Toddlers Who LISTEN: Crucial Developmental Steps to Success - Part 1

Today's episode we kick off a two-part series on developing ESSENTIAL listening and understanding skills in your toddler. 

I guide you through the first five milestones crucial for fostering amazing listening abilities in your little ones.

Key Takeaways:

1. Follow NOVEL Commands:
   • Encouraging your toddler to understand and act on new instructions.
2. Follow 2-Step Directions Related to Objects:
   • Helping your child process and execute simple, sequential tasks.
3. Understand NEW Words Daily:
   • Supporting your toddler in learning an average of 9 new words per day, expanding their vocabulary.
4. Demonstrate ACTION Words on Request:
   • Teaching your child to recognize and perform action words, enhancing their comprehension.
5. Sort Objects into Categories:
   • Developing your toddler's ability to categorize and organize objects, a key skill in understanding instructions.

Discussion Highlights:

• The importance of nurturing listening skills through interactive play and everyday routines.
• The role of positive reinforcement and cheerleading in reinforcing these skills.
• How these milestones build a strong foundation for your child's neurological ability to process spoken language.
• The dangers of talking AT your toddler instead of WITH them, which can undermine their learning process.

Special Features:

• Erin's CHEAT SHEET: A valuable resource summarizing today’s episode into easy-to-reference points. Perfect for busy parents who want to reinforce and practice these milestones with their toddlers at home, and share with family members.
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• Sign Up for the Cheat Sheet: Get your hands on Erin's ‘CHEAT SHEET’ by clicking the link HERE. 
• Stay Tuned for Part 2: Join us in the next episode as we continue exploring the remaining milestones for developing outstanding listening skills in toddlers.
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Transcript

Erin: 0:00

So picture this, you're trying to guide your little one through a simple task, but it feels like you're speaking a foreign language and he is just not. interested. Does that sound familiar? Well, it's a common challenge that most parents face, and it's often a case of putting the cart before the horse. And what I mean by this is. Before expecting our toddlers to follow directions. We need to build that processing system and build a strong foundation. So they exercise literally physically exercise how to listen and comprehend your spoken language, because there's lots of information. I broke it up into two parts. I also developed a cheat sheet. So you can refer back to the key points and strategies and then really have it to look at in real time. So be sure that you sign up for this valuable resource. sit down, be ready to learn, grab a notebook, take some notes. But get ready. I want you to really feel like you can take charge that your directing and it's not haphazard. as we walk through this part one of the series, you really understand what a 24 month old can do versus that 36 months. There's a big difference across that third year of life. So remember. It's a journey that you guys are sharing together and with the right tools and the right mindset, you can guide your toddler toward becoming a great listener, a great communicator, and that he's really, really happy in this world with you and his expanding community.

Speaker: 1:44

Hello and welcome to Talking Toddlers, where I share more than just tips and tricks on how to reduce tantrums or build your toddler's vocabulary. We're going to cover all of that, but here, our goal is to develop clarity, because in this modern world, it's truly overwhelming. This podcast is about empowering moms to know the difference between fact and fiction, to never give up, to tap into everyday activities so your child stays on track. He's not falling behind. He's thriving through your guidance. We know that true learning starts at home. So let's get started.

