15 Months - Vocabulary Explosion

Today my baby turns 15 months....and he is quickly becoming less of a baby and more of a little boy. This month his walking has been perfected. He has learned to walk up inclines and down declines much more fluidly, has picked up his pace so much he's almost running everywhere and even learned to walk in the sand (more on that in the next post).

With that walking thing now a piece of cake, he's moved on to words. In one month, we've seen his vocabulary explode! Ok, it's less than 20 words but considering he maybe only knew 4 a month ago....that's a huge percentage increase in vocabulary in 30 days! In addition to saying uh-oh (for many reasons), more (for food), ball and dog (pretty much all he could say last month), he says:

5) Up - His current favorite to use for many reasons; wanting to be held, to get down, to get out of his seat, etc.

6) Fish

7) Hot - This applies to the stove, microwave, and all food

8) House

9) Out - He likes to use this a lot too since the boy is a natural outdoorsman and always wants to go "out" the door.

10)Bubble - One of his favorite books is about bubbles and he thoroughly enjoys playing with them too

11) Hat

12) Light - Which he loves having turned off and on...great entertainment

13) Nose - He also likes to stick his finger up yours while pointing at it

14) Eye - Careful...he'll try to poke it out

15) Bird - One of his favorite activities is to fill the bird feeder with his daddy

16) Shoe

Those are his consistent verbal words but he's also picked up a few signs to help let us know what he needs. He signs "more" and "eat"....we see them quite a lot too as the boy is still a pretty good eater most days. During meals, he enjoys trying to pick up his food with a fork. It's still a big challenge but he does spear his own sometimes without our help. He's also got a little more help to get that food chewed up. As of last week, he's got his 9th tooth, a molar, and 3 more look to soon follow.

While his vocabulary is still pretty limited, he obviously understands a lot more than what he can say. In the last couple of weeks, he's been able to follow simple instructions. One that we have him do a lot is to pick up and bring us back things he's "dropped" (ie thrown on the ground) like food and toys. After dinner, he's helping to clean up after his own mess and we're trying to teach him that throwing is not acceptable behavior but having him retrieve the toys that have magically ended up on the other side of the room from out of his hand. And while he won't stand for us to hold his hand while he's walking, he generally follows our lead and will walk behind us when out and about around town.

Dylan - 15 Months