My son could only say 4-5 words at 20 months old; and could only understand very little.

Now, at 29 months old, he can say:

- Mum

- Dad

- Nan

- Hey

- Hi

- Hello

- Bye Mum/(his Dad’s name)/Pop/Sissy

- Truck

- Car

- Shoes

- Birdy

- Water

- Ride

- Uh-oh

- Wow

- Yay

- Ready

- Sticker

- No

- Don’t

- Go

- Stop

- Move

- Ta

- Thank you

- Little girl

- Sit back

- Nummy num

- Happy

- Oh dear/God

- (My name)

- (His sister’s name)

- (His sister’s nickname)

- Sissy

- Oink, oink

- Moo

- Why?

- Chugga, chugga toot, toot

- Beep, beep

- Up

- Cheese

- Tickle, tickle

- Ee-I-ee-I-oh

- Pato (from Pocoyo show)

- Ellie

- What doing?

- You right?

- What is it?

- What’s that?

- There it is.

- There he is.

- It’s a truck.

- Where’s the bird?

- It’s a bird.

- Where’s (his name)/the baby?

- Round and round the garden.

- 2…1…blast off.

- All done.

- Bring it back.

Tries to say, “That sounds exciting,” and “Please,” imitated from the Coraline movie.

Hums the ABC tune.

(Also tries to sing snippets of ‘Timmy Time’; ‘Old Town Road’; ‘Happy, Happy Dance, Dance from Elmo’s World; & Miffy and friends theme song).

He sings random babble in the ABC song tune, like he’s trying to sing his ABC’s.

He says approximately 76 words (listed above) that his Dad, Nan, Aunty and I can understand. However, he can’t say a lot of the above properly, so anyone who doesn’t associate with him as much/strangers don’t understand him a lot of the time.

Understands/how he communicates things:

- Shakes his head, no.

- He understands what ‘knock, knock’ means – he goes and knocks on a door when this is said.

- He waves when saying hello and goodbye to people, cars, birds and planes.

- Points to birds and says, “What is that?” Then answers his own question, “It’s a bird.”

- Points and asks, “What is that?” for things that he is intrigued by.

- Points outside when he wants to go outside/points inside when he wants to go inside.

- Understands, “Let’s go outside/we’re going outside.”

- Pushes his slide or bike over to the trampoline to hop on.

- If you ask him to point to his slide, he will point and say, “There it is.”

- Always faces his cars so that they’re ‘driving’ the same way.

- If he is hungry, he goes to the fridge/cupboard, points and says, “Nummy num.”

- If he can’t find his water, he looks at you and says, “Water.”

- If his water bottle is empty, he will bring it to you and say, “Water,” or “Thank you.”

- If he has something on his hand/s, he will point to the wipes and say, “Thank you.”

- Understands, “Where is your water?” – He will start looking for it.

- When asked where his sister is, he points at her.

- Understands, “One for sissy.” – Gives his sister one of what he is having (e.g. a chip).

- When he goes past his sister’s room (when she’s asleep), he puts his finger to his mouth and says, “Shh.”

- When asked, he gives high fives.

- Dances when asked.

- Claps when asked.

- Points to his nose and eyes (and sometimes mouth) when asked.

- Gives cuddles when asked.

- Lifts his arms when asked.

- Sits when asked.

- Goes and sits at the table when asked.

- Tries to blow out a candle – knows not to touch the flame.

- Blows his dinner when it’s hot.

- Pretends to eat play food. Pretends to cook said play food at his kitchen.

- Understands, “Do you want some chips/strawberries?” – Goes and gets a plate and waits at the cupboard/fridge.

- Gets his plate/bowl when asked.

- He responds to his name by looking at the person asking for him.

- He puckers his lips and makes a “mmm” sound when he wants a kiss. Also gives kisses when asked. (He is an affectionate child).

- Does thumbs up.

- Does the Itsy Bitsy spider and round and round the garden actions.

- Understands, “Nan has to go/is going.”

- When he drops something, he gasps and says, “Uh-oh or oh dear/God.”

- Understands when someone asks him what is in his mouth – he laughs and runs away.

- Says, “Thank you,” when giving or receiving something.

- Understands, “It’s time for a shower/bath.”

- Understands that he needs to do what I asked before I count to three, or he’s in trouble.

- Understands, “Come here.”

- Understands, “Sit down/stand up.”

- Lets us know that he’s done a poo in his nappy.

- Knows that you can use scissors to open a box.

- When he wants his shoes on, he brings them over and says, “Shoes,” or, “Thank you,” before lifting his foot. Same with socks.

- Understands, “Go and get the socks.”

- Understands, “Pick it/them up.”

- He can do a simple block animal puzzle.

- He can sort shapes appropriately without assistance.

- Grabs things to give him height to get to things out of reach (for example, he once put two cups side by side on the floor beside the bench; and put one foot on each to get something off the bench).

- Says ‘no’ when he knows that he’s gotten something wrong (e.g. he’s used the wrong piece of the puzzle). Also FREQUENTLY says no because he’s protesting against people, or knows he shouldn’t be doing something that he’s doing/is about to do.

- He yells no when you try and take something off him that he shouldn’t have, and ‘No, (Dad's name), no!’ when his Dad tries to take anything off him.

- Looks through paper towel roll like a telescope; or puts it to his mouth to use as an instrument.

- I asked him to point to the ball (blocks on one page, ball on the next); point to the slide (slide on one page, kite on the next); point to the pencils (pencils on one page, drums on the next); point to the truck (duck on one page, truck on the next); and point to the car (rocking horse on one page, car on the next). He could point to all asked.

- He will hold someone’s hand and behave when walking around the shop. However, he gets impatient when standing for too long (talking to someone or having to stand in-line).

- Knows that he needs a tissue to blow his nose – will get a tissue from the bench when he feels sniffly.