Gar has turned two this month and his progress in language has improved by leaps and bounds. He is now able to express himself better. He still uses hand gestures, but he is speaking more now.
He is able to repeat single-syllable words and some two-syllable words. Sometimes he is able to use two words. Previously, at the 23-month mark, he was not able to do that. He is also able to identify the letters and also recognise numbers. He is able to identify colours and say them aloud. Blue, in particular, also refers to Thomas the train, in reference to its colour.
He is also able to use simple prepositions, such as ‘out’, ‘up’, ‘down’. He likes to go out to the playground. In the morning, he will say ‘out’, run to the shoe cabinet, and also tap the wall. I have not quite deciphered what that means exactly, but I know he wants to go out. In fact, he likes to go out very often, a few times a day.
His favourite adjectives are ‘hot’, ‘cold’ and ‘wet’. If his shirt gets wet when he brushes his teeth, he will say ‘wet wet’ and demands to get his shirt changed. It also happens quite frequently when his diaper leaks at night, which is strange because before this month, there were few accidents. If he is in the car, and the sun is shining on him, he will say ‘hot’. If I have just got up from my seat, he will run to it, touch it and say ‘hot’, run to another seat, touch it, and say ‘cold’. It is good that he has a basic concept of opposites. I just taught him the concept of wet vs dry, so he got it too.
Simple phrases and sentences he can say include ‘black bird’, ‘Mummy, please’ and ‘Bye bye, bus’. However, he is still mainly at single words. His most favourite word is ‘No’.
Two syllable words he can say include ‘iPad’, ‘noodles’, and his Chinese name. He doesn’t call himself Gar yet. He is able to say El’s name. He is able to call all his relatives, and also ‘Uncle’ and ‘Auntie’, but they sound like ‘Ah-cle’ and ‘Ah-ty’.
He prefers to speak in English, but he is able to understand Mandarin. He is also able to repeat Chinese words and phrases after me. His usual bedtime music is a CD of Chinese nursery rhymes.
His language development is average, but I am not too concerned yet. However, I do feel that I do not read enough books to him. He is with my mother and my helper most of the time, and they do not speak English well, yet that is the main language they use.
He does not open his mouth during weekly lessons, but one time, when we were doing a makeup lesson, the teacher got him to repeat after her word by word, and he managed to do so. That means he is responding more to other people, and it depends on how the teacher engages him. It is the same teacher, but due to the longer hours during his makeup lesson, they had more time to engage him.
