Annabelle is two years old and 8 months – an age that’s so fun, interesting, and sometimes exhausting. Her exploding toddler vocabulary is entertaining and keeps us on our toes.
The rate at which Annabelle’s vocabulary grows astounds me on a daily basis. She has always been a great little parrot when prompted, but often made up her own variation of a word if she couldn’t figure out the sounds. For example, our cat Mcmuffin is called “Na” and she makes a raspberry sound with her lips for the word “fish.” As of this week, Annabelle’s repetition of words, phrases, and even sentences has improved. This morning I dropped her animal cracker and said, “Oops, it fell down!” Annabelle smiled and said, “It fell down” as clear as day. Everytime she does this my heart swells with pride.
Just like most parents, I think she is the smartest toddler on the block. But after reading a little more about toddler’s language development, I think she is only a little bit ahead of her game. She has always had amazing communication skills when it comes to what she wants and what she doesn’t want – SCREAM if she is mad or smile if she is happy. Now she is actually speaking her likes and dislikes and it makes life so much easier.
A Vocabulary Explosion is the term What To Expect uses regarding the developmental progress a toddler makes between 18 months and 3 years of age. By the time Annabelle has her third birthday, she should have a mental dictionary of 1,000-2,000 words. Isn’t it incredible what our brains are capable of doing?
My question is: How do I help Annabelle? Are there activities I should be doing with her to encourage her development? What do you do to help your toddler’s vocabulary explode?
I always knew she was a genius LOL No seriously I think you and B are doing everything right. She is progressing perfectly 🙂