Evolving toddler speak

The new words that Evan tries to say are continuing to expand each week.  A few notes on what features of his language development that I've noticed lately are the focus of this post.

Repetition

I mean this in more than one way.  First of all, Evan often repeats words that he says over and over until we acknowledge him saying it.  But more so, he will often repeat the last word we say in a sentence, or some other things we say or do.  Time to really watch what we say! :)

Enunciation of plural objects (or the S or X sound)

It used to just be "sock" or "book", but now he clearly says the 's' at the end for plural of sockS or bookS.  He really likes to drag this part of the word out, like he's either really proud of this new sound or he's really practicing hard to make it work.  Regardless, it's very cute of course! :)  This also applies to his improved pronunciation of the word "box".

Complex words

I'm very impressed when Evan takes on saying a word that is more than just two syllables.  I think I've heard him trying to say "elephant" or "triangle" lately, but neither have really come out sounding too much like the real word.  The one example I have of him saying a more complex word fairly well, however is "octagon"....and I even got this one on video last night!

In his shapes book, there are three objects on each page and then the common shape is hidden under a flap.  He's learned to say "circle" and "oval", and sometimes I think he may try saying the other shapes, but only in repeating what I say (he says circle and oval when I lift the flap...granted he may not truly know those shapes yet, but he's at least memorized that word is to be said there).  He's also learned how to say what most of the objects on each page are too, things like ball, orange (sounds like ah-nich), balloon, mirror, gift, box, etc.  On the octagon page, there is a gem, clock, and a stop sign.  He says "gem" and "clock" (sounds more like cock still), and then recently started saying "octagon" as I lifted that flap, even before I would say it!  Granted it doesn't sound perfect, but I find it completely adorable.

Evan saying his version of the word "octagon" (after some prompting so I could get it on video) last night.  He also says "gem" just before saying octagon, and since I was really pointing at the gem on that page, I can't blame him.