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My two year old great niece talks a lot, just like my son did at her age, and has been using complete sentences for a while now. At a recent family gathering my niece told me that her daughter's pediatrician said her verbal ability was advanced and she had also noticed a difference between her daughter's verbal ability and that of the other kids her age in the daycare. My cousin's wife, who overheard this, said "oh that's just normal" but I don't remember her kids talking like that at two although they are bright and very athletic. My niece will have to learn to make sure nobody else is listening to her talk about her daughter's abilities. The only ability that is socially acceptable to talk about here is sports ability.

We found a *little* baby talk to be VERY helpful early on.

We carried on normal, adult conversations with DD as a baby all the time, and we found that within the first 4-6 months, she started picking up her own words... and they were typically baby versions of the words we were using, because she was struggling with the linguistics, as early speakers do. When she was thirsty, she would ask for "juice," so that was easy, but most of her other words were of the "ma-ma," "da-da," "nite-nite," "tub-tub" variety. We gave her "nite-nite," but we always rephrased ourselves in both baby and grown-up terms: "Awww, are you tired? Ready to go to sleep? To go nite-nite?" "Tub-tub" was something she came up with independently, derived from a silly song I made up for bath time.

As I've mentioned before elsewhere, by the time she was six months old, she had a word for everything she needed, and if there was a word she lacked for something she wanted, she'd just point and say, "That!" and if we still couldn't figure it out, we'd say, "Show me," and she'd get as close to it as she could, still pointing, and we'd pick her up and move her closer to it if necessary (because "that" might be cookies in a high cupboard, or a toy in her bedroom upstairs), until we finally understood what she was pointing at.

The one exception was she still didn't have a word that said, "I'm hungry." When she was 8 or 9 months old this was resolved, when my mom started babysitting on a regular basis, and she'd sit there baby-talking all the way through a feeding, saying, "Mmmm... num-num!" over and over again.

All these baby words made things SOOOOO much more peaceful in our home. And if DD said, "Mama, num-num," and DW responded, "You're hungry?", she was learning proper speech while still being able to communicate her needs. So it doesn't really have to be an all-or-nothing approach.

oh, well we had some of that too Dude, when you put it that way. We used "num-nums" for all food, bottle, breast and foods when they started, snacks, etc...but also, like you are saying, you're using "regular words" then the cute "baby" word. A few of the mispronunciations we let slide too because they were just cute, especially when jumbled up in a more advanced sentance.
It also sounds like you were very tuned in to what she needed and was trying to communicate to you. That's special Not all parents are "listening", kwim?

We found out from Mr W's piano teacher than Mr W (3y10m) can sight read most simple songs including the lyrics.

I agree!

http://www.lost-civilizations.net/scythians.html

Don't make the Scythian mommas mad at you.

DW and I were just discussing yesterday how special her early malapropisms are to us, and we try to keep them alive. They became a part of our own lexicon.

The weirdest one was this sound she made in the back of her throat VERY early (like 2 months or so), something like, "gnnn-gnnn." We assumed this was her way of saying she was tired, because anytime she made this noise, we'd hand her her blankie, she'd seize it and curl up, and if we were home, we'd put her to bed, with no fuss. Fast forward a year and a half, and she stunned me with this phrase, "Dada! Where gnnn-gnnn go?" It turned out that "gnnn-gnnn" was the blankie all along. Looking back, I'd have to say that makes it her first "word," beating "Dood-le-bop!" by approximately a month and a half.

She still has one of her two original gnnn-gnnns, which she keeps in her bed amid that mass of blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals she sleeps among. We told her about the story, she laughed, and began referring to that particular blanket as her gnnn-gnnn. And so it lives on.

Meanwhile, we're in a house where the adults announce the need to "peepee potty!" and prepare "monkey and cheese."

I'm sorry La Texican. I am a bit confused. I thought you were just being a bit sarcastic about echolalia because someone had made a snide comment about her. It's obvious that the kids understand conversations at that age it's great that she can tell you what's on her mind.

Anyway congratulations on Espers first sentences.

DS7 first said Mommy and Daddy at 7 months. We tried to teach him signs, but he never picked up more than 3 or 4 because at 10 months most anyone could understand him.

Excellent!

I am warped...What would be a "complete sentence"? DS 23 months said a couple of weeks age "No shoes in granny's house". Would this be a complete sentence? I am thinking full on conversation is not normal, but that a simple sentence like that IS. He is almost 2...DS4 would say 5-6 word sentences when turning 2 as well. I thought that would be pretty average or just slightly above....?

I think that would more than qualify as a complete sentence. Typically they start with 3-4 word sentences like "I want milk." or "That's my ball." Very simple, but more than just yelling 'want milk' or 'my ball'.

I no longer trust that I have any idea what's 'normal.' hah! I thought my son's early development was normal until recently.