Vocabulary

Well, I am trying to make up for the "lost" blogs - the ones that I haven't posted because I have been working too many hours. Also, the last blog that I did construct, late one night, didn't save due to a lost connection or some other web glitch. Not happy with that.

However, back to David's vocabulary. It is interesting to me that over the last couple of weeks, he seems to be really racing along. He masters names really well now,and knows his own name and will answer when you ask him "What's your name?" David. He taps his chest ans says that he is a "boy" and knows that Katie is a "girl". He also calls other people "men" and "ladies" and sometimes "women" not just mummies and daddies. Katie's mum and dad are now getting their own names.

He knows Matthew, Jenny and Michael are his cousins, and he really enjoyed visiting Matthew two weeks ago. The attached photos show that they really do seem to recognise each other and get on well.

He listens really well, and talks back to you, in ways that show that he is really thinking about some of the things we speak about. He is also using verbs and strings of words to communicate actions ideas or stories. So, some examples (imagine the words with a pause between them):

"Road, careful, cars" - (that is because I have been telling him that he has to be very careful on the road because of cars) Also with "cross", meaning we should cross the road. He says "corner" when we get close to the corner, mostly because I take him for short walks in the morning and evening and we stop or turn at the corner.

"Book" and "Read it" when he picks up a book and wants me to read it to him. He also says "one" for one book more to delay going to bed.

There are also fairly straightforward orders "open" or "close" for doors, gates etc. "Open is also used to mean to open or move to the next page in a book. "Get down" "off" generally for clothes or when he wants to do things himself. Also "up" and "down", but he often doesn't mean it.

"Shaun" "guitar" and "scooter" to refer to a visit to friends of ours, whose son Shaun played with David, and showed David his electric and acoustic guitar, and let David ride on his scooter - pretty much hog heaven! David refers to Shaun when he hears music on the radio with guitars, or sees photos or TV with guitars. For the first couple of days after the visit, it was the first thing he said to me in the mornings when I went in to get him up.

David has one word names for all his (many) books - so "Wocket in my pocket" is "pocket" and "In a people house" is "people" and "Uno's Garden" is "Uno" and so on. He identifies things in the books and pages, but often not what I expect. He likes squirrels, so I pointed to a squirrel and David says "eating" and I look, and the squirrel is eating a nut.

David is getting interested in what is happening - so he says "sad" for the pictures where the character is sad, or crying and happy at other times. He also says "sharing" for when the characters share their boots, or "friend" in the Gossie and Gertie book where they are best friends.

There are so many other words, lots repeated from the books. I will list a few that come to mind now:

scissors, beetle, spider, web, scoop, cake, wait(ing), turtle, panda, monkey, shower, key, door, stairs, vacuum, broom, pasta, pizza, ticket, string, bridge, wood, bear, blanket, bottle, water, gate, walk, running (just before he starts running), corner, van, stuck, truck, bin, rubbish, cement mixer (he has a toy one), squirrel, turkey, goat, duck, bird, hippo, lion, elephant, giraffe, rabbit, horsy, fish, dolphin, dog, barking, crying, window, hands (for wash my hands), help me, helmet (now much better than ma-mut), brush, makeup, toothbrush, koala, cow, mouse, sheep, cat, dog, beagle, owl, kiss, cuddle, bite and biting, push, carry (for carry me), cleaning (when he tries to do it), pick up, put back, wave, clapping, bye, hi, morning (for good morning), more and no more, please, ta, screw driver, saw, hammer, bang, work, zoo, circus, train, car, wheel, bus, cutting, bath, hot, warm, cold, rough, smooth, now, Tuesday, silly, nice, good, manners, stop, dirty, messy, washing, bike, baby, pram, bath, tree, flower, nappy, towel, teatowel, bed, sheet, pillow, moon, sunny, rain, windy, wet, slippery, button (for light switches and clothing), new, dish ........

and that is about all I can manage at the the moment!

I will just finish with parts of the body - body, head, hair, ear, eye, eyebrow, arm, finger, ankle, leg, foot, toe, knee, tum, button (for belly button), cheek, chin, sometimes elbow