Niklaus is almost two. He can say a lot of words now, and he repeats almost everything you ask him to say. However, if he's not ready yet to say a new word, he stubbornly refuses to say it, or he substitutes it with his OWN word. For instance: for the longest time he called all the other kids "guys". It was just his blanket way of addressing them until he could form his little lips around their real names. He knew who they all were, he just chose not to refer to them individually! He got Weazy first. He started by shouting after her, "WEAS!". Next (just about 3 weeks or so ago) he started to call Matthew "Matty". On Friday he hit a major milestone. He started to call Katrina by her name, "Trina"! Until Friday, Matty would test Niklaus like this:
Matty: Niklaus, say "car"
Niklaus: car
Matty: say..."boat"
Niklaus: boat
Matty: say..."water"
Niklaus: water
Matty: say "trina"
Niklaus: guys
He never skipped a beat. He KNEW what he was doing because he would laugh hysterically every time he did this! On Friday it just slipped out and he actually said, "trina" for the first time and he's been doing it ever since.
He still can't say the word "yes" appropriately. But now we've gotten really good at determining what "no"'s actually mean "yes". Still, we try and teach him:
Mama: Niklaus, do you want more cheese?
Niklaus: No
Mama: Say "yes", Niklaus
Niklaus: Yesh
Mama: So, do you want more cheese?
Niklaus: NO! (still, actually means yes)
Mama: (sigh)
