Sometime between six and eight months of age, babies discover that they can string two consonants together. The first real word doesn't usually appear until after the child's first birthday. By eighteen months, most children have a receptive vocabulary of over 1,000 words. In other words, a baby understands more than half of all the words that are spoken to him. It can be hard to tell, though, because that toddler temperament may keep him from responding even if he does understand.
Language leaps ahead in the third and fourth years.
It's still a private game between us. I remember Aubrey at four years old, standing in front of her daddy with her hands outstretched. These language milestones speed by so fast that it's hard to keep up. Particularly with second and later children, it seems as if they simply wake up one day speaking in complete sentences. I try to remind myself to cherish Jessica's baby talk while I can, because all too soon those sweet nothings will be gone forever.