toothbrush (this one comes and goes, it was one of his first words, but he doesn't say it much now)

light

door

bink ("pacifier")

snow

sky

moon

sun

star (in the astronomical and geometrical sense)

triangle

rectangle

oval

circle

box



COLORS

blue

green

purple

orange

blank

pink

red



OTHER

hi

hello

go

uh-oh

no

thank you

don't

all done

up

down

big

small

apart

together

pop

pat

back

cold

hot

march

amen (although I think even at church he thinks we're all saying "Oh, man!" like Swiper the Fox on "Dora")



And then one of my favorite things he says, in a way, is the fake snore for "sleep." "Acgghh-shooo, acgghh-shoo, acgghh-shoo ..."
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