Acquisition of Language

In college, as an elementary education major, I had to learn all about the acquisition of language. Totally boring when reading about it in a textbook. But, very interesting when watching your own kid learn how to talk. And because Ryan was a Psych major he also finds it very interesting to "study" Ryleigh. And together we have realized that our kid just defies all the rules.

1. She has a lisp with her "th"s sometimes... but not all the time. You would think someone with a lisp would be consistent.

2. She can pronounce the word "treats" perfectly clear without a problem. However, she struggles with the simple word "cup". (She calls it a "pup")

3. Despite not being able to say the word "cup" she can clearly say the "k" sound at the end of the word, "book".... she actually really enjoys stressing the endings of words right now. So she will say, "book-k-k-k", just to make sure she's really got the ending down.

4. The word, "Hera", (our cat's name), was one of the very first words she could say. She said it perfectly clear. And then all of a sudden she resorted to saying, "Rera" instead. Now she is back to saying "Hera", but it is a word she has to think about and pronounce the "h" deliberately.Weird.

5. According to statistics I've read in baby books and websites Ryleigh has a vocabulary about 15x's that of a normal 16 month old. Apparently at 16 months they are only supposed to say about 7 words. I'm pretty sure it's because Ryleigh would rather sit and read books over and over again than play with toys.

I just think it's fun watching a child grow and learn. And I love seeing her learn new things every day.