18-19 months: Verbal explosion!

Alyssa has been delighting us with her rapidly-advancing language skills lately! First, she learned "and" and "both": "Alyssa, what types of drinks do you like?" "Apple juice and milk and lala [water] and Big Bird juice, both!"

Then, she learned "not." In addition to telling us what things are, she now tells us what they are not. Like when we turn on music: "Claco [classical]! Not rock roll. Not Dido. Not jazz," each "not" accompanied with a rigorous head shaking.

And possessive forms. "Alla'ss bear. Not Mama'ss. Not Dada'ss. Alla'ss," making more of an 's' than a 'z' sound.

Then there's "you mean," which is really cute. "Okay, time to change your diaper, Dada's going to take off your parachute!" "You mean, pants!"

She's been joking with us, too. We'll point to a picture in a book, and ask, "What color is the dog?" - it's clearly brown, and she knows it. Alyssa's answer: "Purple!" "That's not purple!" we say, and Alyssa laughs as if we fell into her verbal trap. She'll eventually reveal the correct color, in a more serious tone.

We've taught her a bunch of flowers, and she can correctly identify and say (sometimes in her own dialect, but she's saying it) lilac, daffodil ("daff-dil"), dandelion ("dan-li"), iris (very clear!), bleeding heart ("beedee HOT!"), andromeda ("an-drilidli"), and rhododendron ("ro-den-da"). Without even looking at one of these flowers, you can ask her what color it is and she knows. "What color is a daffodil?" "Yeyyow!"

And a firetruck says, "vroom vroom vroom, honk HONK!"