Ellie has developed an unattractive habit of stretching her arms out and grunting/whining when she wants something. She does this often when she wants us to pick her up. She also points to blocks, her baby or other toys that often are pretty close-by to indicate she wants us to hand them to her. I try to avoid this "servant" role, choosing instead to ask her what she wants or to get it herself. But increasingly I'm getting nervous about the lack of new words in her vocabulary.
Ellie usually goes through development bursts... where nothing new will happen for weeks at a time and then she'll explode with new talents. I try not to get too hung up on this stuff, but it seems like we've been waiting for some time now for her to move beyond her current word set. Maybe I'm just having one of my regular mommy freak-out moments. She's probably got 10-20 words that she uses on a regular basis... and of course she's a master of the animal sounds... but I wonder if we should be pushing her to move faster on the language front? Any advice is welcome!
Ellie usually goes through development bursts... where nothing new will happen for weeks at a time and then she'll explode with new talents. I try not to get too hung up on this stuff, but it seems like we've been waiting for some time now for her to move beyond her current word set. Maybe I'm just having one of my regular mommy freak-out moments. She's probably got 10-20 words that she uses on a regular basis... and of course she's a master of the animal sounds... but I wonder if we should be pushing her to move faster on the language front? Any advice is welcome!
Don't worry too much, you'll blink and she'll be speaking in full sentences. :) Do y'all do sign language at all? That might help some...
ReplyDeleteDoes she like to mimic you? Sometimes if you just keep repeating words, she'll eventually pick up on the new sounds or learn to associate the word with the object.
As for the wanting things handed to her, have you tried reversing it? Make a game out of asking her to bring you things...this can be modified a little later to "can you bring me the BLUE block?" "can you bring me TWO books?" Or at least take turns...you hand her one toy, next time ask her to get the toy...etc. Or just make a really big deal when she gets her own toys.
These are just a couple things I picked up working in daycare, but I hope they help. :)