2:26

As your toddler approaches his or her second birthday. Being able to listen and understand, or what we call receptive language makes a huge jump. And in this episode, we're going to dive deep into what are some of the really strong pivotal milestones. As well as some of the nuances of how to support them through this process. And we as speech, language therapists often refer to this as a language explosive year. And it does include both expressive and receptive language skills that's talking and listening, but like I'm been teaching you over the last several episodes. It's important to understand receptive language or being able to understand how this world is working and how human beings communicate both verbally and non-verbally. And. How to listen for the sounds that make up the words and the words that make up the directions and the stories and the, and the engagement. How do we put all of those pieces together? Because there are a lot of moving parts and it's important that moms and dads and grandparents understand that these milestones really are just gauges of how well they're developing in. In real time. Right? So. There are a number of very specific milestones. We're going to cover here. For this year. I'm going to highlight some key ones, but there's really too much to cover in one or two episodes. And I am creating the series, but I did make a CHEAT SHEET for you. All that you can go in the description box and have that readily available to you. So then you can refer back to it and, and because not all of these things grow and develop on this beautiful linear line. Right. There's a lot. Lot of moving parts, as I said, and some things will take a front seat as other things take a back seat, but you want to see things continually moving, not plat towing, not regressing. Right? I don't want you to miss out on anything. So go down below and get that, that cheat sheet. Right. In a previous episode, I did share with you receptive language or understanding. Between that first birthday and that second birthday. And although that is really dynamic, right? They're moving. Around, independent. Most of them are, are good, solid walkers. They're starting to use a handful of words or 20 words or 50 words by that second birthday, but I want you to go back and be able to contrast that second year and this third year that I'm going to cover today. So that was episode 82. I think it was released on May 7th. Both of them, as I said, are part of the series building better listening skills with your toddler. And so today we're going to contrast that a little bit and you'll see how. These milestones really are explosive. Right? And that it's hard to keep up with them. most of the time and many parents. And professionals, unfortunately, pediatricians other speech, language therapists, educators. Can make light of these months or, or this. Particular year, assuming that all kids figure it out and they assume that all kids just develop at their own pace. And I've shared with you before in the past, to me, that's malarkey because these are critical milestones that build upon one another. And as we run down these 10 for this particular year, you'll see that in the beginning, they'll start at a certain level, right? Right there. They're following, for example. A two step direction with something that is related to one another, right. And then by the end of this 12 month period, now they're following two and three step directions that are unrelated. So their memory, their cognition, their ability to hold on to information is a lot different. At that third birthday than it is on their second birthday. So keep that in mind that they build upon one another. And that's what, human development is. Right. And that it's not these. Tiny compartments that we're checking off. Or like I said, this beautiful line that everything is just blossoming. No. It's important to understand that we have to sorta look under the hood and figure out what other nuances between these different skill sets. So I want you to have this information, so you know what to expect. And then how to support that, meet them. Where they are. And how do you. Create this learning environment. A learning environment at home where they can really blossom under your guy, right under your leadership. So let's walk through. 10, what I think are very, very important milestones for this critical. Section of development. So the FIRST ONE, like I mentioned, Would be to follow novel commands. A novel just means new, right? So by their second birthday, They're really. Thinking a lot more with language and with experience, right? They've been around now for 24 months. But they can begin to follow new directions. They're not just relying on routines or habits. Right. And the best way to position this is for when your plane with them. That you can then challenge their ability to do something novel or new in a play context that perhaps isn't something that you do every day. For example, you can say, Hey. I put this bowl on your head. And they're like, what? Or you can first show them right. Take the bowl and put it on your head. And then say here. I put the bowl on your head. And then several minutes later, you can ask them again. Or you could say put the car in your pocket. And they're like, Hmm. Why? And, you know, you can just pretend to put it in your pocket here. You put it in your pocket. So you're showing them to think more critically to really listen with intention because it's not always going to be the same thing. Over and over again, like here, put on your jacket. Eat your food. Take off your dirty shoes. It's really, you're engaged in context and you're trying to show them something that's on expected. And then for them to follow along. And that's really important