Further adventures in language acquisition

[oloriel]

This week, body parts are especially interesting and most of all the parts of the face. Felix will poke or grab (for example) my nose, wait until I've named it, then he goes on to an eye or the forehead or chin or cheek or ear. He already echos "Au" for Auge (eye), "Na" for Nase (nose) and "Mum" for Mund (mouth); the rest is apparently too difficult. Other new words: "Hann" (Hand, hand), "Ha" (Hase, bunny), "Beha" (Becher, cup or mug), "Babi" (Ball, ball), "muh" (moo, as in, the sound cows make), "mehr" (more), "oh-oh" (uh-oh), "enn" (essen, eat), "beich" (beißen, bite), "haun" (hauen, to hit - we always have to tell him not to hit the cats!) and "jau" (Northern German variant of ja, yes - he caught that from my dad!).
He often says "dedda", but we don't yet know what he means by it. Der/das da (that one over there)? Teddy? Teller (plate)? We'll find out, I'm sure.
And he tells entire stories in random syllables. I so love his little voice.

He now pretty reliably says "A-a" (doo-doo) before it comes out, but he doesn't yet like to sit on the potty or toilet - he prefers to do his business while standing up... he also can't quite differentiate between poo and fart yet, so sometimes his "A-a" only heralds a burst of smelly air. Still, it's an important step, so I'm very proud of Felix AND YOU ALL HAVE TO READ IT WHETHER YOU WANTED TO OR NOT.

He carries his own plate to the table without (generally) spilling its contents. He can climb into his own chair, but doesn't have the patience for it when the food is already waiting for him. He knows how to operate the tap when one of us lifts him up so he can reach it (or when he's standing in the bathtub). He has fixed climbing routines and is very insistent on who gets to assist him in what place. And he is very generous with soft, adorable little kisses. (He is also generous with headbutts and pats, which is less nice. :P)

And now he has declared his intention of making "A-a" again, so I'm off to take care of that!

Comments

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

Jau! Awesome. My granddad taught me to swear in Mosel-dialect. Good times. We even have it on tape. Do you record Felix as well?


We also found it very practical when our babysitter girl could TELL us when she had to go. Even when it was in the park. In front of two old ladies. And there was just one park bench with a waste bin directly next to them. My favourite moments: when we asked her, if there was something afoot and she, absolutely apalled how we could just ASK her in PUBLIC said: "Nur Pups!"

[heartofoshun.livejournal.com]

What fun! I can't recall if I shared how NOT fun Alex's long-time lack of language acquisition was! He did not speak! I think he had about six words at the time of his third birthday. Now he talks like he is 15; it's a mystery still.

We had speech therapists testing his passive understanding and he knew everything, but did not talk. Just when it was beginning to get really scary, he started talking non-stop with a great vocabulary and comprehension of complicated grammatical structures. Whew!

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Isn't that relatively common with "linguistic prodigies", though? Taking a looong time to start talking long past the "normal" time, and then they just skip the initial stages and talk like grown-ups? At least, your description sounds pretty textbook.
(Which is no consolation, of course, when you're desperately waiting for a kid to start talking. Most of us don't dare to assume that the kid is just brilliant - we're all afraid there's something wrong, aren't we?)