Over the past six months (ever since our 12 month well baby check-up where I was told "most babies have 10-20 words by now"... and I've since learned that that isn't even true) it's been really difficult not to worry about Canaan's verbal development. At 16 months he was assessed by First Steps as having a speech delay but we decided against therapy for a few reasons. But we have found new ways to interact to Canaan in hopes of helping him along (thankfully we are blessed to have some truly amazing friends who are professional speech therapists (Chrissy & Sarah - we love you!) - their advice has been invaluable). While my worrying self has had more than a few sleepless nights... my rational self has known that Canaan was just working it all out in his own time. And so he has.
Two weeks ago at Bible study I was sharing my fear that Canaan might NEVER talk. Since then, in less than 10 days, Canaan has gone from having just one word ("this") in his vocabulary to NINE! Canaan can say...
Moon (Pointing up at the moon, "Moo!")
Hi
Puppy
Cracker (Asking for another, "Ka-kur")
Baby ("Bebe")
Mommy (from a rambling mamamamama)
Daddy (from dadadada), and
Banana ("Nana")
And he still says "this" whenever he doesn't know what to call something. (My qualification for a word are that he says it on his own and knows what it means (not just repeating us, which he is also doing a lot!). )
And I have to say, my favorite is "Mommy" (or as he says it, "Mom-MEE". Outside of Canaan's first cry and first laugh, it's been one of the most truly amazing things to hear. He's really mine.