because if you do the same thing over and over again, and don't get me wrong, they need a lot of repetition, you know that. But they also need to change it up and, and it's, and I've referred to this before. It's an 80 20 rule, right? The whole neurological wiring means we have 80% of the time, a lot of repetition and we just get better and better at that. And then 20% of the time. We need to throw in something new. We need to stretch that muscle, that, that, that willingness to work through something. And so if they do need a cue then you can show them how to listen. Mm. Put it in my pocket, you can take a car. Put there's my pocket. There's my car. Oh, put it in my pocket. And so you can really play with this and help them listen to the words, follow the directions, even if they're silly, right. Even if they're unexpected. So understand that even when you're doing routines, Kind of stretch them there as well. And so help them, if they've never really participated with like putting the dirty clothes in the laundry or helping you make the bed. Or, closing doors. If you've been doing a lot of this for them, then try to pull them into those routines. Hey, mommy needs help today, can you put all of these dirty clothes in the hamper. and really help them show them. These are dirty clothes. This is the hamper help mommy. Right. And so perhaps when these 18 months or 20 months, you didn't really have him. Participate. He was active in, in these routines. You know, he was getting his clothes changed or getting ready to go take a bath. But part of the routine, now he can really be an active participant and then you help them listen actively, with purpose to follow your directions, right. and think of it as Again, right. And, and that, it's just this kind of social engagement, right? It's not, you're sitting down and doing memorization skills, but you're doing something. And you're listening first and then you follow along and that's the important part is that. Kids. I think for the vast majority of their elementary years. But especially in these first three, six years. They learn. That means, understand and hold it, and then be able to generalize it into the next context, but they learn this by doing it with you. And so the more you can pull that two year old. Into doing something based on your directions, right? And it's a, it's a step-by-step process. So for example, you can start, if you haven't already start to rotate toys. Say in the bath, or if you take a little bag to the park or even sitting down and doing, one-to-one play, okay. Let's play with the farm. If you always really likes the farm. But I've shared with you in the past, how it's important to rotate these toys and see if, if you have different animals or different types of things in the bath or that you take to the park. Can you then expand his understanding with different objects, And it's not just with things that are happening to him, like the bath or going to the park. It's doing the small everyday kinds of things. For example, if you're bringing groceries in, you can give them the, the soap and you say, Hey, can you put this soap under the sink? And they're listening, right? Soap. Under sink and you can help them point to the sink. Help mommy, this goes under the sink. Right. Or if you're taking things out of the bag and you say, Please give me the paper back. And so it's a simple concrete in real time, but perhaps he's never helped you. unload the groceries before, or he's done it, but you've kind of shooed him away because it's just easier when he's not under you, but it's really important if you take these more novel or less repetitive directions and help him learn how to listen with intention, right. perhaps your, Taking the paper towels and. putting a new roll on and you take the plastic. Oh, where does this go? Can you put it in the trash for me? And again, it's, it's exercising that listening skill, listening on purpose, And that he's just not necessarily. Being pushed to the side he's being pulled in. Now that he's a little bit older, he understands a little bit more he's 24 months it's not that he has to participate in the whole putting the groceries away. But if he does it to two or three parts, And he's really listening. And then, okay, you can go play now, right. Or in the bathtub, or getting ready to go out the door, those kinds of things, pulling him in and helping him learn. We're human. together, we're part of this family together and yes, there's a lot of play and a lot of fun and a lot of love, but I need your help too. And if you can listen, then we can do this. And in family routine times, we can do it in play times. We can do it when we have to. get ready to go to bed, you know, all of these different levels of engagement. So that would be number one. That they follow more, a novel. Requests right. Or commands. NUMBER TWO would be, and this is the beginning, right around 24 months, 26 months that they followed two step. Directions that are related to one another. So for example, you can say, Hey, sweetie. Pick up the plane and fly it. Or you could say pick up the wet towel and give it to me. Right. So these things are related to each other. I want, I'm going to take care of the wet towel. Can you please give it to me? Here's a plane. It doesn't go in the ocean. It. Can you make it fly. Right? And so those two. Again, you're going to want over time to pull back and not necessarily give them a lot of verbal or I'm sorry. A lot of gestural cues. But in the beginning, you might have to, you know, make the airplane fly and you can give them that hand gesture or put your hand out and say, give me the wet towel, please. Right? And so these. Two different directives are related to one another in the task that you're working