One word to rule them all

My little niece has a little bit of a speech delay because she spends so much time watching television she doesn't get much intellectual stimulation vocabulary and speech wise. We try very hard for our twins not to watch too much television for that and other reasons. It being the holidays and Packrat being away means the twins hang out with their cousin a lot. Her mom and I are convinced that she's convincing Baby J to be more reticent with words.

Once again, this seems to be where girls and boys differ. Baby J is very clear on words referring to people. "Papa" (Daddy), "Mama" (My mom and Godmama), "Ah Ma" (Packrat's Mom- the paternal Grandma), "Ah Me" (Mommy). Evan on the other hand loves naming objects. "Apple", "Cheese", "Dirty", "Ball", "Tata"( Traffic light) etc.

But try to get Jordan to name objects, that gets difficult. She utters a sound when you ask her to name the Apple or Tree but it doesn't sound right. It's just the same sound. Like her cousin. Ask Becca to name things, she goes "Ah-No!"

Conversation with a 17 month old

Mommy: Jordan, APPLE.
Jordan: Ko-wack!
Mommy: Jordan, A.P.P.L.E
Jordan: Ko-wack!
Mommy: Jordan, look there's WATER in the bottle
Jordan: Ko-wack!
Mommy: WATER
Jordan: Ko-wack!
Mommy: Jordan, say Ko-wack
Jordan: Ko-wack!
Mommy: Clever Girl!

Sigh...We used to think she was saying "Correct" but we're not really sure now. The trick now is to get her to say other sounds apart from the one word that rules them all. She knows what we're referring to. She knows how to follow instructions, so she understands. She just refuses to perform. Evan, on the other hand, loves parroting us. Every word. Which means I need to stop swearing at errant drivers.

So, what to do? Reward her like I did just now when she said "Eyes!" Though it sounded more like "Ice". Make a big deal out of it and try it out with other things. And ambitious me had to push it. Since we had "Eyes" down and I pointed out her nose.

Mommy: Jordan, this is your NOSE!
Jordan: Ko-wack!

Yup. We've got a long journey ahead.

Ko-wack.

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