What are some fun activities for cognitive development?

What type of vocabulary should a 13 month old have? Do you have fun ideas for developing language skills?

• This is our second child - our first is 7 years old and she spoke very , very early - and has kept talking ever since... Our 13 month old has a number of sounds that she makes - including both consonant and vowel sounds, but her recognizable word vocabulary is small.. ma ma, da da, thank you ( or what sounds like it), bye bye . It almost sounds as if she has a language all her own because she repaets things to us. I can't remember at what age a child starts developing more solid word sounds - and I have also heard that a second child can speak later - theory being that the first child " talks" for them. I practice and repeat words with her, and know that she understands the concepts about the language behind the words- she plays peek a boo- and waves goodbye when you say the words. So the concept and language development is there, just not the speech. At what age should she say more? And does anyone have fun activities to help with langauge development at this age?

• Answer:

  Well, talking to her, even if you are doing something that doesn't involve her will help. For example, put her in a bouncer facing the kitchen, then tell her what you're doing as you make dinner. "Now Mom is putting the ground beef into the frying pan!" My daughter really liked the brainy baby videos and DVD's. They are educational and lots of fun.