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Language Acquisition Update
Jul. 25th, 2005 11:44 pmKiera now uses sentences -- not for everything, but she's gotten some sentences down pat.
"I SEE..." She uses this to point out interesting things in the landscape, usually at the top of her lungs. "I see doggie!" is the one we hear most often, but there's also "I see kitty," "I see ball," "I see baby," and "I see Daddy!"
"I WANT..." I think the first time she said this, it was "I want doggie." (Yeah, she likes dogs. Oddly, when one actually comes within reach, and sniffs her, she usually starts crying and wants to be picked up so she's out of reach.) However, while we were at at Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts, and I was drinking coffee, she reached for my cup. I said, "No, sweetheart, this is coffee." She gave me a level glare and said, "I want coffee!" After mulling it over I offered her a sip (I don't sweeten my coffee much, so I'd expect her to dislike it), but she didn't end up taking me up on it.
"I DO..." I usually hear this one as "I buckle! I buckle!" when I try to buckle her into her carseat and she wants to try to do it herself. She can occasionally manage the chest clip but she's currently wanting to push my hands away as I try to do any of it, as she'd prefer to do the entire thing herself. Also, last week I was in a bathroom with her; she had trouble opening the door as we were leaving, so I opened it for her. "I open!" she shrieked, then closed the door again and re-opened it.
It's interesting that she nailed "I" right off. Molly used the word "you" to mean herself right up until her third birthday, at which point she figured it out.
Kiera also asks "what happened?" -- usually after hearing a string of barely-suppressed almost-profanity after I stub my toe. Also, "where Molly go?" and "where Daddy go?" if someone suddenly leaves.
Some other phrases I hear a lot:
Read this!
Help! Help! (Alternatively -- Helping! Helping!) Usually when she's trying to climb up into a chair and can't quite make it.
Her current favorite books include "Doggies" by Sandra Boynton (she calls this book "ah-ooooooo" because of the page where nine dogs howl at the moon), "The Pokey Little Puppy" (even though she can't sit through the whole thing), "Mrs. McTats and her Housefull of a Cats," anything about Maisy, and "The Monster At the End of This Book."
That reminds me, actually, I was going to comment on that book. For those who aren't familiar with it, "The Monster At the End of This Book" is a book about Grover in which Grover frantically tries to convince you not to turn the page (because there is a MONSTER at the end of the book, and Grover is scared of monsters!) The monster at the end turns out to be Grover, of course, and the page after "The End" has Grover standing with his hand over his forehead moaning, "Oh, I am so embarrassed..." I first saw this book while babysitting in the 1980s and found it cute and funny then, and it's still pretty funny.
Molly never much liked the book. Actually, the key thing was, she would NOT turn the pages. Because Grover was asking her not to, and she is a very compliant kid (or was when she was a toddler, anyway). And the fun is in the interactivity -- Grover yelling at the kid not to turn pages, and the kid turning pages anyway.
Kiera totally gets the joke. Well, at least, she really likes turning pages as Grover begs her not to and she giggles her head off. I'm not sure whether to be pleased with her sense of humor, or apprehensive about her willingness to abuse Grover. Maybe both?
Molly, meanwhile, has started dictating stories for me to write down. Ed read her the Judy Blume books about Peter Hatcher (there's a third one now, in which the Hatcher kids use e-mail and eat sushi -- is that just WRONG, or what?) and is now reading her Charlotte's Web.
"I SEE..." She uses this to point out interesting things in the landscape, usually at the top of her lungs. "I see doggie!" is the one we hear most often, but there's also "I see kitty," "I see ball," "I see baby," and "I see Daddy!"
"I WANT..." I think the first time she said this, it was "I want doggie." (Yeah, she likes dogs. Oddly, when one actually comes within reach, and sniffs her, she usually starts crying and wants to be picked up so she's out of reach.) However, while we were at at Dunkin Donuts in Massachusetts, and I was drinking coffee, she reached for my cup. I said, "No, sweetheart, this is coffee." She gave me a level glare and said, "I want coffee!" After mulling it over I offered her a sip (I don't sweeten my coffee much, so I'd expect her to dislike it), but she didn't end up taking me up on it.
"I DO..." I usually hear this one as "I buckle! I buckle!" when I try to buckle her into her carseat and she wants to try to do it herself. She can occasionally manage the chest clip but she's currently wanting to push my hands away as I try to do any of it, as she'd prefer to do the entire thing herself. Also, last week I was in a bathroom with her; she had trouble opening the door as we were leaving, so I opened it for her. "I open!" she shrieked, then closed the door again and re-opened it.
It's interesting that she nailed "I" right off. Molly used the word "you" to mean herself right up until her third birthday, at which point she figured it out.
Kiera also asks "what happened?" -- usually after hearing a string of barely-suppressed almost-profanity after I stub my toe. Also, "where Molly go?" and "where Daddy go?" if someone suddenly leaves.
Some other phrases I hear a lot:
Read this!
Help! Help! (Alternatively -- Helping! Helping!) Usually when she's trying to climb up into a chair and can't quite make it.
Her current favorite books include "Doggies" by Sandra Boynton (she calls this book "ah-ooooooo" because of the page where nine dogs howl at the moon), "The Pokey Little Puppy" (even though she can't sit through the whole thing), "Mrs. McTats and her Housefull of a Cats," anything about Maisy, and "The Monster At the End of This Book."
That reminds me, actually, I was going to comment on that book. For those who aren't familiar with it, "The Monster At the End of This Book" is a book about Grover in which Grover frantically tries to convince you not to turn the page (because there is a MONSTER at the end of the book, and Grover is scared of monsters!) The monster at the end turns out to be Grover, of course, and the page after "The End" has Grover standing with his hand over his forehead moaning, "Oh, I am so embarrassed..." I first saw this book while babysitting in the 1980s and found it cute and funny then, and it's still pretty funny.
Molly never much liked the book. Actually, the key thing was, she would NOT turn the pages. Because Grover was asking her not to, and she is a very compliant kid (or was when she was a toddler, anyway). And the fun is in the interactivity -- Grover yelling at the kid not to turn pages, and the kid turning pages anyway.
Kiera totally gets the joke. Well, at least, she really likes turning pages as Grover begs her not to and she giggles her head off. I'm not sure whether to be pleased with her sense of humor, or apprehensive about her willingness to abuse Grover. Maybe both?
Molly, meanwhile, has started dictating stories for me to write down. Ed read her the Judy Blume books about Peter Hatcher (there's a third one now, in which the Hatcher kids use e-mail and eat sushi -- is that just WRONG, or what?) and is now reading her Charlotte's Web.
