First words

Mini is 20 months old now and says over words. She has really come along since I last wrote about her language development. You can count sounds that constantly refer to an object as a word. So for instance one of the first words she said was "wa-wa" to mean dog. Overall she seems to use German words more often which is probably to be expected considering she hears German at daycare and all around. 

It's really since around 19 months that the language explosion started. I think the words themselves are somewhat random based often on which is easier for her to pronounce at the moment than words she necessarily finds useful. Although it's already been great for helping me comprehend what she wants. Like at the playground a few weeks ago she started looking for something in my handbag/backpack and I wasn't sure what she wanted until she said "bap". Bap is what we call a soft bread roll in case you use a different term where you are from!

Anyway now she often says "bap" when she is hungry. She still does the sign language sign for milk when she wants to nurse but that can also just mean thirst and she uses the sign for "again" a lot. She uses "owa" the German ouch when she hurts herself but also when she or an object is stuck. So for instance if she pushes her doll pram around and it gets stuck behind a chair she'll call out "owa" until someone helps. She can't pronounce B words yet so instead of "bye, bye" it comes out like "die, die" which she says while smiling and waving at everyone!

German words: ja, nein, Müll (rubbish), Kaka (poop), bitte (please) mehr (more), owa (ouch), Gurke (cucumber), Hahn (chicken), Tassa (cup), Oma (Granny)
English words:yea, no, hi, juice, eye, knee, shoe, cheese, bap, keys, nana (banana), tights, die-die (bye-bye)
General: wa-wa (dog), neigh (horse), ee-hor (donkey), dac-dac (for duck), mama, dada, papa, uh-oh