Water, Water Everywhere

When it comes to Gretchen's language, we are thankful for the small things, and she surprised me last night by saying that her cup was full of "watah"!  This is a first for her in that she has never before said a word with two differing consonants--up to now it has been nana, Dada, Mama, Wauwa (Laura), moo, no, yeah, baby, so water is a more complex word than she has used before.  I made her say it about 20 times because I was so excited, then she took it further by also saying "up" and "open" (although the n was mostly silent, but effort counts.)

This summer I have been asking her for the second sound in a word, because she has learned that we mostly do understand her if she can at least make the first sound.  She can count to ten and say the entire alphabet, but only the first sound of the word or letter, for example, D is pronounced as "duh" rather than "dee"; when Laura went to Montessori school, that is actually how they taught the alphabet since the sounds of the letters translate more readily into reading skills, but that is not why Gretchen is doing it, of course.  So when she is counting and says "fffff" for "five", I ask her, "What sound comes next?" and she will slowly say, "I".  Speaking of I, that is another new word for her in that she could make the sound and say it for her eye, but her usage of the word as "I", in reference to her self, just started a couple of weeks ago.  Now she says, "I", with excitement in the same way that most toddlers would say, "me, me, me!" . . . but she can't say "me" yet, so she just sounds very proper. 

I can't wait to hear what sounds and words will happen next!