It may be a bit premature to call it an “explosion,” but Simon is picking up new words at a faster clip these days. At least, we think he is. At times the line between parental translation and wishful thinking is razor thin.
Having said that, we honestly think Simon has said the following:
“dir doe” This is Simonese for “dirty dog”, his little puppy blanket toy
“bu-see” Percy, our nickname for Percival
“dock” Duck
“no!” self explanatory, but new for him
“do!” a. we think maybe “throw”
b. but also certainly “dog”
“ah shee” we’re worried this is potty language. Please don’t let this be potty language.
“rah thah” a reply to the question “Where’s mama’s nose?”
I know I’m forgetting others, but when you add these to his words for mama, daddy, ball, bye, yes, light, “what’s that?” nose, cat, and a bunch of things he’s said once or twice, we’re starting to get a reasonable count.
His comprehension, however, is still murky. For example, anything round is a ball. This includes the moon in several of his books and polka-dots as well. I’m afraid he may also be a bit confused about eyes. When I ask him where mine are, he reaches out and touches my glasses. Then Tuesday, when my mom asked Simon where her eyes were, he reached out and touched her glasses, too. Except she wasn’t wearing them; they were in her hand.
I can see how having bespectacled people ask him to point to eyes could have confused him, but it’s still a funny mistake. Then again, in my case at least Simon may be correct, as my glasses truly are my eyes.