on. Right. So they're expected and do it during play doing, like I said, during everyday routines. They, you know, don't think of it as chores. They don't even differentiate between, Putting the groceries away. Or cleaning up after you take a bath as a chore. That it's all just engagement and play and fun and human. connection. but if your child at, to where they're about seems a little lost when you ask them for two different. steps in that direction. Then they just need more practice. And so you can cue them then say, Hey, you know, point down to the towel. Give mama give me that towel. That's a wet towel. It go, it needs to be hung up. And so they just need more practice. Even if your child is say 26 or 28 months, and they don't really follow, perhaps they haven't learned or practice listening with intention. And so you just have to give them that opportunity, So now during play, you can have a variety of toys, out on the table, but pull two that are similar in categories. For example, you could have a car and a truck, right. There are two vehicles. And you can ask them to put the car and the truck in the bucket, or you could say. you can have a baby and a mommy and say, Hey, put the baby and the mommy in the car, or you can have a banana, an apple, and you say, let's eat some bananas and apples. So you want to give them some gestural cues that you're looking for two items, not just the car or not just the baby or not just the banana, right. That you really want them to listen to more information. And again, that takes practice right. So give them some gestures as needed. Right? Look at the item point to it. Model and then give them that turn and it helps them listen more carefully to your words, as you are engaged with whatever activity or object in play, To focus in on what is she saying? And how is this related to these objects or whatever work we're doing together? So, you know, you can give gestures, like give me the apple and then the banana. Right. give me the mama and the baby. So your hand gestures is the, give me, and then they listen to that, to the two objects. So you play around with it. and if you see that your young toddler really isn't listening, quote unquote, and I use air quotes there. With intention that they're just playing haphazardly. You want to evaluate the situation? Like, okay, do I have too many toys out? Am I talking too much? Am I giving them a lot of directions? Are they not playing with intention. And so you then go back and, and watch, how are they playing? Right. How are they engaging with these kinds of things? And then during cleanup time, That's always a great opportunity to see if they can follow directions or give them opportunities to practice. Right. Ask them to put two things away. be fun about it being engaged yourself. And they will follow along and learn how to clean up. I just want to share that over the years when I would work with these young toddlers and I would see them once, maybe twice a week for 30 or 45 minutes, we could make huge progress. Just in a couple of months, And so what I want to instill with you all is that you at home can make dynamic progress and growth. Because you can do it each and every day with you in a playful lighthearted. Environment. Right. And they have so much more opportunities. And so that's where I am trying to encourage parents mommas most of the time. But grandparents. And any primary adult in their life is to really use every day situations to help them, train them; and that's what it is. Right. It's like, we practice meditation, we practice yoga, we practice working out at the gym. And this is practice too, right? And it's, it's a training practice to help them expand their listening skills. So now we'll move on to NUMBER THREE. And this is a, uh, is a big one. And we're going to dive into this in a future episode, but this is pretty remarkable. That they, your toddler will understand many, many new words every single day. So the typically developing child has at least at least minimum of 50 words. On their second birthday and then they'll have, at least these are low average. Right, this in the bell curve, the low average range, 50 words. And then by their third birthday, they'll have a thousand words. So usually that's more like 200 words on their second birthday and close to 2000 words. but the average child will learn nine. New words. A day. That's pretty remarkable. And so you can do this by changing up your routines. Like I said, switching out some of the toys. Pulling them more into your every day. Chores or life habits, right. Getting ready for breakfast or lunch cleaning up after. getting out the toys, putting the toys away. doing your errands, making the bed, all of these things, going grocery shopping, going to the post office, all of these things really. Our that rich learning, because they're doing something with you, your expanding, their language, listening as well as following through. So. At this stage, I always want to talk about this double edge sword of flashcards because therapists do this all the time. And you know, in the beginning of my career, I fell into this bad habit too, but not necessarily with a two or a three-year-old, perhaps with a four and a five-year-old, but flashcards. Really. Give us this false impression that, oh, we can expand their language so much more. You can use pictures and books to expand their language. But. I think it's really important that. We're we're just more careful and we get them involved by doing something with objects or real life activities. Right. Um, now. If you say you have a child who's approaching their third birthday and you really want to use some of the more simple flashcards, then you can always put a little twist to them. For example, you can hide them