Lucy's Language Explosion!

**I began this post a few weeks ago, when Lucy was still 21 months old.  Now she is 22 months.  Perhaps this "7 Posts in 7 Days" challenge at Conversion Diary will give me a kick in the pants to do more writing here!**

Lucy is talking up a storm here lately... and I thought the same when she was about 18 months!  Now, at 21 months, she practically speaks in sentences most of the time.  She began saying 2-4 word phrases about a month or two ago, and it is amazing what she learns and adds every day!

Just today (June 30), she said, "Caroline play in pool with me.  Ceedo (how she says "Cecilia") play in pool with me."  She is still in that phase where there are cute halts between most words.  Some words, though, she will run together fluidly.  She especially does this with short words like "me" and "it."  She has been saying "hode it" (hold it) for a few months now - it almost sounds like one word, "hode-it."  When she wants me to hold her, she says, "Hode Mommy."  There is a pause between the two words in this case.  It is cute that she says my name instead of saying "hold me."  I think that is developmentally appropriate... she doesn't quite know the right way to phrase what she is trying to communicate, but she knows I understand anyway.  She also has a large number of pronouns, with "it" being her favorite by far for some reason.

She says "turn it on" about the faucets in the bathtub.  It comes out like, "Turnit... on."  When I give her yogurt with strawberries stirred in, she announces, "Sawbees... sawbees... init."  When she finds bark or a part of a pine tree branch in the yard, she says, "Guy... guy... cutit... down."  She will also remind us of all the things that "guy" had: "bucket... truck... up down!"  "Bob... CAT!"  "Saw... saw... tane-saw (chainsaw)."  I thought only little boys were that fascinated by heavy equipment, ha!  A few days ago, she made several statements showing she can classify and group similar items/concepts in her thoughts, which blew me away... she was in the front yard with me, because Daddy was mowing, and she is afraid of the "mow-mow."  She looked at me and said, "Daddy... mow-mow.  Mommy... vaccoom (vacuum).  Guy... tane-saw."  Three loud tools and who she associates them with - pretty cool!

Lucy will ask me to turn music on: "Dance!  Mote (remote)!  Turnit... on!"  She requests "activities," which is what I call the various puzzles, stacking blocks, and other manipulative-type items in the closet: "teevee!"  A favorite phrase: "Doosy (Lucy)... do-it... selfie!!!"  And I have observed her looking through books and saying parts of the actual phrases that we have read her from the pages.

Lucy calls buckles on her swing, car seat, and high chair "keys" and she always wants to "buckle... SELFIE!!!" even though she can't.  She wants to wear her "biggirl shoes" all the time - a cheapie pair of imitation Crocs that we have for our beach trip in August, but she thinks she is big in them since Caroline has a similar pair.  

She recognizes everyone's clothing and has for months... when we are doing laundry, she will name the person who each article belongs to: "Daddy!  Ceedo!  Cawowine!"  She names our neighbors... when she sees Mr. Autry out in his front yard, she points and announces, "Awtwy!"  She also likes to point out their cats, Danny and "Tine-ah" (China).  She wants to hold any animal she sees - "Cat - hode-it."  "Deer... hode-it."  "Fish... hode-it."  And so on...

Lucy has a baby doll I call "Green Baby" because it is wearing green clothes.  Caroline started calling it "Greenie," and now Lucy calls it "Ganey." 

And what a mind of her own Lucy has!!  She knows exactly what she wants and is not easily swayed.  In fact, I am not looking forward to holding her during the bigger girls' swim lessons each day this week, because she is going to be so mad that she doesn't get to be in the swimming pool, too!  She is not only verbose, but she is LOUD about what she wants, too!  It will be fun to see what she thinks about the beach in a couple weeks - and I am sure she will let us know all about it!

In other news... we are officially back to school (until that beach trip, that is... one of my favorite parts of homeschooling is the flexibility of the schedule!)!  I hope to share some of our plans for the year later this week...