Toddlerhood is such a fascinating stage in life. With every day that develops, Lara learns new things and develops more and more into a child as opposed to a baby. Her speech astounds me and constantly makes me smile. Over the past 4 weeks she has begun to build her first sentences. It is this learning and development that fascinates me – as I hear Lara's sounds turn into words, and her words build up into sentences, the science of life begins to make sense to me. I understand how I became who I am, and I can see and hear Lara growing into her own self.
About 4 weeks ago, Lara's words were simply barked nouns or instructions. “No”, “Cat”, “Milk” etc. At one point I did start counting the words (I had been trying out Wellstart software and it told me that my 21 month old child should have a vocabulary of 20-50 words) but I lost count. Occasionally we got two words such as “Please Mummy” or “Watch Peppa”.
One afternoon she came home from nursery and, instead of asking for “Milk”, instead asked somewhat hesitantly for “Glass of Milk”. We had turned a corner.
Over the past 4 weeks we've had more and more 3-word sentences coming out of Lara's mouth. “Don't want it”, “Where cat gone?”, “Daddy do it” and lots more. It has been great fun. I've really begun to feel that I can properly communicate with my daughter and can accurately interpret her meaning.
Last weekend, Lara started singing songs with really clearly recognisable words. “Wind the bobbin up” is now sung from start to finish (sometimes at 6 o'clock in the morning and sometimes the tune goes a bit haywire, but I shall forgive her that). This brings a smile to my face every time. When Lara sang me “hickory dickory dock” from her car seat in wobbly sort of words I actually laughed out loud and nearly drove the car into a ditch.
Two days ago, Lara's speech changed again. Between me dropping her off at nursery in the morning and picking her up again in the evening, those three-word sentences had become 5 or 6 word sentences. One the way home she told me "Flying saucer in sky Mummy". I managed to avoid that ditch again.
I can't believe how quickly these things change. It's the wonder of life happening right there before me. I love it.
About 4 weeks ago, Lara's words were simply barked nouns or instructions. “No”, “Cat”, “Milk” etc. At one point I did start counting the words (I had been trying out Wellstart software and it told me that my 21 month old child should have a vocabulary of 20-50 words) but I lost count. Occasionally we got two words such as “Please Mummy” or “Watch Peppa”.
One afternoon she came home from nursery and, instead of asking for “Milk”, instead asked somewhat hesitantly for “Glass of Milk”. We had turned a corner.
Over the past 4 weeks we've had more and more 3-word sentences coming out of Lara's mouth. “Don't want it”, “Where cat gone?”, “Daddy do it” and lots more. It has been great fun. I've really begun to feel that I can properly communicate with my daughter and can accurately interpret her meaning.
Last weekend, Lara started singing songs with really clearly recognisable words. “Wind the bobbin up” is now sung from start to finish (sometimes at 6 o'clock in the morning and sometimes the tune goes a bit haywire, but I shall forgive her that). This brings a smile to my face every time. When Lara sang me “hickory dickory dock” from her car seat in wobbly sort of words I actually laughed out loud and nearly drove the car into a ditch.
Two days ago, Lara's speech changed again. Between me dropping her off at nursery in the morning and picking her up again in the evening, those three-word sentences had become 5 or 6 word sentences. One the way home she told me "Flying saucer in sky Mummy". I managed to avoid that ditch again.
I can't believe how quickly these things change. It's the wonder of life happening right there before me. I love it.
