Talk.

The Pea has changed so much since I last posted. Her vocabulary is extensive, and I could not begin to count the words she knows. She uses full sentences, with pronouns, prepositions, verbs, you name it. She is 2 1/2 now and has a 5 month old sister, who we nicknamed "The Poppy".

The Pea has always been verbal and I attribute this to many things. 1) We read to her beginning the day she came home from the hospital. It felt weird since she was a newborn and didn't really know what we were talking about. But it was absolutely beneficial to her. It provided a bonding experience, it was a part of our bedtime routine which signaled bedtime, and it allowed her to hear the language of books as well as new words. 2) We talked to her a ton. I remember reading somewhere when she was first born to talk to your baby all the time. I always kept this in the back of my mind. I talked to directly to her, the way you do with babies. But I also narrated as I was doing household tasks. For instance, while washing the dishes I would say "I'm putting soap on the sponge." "I'm washing the plate nice and clean!" You get the idea. I still remind myself to do this with The Poppy. It also seems kind of strange when they don't seem to know what you are saying, but babies are nonjudgmental! 3) I expose my daughter to new experiences and places. The more diverse children's background experiences, the more vocabulary they are exposed to. Take your little babies out into the world and talk, talk, talk! 4) Nature could also have something to do with it. I was voted most talkative for my 8th grade superlative after all.