around the room and play like a hide, hide and seek kind of thing. Or you can have them. find them and then act them out or talk about whatever the flashcard is and then put them in a jar, right. Or you can have a big bucket and they can reach inside and pull out a flashcard and, you know, talk about, oh, what is the doggie doing? Right. You know, he's digging a hole and. What's he going to put in the hole, you know, whatever the flashcard is all about. but the idea is to keep it more developmentally appropriate for them during play. So you can use flashcards once in a while, but do something with them then sitting there drilling them with that. Make it playful, make it engaging. And they're going to really expand that understanding a lot, lot more. The other, idea or twist that I've used in the past. Has been to create an obstacle course. how useful and beneficial obstacle courses inside and outside can be on many, many levels, right? you know, you can have them do this obstacle course, whether it's, crawling on the pillows and crawling underneath the coffee table and then stepping over a bench or something, and then they can find a flashcard and, say you can even line up a few pictures and you can say, okay, which one flies in the sky? And they have to listen. Right. So they've done some moving, right? So they're organizing their hemispheres and buy through the obstacle course. And then you ask them a question. Which one flies in the sky and you can have a train and a plane, and a bucket or whatever, right. you wouldn't put a plane and a bird there. Of course. so you want them to listen to novel? Questions. Right. And then you can have them differentiate which one is, and they can use their deductive reasoning. Right? While a car goes on a road, he doesn't fly in the sky right. On a bucket. Can't do anything. You just fill it up. And so you can be creative with a lot of these flashcards, but they still have to do something to get them interested, engaged. Otherwise it becomes that. That wrote memory kinds of things. And they're not really going to hold on to, it's not going to be meaningful to them. But there are also, flashcards out there that you can, do early charades with. it could be, jumping could be eating quack, like a duck, all kinds of things. Again, I think a two year old. Is a little young, but as they approach that third birthday, you can certainly start to do some of these activities. So keep in mind, especially at two and two and a half, that pictures are harder to interpret on their own. You can make. Reference to them, but to really master it. it's better to interact with whatever you're doing, Even if it's like, oh, make the cow jump Or make the car fly. Now co we knows that cars don't fly, but you can do almost anything with toys. the key is to make it interesting; makeup fun and funny and engageable. Okay. So NUMBER FOUR in helping your two going on two, three year old master or really, expand those receptive listening skills is that he demonstrates action words on request. And so that's where following these directions and even doing some of these flashcards could really, Lead to understanding action words. And remember, as I said, as we're building his vocabulary list from 50 words to a thousand words, you want all of those different grammatical structures, right? You want the nouns and you want the actions because then as he expands his talking skills, he's going to be able to put together phrases and sentences because he has a wide variety. Of different grammatical structures. So as your toddler approaches that, 30 months or 33 months, They can demonstrate a lot or many new action words. And so that's really showing that he understands right. Jumping, sleeping, rolling over. Clapping, you know, raise both arms, those kinds of things. Stomp one foot. pretend that you are mad, her, those, all of those new action words that are really starting to expand. Remember. And I keep reiterating this, but. It's really important to, to look at your lifestyle, to look at your day with your two-year-old and three-year-old that your toddler is going to learn best by doing. So think of the action words, some of them that I just mentioned, but here are a few more to open and close, right? Those are opposites, but they're different actions that you do with the same object right. Eat or sleep, swim, jump, uh, run, roll, fall down, kick, stomp. Like I said, stomp one foot, push, pull, clap, smash, crash. All of these different action words he can act out and now he's really learning and then he can do it with another object and then he can pick it out into picture. Right. And so there is this developmental hierarchy that we have to respect, right? They can do it on themselves and then they can have objects, do it, and then they can see it. And read it in a picture form, right? And remember. Uh, doggie can drive a car, right. Or a pig can fly all of these things. They don't have to be realistic. So your acting it out based on what you're talking about and he's playing. along with you. So it's important to understand that. the understanding and differentiating in pictures, those actions will be closer to 30 and 33 months, but that 24 months, that 26 month old still needs a lot of physical practice. And, and think of the actions as the more common that he is. Exposed to right. Perhaps in the summertime, it's swimming or biking. Or sleeping, and if he's been exposed to them, then he's going to be able to relate to them. Now, if you think that your child is struggling with understanding that then. One way to differentiate would be to see if he can only pick out nouns in a picture book. Right. Or Kenny also pick out actions and because the actions are a little bit more challenging, so he can point to the