Baby (Scarlett, 16m): says "Tylenol"Parent: She's said "Owie" a few times and pointed to her mouth (since she is getting 3 more teeth in at a time), and we were really impressed. Now, apparently, she's stopped messing around, going straight for requesting pain meds by brand! We've probably only used that word a dozen times around her--- it is the second most complicated word she has said behind "caterpillar". Dealing with intense teething is one of the hidden monsters of parenting, and deserving of another post.
Development: In actuality, she's probably associated the word "tylenol" with mouth pain as opposed to something that will releave pain in the distant future (that would be a very sophisticated multi-step concept for her age, though deserving of another post).
It turns out children are master associative learners... that is, they easily learn when two events are paired together... use every opportunity you can to pair a word with an object or action you do repeatedly... try narrating out loud as you do things. A lot of language production in children is delayed, but they are still learning words left and right, even though they can't articulate them yet... wait for the language production explosion around 18m (deserving of many future posts!)... but as they learn more, they will be able to better communicate what they want, making everyone's lives easier.
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