Your Clever Toddler in Week 74: Learning Words by Process of Elimination

It's easy to see how children use this word learning strategy. If you're making a lemon cake with your child at your side, you'll describe how you're using a spoon, a cup, and a lemon zester. Your child will determine that the zester is the unusual object he's never seen before because the spoon and cup are familiar.

The take away for parents is to not hold back using unusual words, thinking your child will not understand. While complicated explanations might be beyond your child's current comprehension abilities, using new words to describe objects is well within your child's realm of learning. You might be narrating, "I'm putting flowers in the vase and candles in the candle sticks, and now I'm going to the check the thermostat to see how warm it is in the house." If your child doesn't know the word thermostat, he'll figure it out by a process of elimination.

Even adjective are learnable. Think of the words you use to describe something beautiful: pretty, gorgeous, appealing, attractive, and stunning. Use them all where appropriate, your child will catch on. Amazing, astounding, remarkable, incredible, and surprising, isn't it?

Coming soon, look forward to: Week 75: Realizing Objects Don't Have Intentions
Review the most recent accomplishments: Week 73: Understanding the Intentions of Others

Curious about how else your toddler might be developing right now? Learn more about her clever brain and her growing body here:

• What's happening in Month 18?
• Here's what our pediatrician says you might be worried about this month.