boy, right. That's a boy, but can you point to the boy who is jumping rope? Right. Or can you point to the girl who is pushing the the wagon. And so it's important to understand that there is a developmental jump between identifying nouns and then under understanding the, Actions those in verbs. And so keep that in mind as you're playing around. it's especially. As your daughter or son approaches 30 months and 33 months. Right? That, that second half of that third year. So, what you want to do is to continue to really share and pointed out inbox. so you can say, oh, look, this girl is jumping and then you acted out or this boy is. climbing up the ladder. Oh, let's go see if we can climb up the ladder or climb up the stairs. It's just like ladders, or you can reference it in your backyard. If you have a. A little ladder set or that kind of thing. So you want to point it out in the picture? And do it. And so that's really helpful. Especially in that second half of that year, for them to be able to start to connect this three dimensional world to this picture book. And continue to stress the nouns. As always, but really stress the actions and put those two things together. and like I said, through demonstration and play acting, because then the book comes alive. Right. And you can imagine that. And so then you can close the book and you can play a little, guessing game back and forth. Yeah. Now remember you can always start by picking his favorite books because he's going to be more interested in those, right. And pull out those action words and try to imitate them. And, open his favorite book and say, Hey, show me how to jump. Show me how to eat or who is sleeping. Now you sleep. Right. it's important to get his interest. And all kids like to do stuff. Right. And so they might look at you in the beginning and say, what the heck are you talking about mama? Um, but then if you acted out, then they will follow along. Right? They'll learn through imitation with you that, oh, this is a game. This is fun. We're not just looking at the book or reading the book anymore. We're going to act it out. and then it'll begin to generalize. Okay. So NUMBER FIVE would be that they begin to sort objects. Into categories. And. And I think this is often misunderstood because we just have some kind of fuzzy benchmarks. Right. But most assessments that I would use when I go to test a two or a three year old about categorization. we, they really indicate, or what we've learned, that this understanding how things go together, how things are alike and things are different is really mastered between that 24th month and 36 months, not everything but we give them a variety of opportunities to show if they understand how things are similar or different, right. But we do understand that in this third year, from 24 months to 36 months, most kids will really, Begin to master that. And there are different levels or different gradations. So we have to respect that. But for, for language processing and. Language processing. I mentioned that in a couple of episodes ago. That's how the brain really processes what they're hearing, right? How the brain interprets, what it's hearing. Right. It's not just a bunch of noise is not just a list of words. It's like, oh, she wants me to do something. Or it also means that some cognitive skills are developing and they're really being able to contrast. Oh, these are all animals. This is all food. These are all things that we, eat with right. Dishes. So they're understanding how these things belong together and they're different from other parts. So that's a cognitive thing. It's also language processing like, many of these things are on a developmental hierarchy. And so in the beginning, say closer to 24 months, then you're going to want to contrast two very different objects. So say you have. A couple of different books and then you have animals, right? They're not related. And you can say. Put all the books in this bin or put all the animals in this bin. And so they're able to sort those through, Or you could have a pile of clothes and some dishes, those are really contrasted differently or, a pile of blocks and some food. And so they can easily sort them. They can't tell you how they're different. You can talk about this. Oh, these are all clothes; these are things that we were on our body. These are all dishes. There they go in the kitchen, they help us eat. Right. And so you can talk about how they're different. You can even pick up, a plate and say, huh? Is this a close, close go on our body. Do we put the plate on our body? And they'd look at you like you're ridiculous. Right? But you're getting them to think critically. And also keep in mind that containers, bins, or boxes really help conceptualize how things. Are related or not, Or how we can sort things and things belong in a category. Even if it's like, here's a bin for all of your wooden blocks. Here's a bin for all your, your Duplos. And I just did this when I, volunteered at my church recently with, the two year old group. It's. Two and a half right there. Almost potty trained. But it was really easy for them to separate, we had a big pile of all these, these block materials, but here's the Duplos and here's the wooden blocks. And so they were able to differentiate based on characters, right? But then the next step would be to soar objects that are a little closer. Right. You can have different. Different clothings right here. Put all the socks here, all the hats here, all the pants here and sort them by. Uh, a finer discrimination or you can have all vehicles, right. So, okay. Put all the trucks over here and all the cars over here. Or then you can have even different puzzles and you can say, okay, look at these different puzzles, put all the