Use Your Words

I believe that Lucas said his first word was when he was about 4 months old, I think I heard him say “CAT” very clearly and sure of himself. Although he didn’t really say any clear words until a few months later, he has always been confident in what he is saying, which he says loudly and clearly. When we correct him, he repeats the words with a lower tone as if he is still testing it out if it fits, then he returns to his usual volume and confidence in what he is saying.

Lucas has always been very vocal. he likes to talk a lot, even back when he didn’t know exactly what he is saying, he will repeat words almost instantly after hearing it. One of the more impressive mimic words he did before he turned 2 years old was “hippopotamus”, although he pronounced it as “hippopotamouse” that was close enough.

One of the reasons we think he has this confidence in speaking the right words is that we made sure not to talk down to him. We limited the use of baby talk, we communicated with him as if we were talking to each other and to our other friends. we spoke to him in clear sentences and made sure to explain what we are doing and that he knows why. We also tried to make sure that everyone around him also limited baby talk even if they were talking in other languages or dialects. between us parents, my dad and his numerous yaya’s, he’s been exposed to English, Tagalog, Taglish, Bisaya, and Bicolano.

Another reason is that, even at a young age, he was exposed to a lot of our friends and family. Even when we had a yaya, we still made sure to bring him to as many social gatherings as possible so that he became comfortable with people and, on occasion, other children. He learned to be part of the conversations and not be afraid to interact with others. Although sometimes he still gets overwhelmed when there is too much attention directed towards him and tries to hide behind a parent, he is usually fine with social conversations until he gets tired, hungry or sleepy.

Usually he just repeats words we say almost perfectly after hearing it once, but lately, we make sure that we explain t him what those words mean, soon he knows what things are and he can ask for things by name. We try to make sure to tell him to “use his words” when asking for something instead of crying or just saying “this” “this” “THIIIIS”

In April 2018, before he turned one and a half years old and started saying distinct words, I decided to compile a list of the words he says and how they change over time. By the end of October 2018, I had a spreadsheet of over 200 individual words he had said in our presence. For most of them, he also knew what these meant and how to use them to communicate with us. You can also see the progression from baby words to clearly defined words.

These days, The Child is 2 years and 2 months old, we can have full, normal conversations with him. Even better than most adults. We ask him about his day if he had fun. we can ask him if he is hungry, or he will say it himself “I’m hungry” while rubbing his tummy. same goes for “I’m sleepy” “I like this” “Its so cute!” “I’m so excited” and our favorite “I’m so happy!”

You can also give him instructions with multiple steps and he will carry them out to the best of his capability. One time at his mother’s office, he was helping sort out giveaway notebooks and wanted to help throw away the plastic wrappers. we told him to “pick up the plastic, go to the cubicle across the room and put the plastic in the trash bin under the desk” most adults can’t even take instructions like that.