animals over here and all the shapes. So they're related because they're the same. They're the same product, right? They're a puzzle, but here are animals and here are different shapes, right? So you can start to play again. Our play around with a wide variety of possibilities and. One of the best activities. And I look at this as an activity is cleanup, and I know a lot of daycare and preschool settings do too, but it's more to. To get to the end and the end is, you know, To clean up this mess that we've created. I look at it as really part of the learning process and, and I hope. And I really encourage moms and dads and everybody at home to really build it in to your day. And to help them understand how they all. Can be sorted and organized. And then you know where they are when you go to look for them. Right. But make it game, like make it part of the process, then it doesn't seem so daunting on them. And then, you know, by the time they're four, they can do this all on their own, but give them a lot of praise. Make it exciting. You can also play a little helpless. I always say this too, to parents of, of toddlers. Hmm. I wonder where this, these blocks go. Can you help me? Mom was confused. Oh, no. Right. And they always want to tell you what to do or to show you how much they know. Right. And I did this at the church play. Playground today. It was like, oh, everything was put away and it's like, oh no, we have some dishes. Well, here's a plate and here's some eggs. What do we do with this? Where does it go? And, three kids jumped up right away and wanted to help me. So playing helpless, plain. I need your assistance. Then they will jump up and you can also, like, if they're looking at you like, oh gosh, mom, You already know that, or if you're not sure what they're thinking. You can, pick it up and he can, take the dish and put it over the blocks and say, oh, Are they the same? Do they go together? Hmm. No, there are not the same. And you play act through it, right? It's not a block. It's a dish. It belongs over here. Right. And so you really engaged with them. And use this cleanup time that will help you at the end of your day. But it also is language rich. It's a learning opportunity, right? Okay. this is a nice NATURAL HALFWAY MARK and I would like to wrap up part one of this two-part series on developing good listening skills and understanding in your toddlers. So let's just quickly review what the first five are. One. Following novel commands. So he's getting, or she's getting used to your everyday routine. What happens if you change it up a bit, something new, something unexpected. Number two, following two step directions that are related to one object. Have him or her do two things with the towel or the donkey or the paper bag, whatever it might be. Number three, understanding new words every day, the average child at this point. We'll acquire nine new words every day. That's average. Number four demonstrating action words on request, right? So it's not just. Identifying specific tool. Toys or objects around the house or people or any of that, but can he do. A variety of actions with them. And then number five, we talked about today. Sorting objects into categories. And this is a learning process over the next 12 months between 24 and 36 months of age. But we start with some simple categorizations, some striking differences between food and animals. And then we start sorting smaller or closer and closer discrimination. So these milestones are crucial stepping stones to nurturing your child's ability. With listening and comprehending effectively. Right? And so it's a process and we, as human beings have to practice. Remember the journey here, this developmental journey that you guys are sharing with your little ones. Really require a lot of patients on your part. As you know, I'm just reiterating that a lot of practice, daily, daily, daily, and a lot of positive reinforcement, we learn best through shaping through love and fun and eagerness. Right. As I said earlier, be the cheerleader, not the place, especially when it comes to. Are you listening to me? Are you paying attention to my words? don't forget to sign up for the valuable cheat sheet that I made for you all. it's down below And you can use this cheat sheet to reinforce and practice these milestones. It includes all 10 of them. So you can kind of get ahead for next week. But the whole idea is to make everyday interactions meaningful and productive. Be sure to come back for part two and we'll continue this exploration on the remaining milestones. I do have some exciting and practical insights included there that you don't want to miss. And by signing up for the email list. You'll not only get this. Lovely cheat sheet, but you'll also be the first to know about this special guests that we have coming up. In the next several months. And trust me, you don't want to miss out. But thank you again as always for spending your precious time with me here on TALKING TODDLERS. I'm Erin Hyer. Your host. If you enjoy these episodes, please subscribe. And leave us a review, share it with your friends so we can expand the reach. To parents just like you. Together we can build a community of empowered and informed parents because my goal, my mission. Is to avoid developmental delays that I know after 35 years of practice, we can really navigate through. I want you to feel confident and comfortable in your parenting skills and watch your little one through natural everyday engagements. Just thrive. Under your leadership under your guidance. So stay tuned for part two and until then, keep playing, keep talking, keep eating with your little ones. You're doing an amazing job. And thanks again. God bless. I'll see you next week. Talking toddlers with Erin Hyer.