DH and I share a document on Google Drive called, "LO's Lexicon" and we add new words and phrases she learns to it. I added a couple of words last night that we had been meaning to add and thought damn, we should have added the age she was in months. We are going to put the list in her 2 year book.
Do you keep a list? Or are DH and I the only dweebs who do this?
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
We don't keep a list but I am always impressed when parents tell me the exact number!
squash / 13764 posts
I started doing this! It's easy because LO only has 2 words right now 
I'm sure I'll fall behind at some poinT!
GOLD / wonderful coffee bean / 18478 posts
I think I made a list around 18 months but DH said I was a dork and to stop. Lol. I was just curious, but it's not something I would have been good at keeping up with anyway.
blogger / nectarine / 2608 posts
That's really neat. When she was about a year I had a running list, but I have since totally lost track. I try to take videos periodically instead to keep an informal record of what she sounded like and what she was saying. Like her asking for the Beach Boys or calling Elly "Ewwy" or Grandpa Dan being "Pampa Dan" and how she calls deoderant "kai-oderant" and wants to shake it at everything. I love that you keep a list.
coconut / 8234 posts
@autumnlove: Do parents just go around telling the exact amount of words their kids have?
I don't know how long we will do this, I guess when it's just too many words to keep track of. Isn't there a point where they are averaging learning one new word a day or am I making that up?
blogger / pineapple / 12381 posts
We did for a while for both girls but when it hit 100, we gave up 
coconut / 8234 posts
@hilsy85: Yeah we fall behind, too.
@Andrea: It is a dorky thing to do...but I don't mind letting my dork flag fly.
@Mrs. Twine: Videos are a good idea. We've been slacking on that.
coconut / 8234 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: That seems like a good stopping point. I think we will stop at 2.
pomelo / 5866 posts
Yes, I did it in columns by months so I could see it grow longer each months. I stopped after about 8 months. :). I love seeing all the words at a glance. I think I got the idea from Project Nimh where they tracked the monkey's vocab for interesting research purposes.
blogger / nectarine / 2608 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: I kept track with both until a little over 100. With Ellie it was nuts because she went from a handful to hundreds seemingly overnight. With Lorelei it was more gradual, but still seemed to happen SO fast. I think what I've noticed more with Lorelei has been the progression from single words to being able to communicate more complete thoughts. It has been so fun to see her work on that, and I love getting to hear more about the things she thinks about and feels and cares about.
wonderful pear / 26210 posts
I should have, because it would have helped when we needed to get him assessed for a speech delay.
pomegranate / 3729 posts
We didn't, but looking back I think that would have been fun. She has so many now that I don't think I could even do it if I tried...I know I would miss some. But if we have another I would love to write down the word and when it was said. She is only 17 months and I already forget!!
honeydew / 7917 posts
I started a list since DS was a bit delayed and didn't have much of a vocabulary until he was 18 months old. I started jotting them down on a small piece of paper, which then ended up on a sheet of notebook paper. Eventually I lost track. now DS is speaking in full sentences and asking questions. I can't imagine how long that list would look like now.
nectarine / 2964 posts
Yes we do, but it is because of LO's speech delay.... I started doing it when he was 15 months in order to meet the "quota" of at least "20 words by 18 months". Phewl... we sort of met the quota with some nudging.....
If he were talking up a storm, I wouldn't have worried and had a list.....
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
I just keep a note on my iphone -- I did this in preparation for the 18 month appt. just to make sure we are on track.
squash / 13199 posts
we dont have written list, I am putting them down in her baby book but not on the computer or anything that organized
cantaloupe / 6086 posts
@Mrs. Jacks: similar, I kept notes on my phone until 150 and then gave up. it was hard to keep up near the end! I do still write down really cute phrases she says, or cute ways she pronounces words.
coconut / 8299 posts
We kept a list until around 100 and then stopped because it was getting too long. So I started jotting down phrases (2-3 words), which was much easier to manage.
blogger / pomelo / 5400 posts
I kept one when I was concerned that he didn't have many, probably up to about 50, but now that he's had a language explosion there's no way I can keep up.
hostess / wonderful persimmon / 25556 posts
@mrsjazz: you're cracking me up. I think, like my fellow moms with babies around M's age, I'll keep up until her 18th appointment or longer, if there is a delay.
hostess / wonderful grape / 20803 posts
And I should add that the only reason I started keeping a list is because for a while I felt like T was behind.
grapefruit / 4056 posts
Eh, he says words, I keep a mental note of them, but I probably miss/don't catch about 1/3 of what he says honestly. I think they are looking for a ballpark number of words, not an exact documentation for the purposes of evaluation anyways.
grapefruit / 4817 posts
I've thought about doing this, but I don't know what counts. Are you counting words he just repeats or words he actually uses. For example, he recently said "spoon" perfectly, but it was only after I repeated it a few times while getting him a spoon. He's never said it again, and I have no idea if he even knew I was talking about the spoon. Does this counts as one of his words? I feel like 90% of his words are just repeats of what I say, but then he hasn't said them again, or has just once more.
persimmon / 1128 posts
No, because his words are still gibberish, but now I'm totally going to. I'm even stealing your title!
coconut / 8234 posts
@BananaPancakes: We don't count words she repeats. We only count words she uses on her own, so only if she points to the spoon and says spoon without one of us saying it first. If we counted everything she repeated we'd have to stop the list because she is a little parrot right now.
We also only count words if we both hear her using them. Sometimes I don't believe DH when he says she used a specific word, so it doesn't count unless both Mommy and Daddy heard it with no prompting.
@shinymama: Ha! The title was DH's idea. That's what you get when you're married to an English teacher.
@mediagirl: LO's 18-month appointment is coming up. I don't think we can stop then! We didn't even start the list thinking about pediatricians or delays, we just did it because we were so amazed at some of the things she picked up on. Like the word "necklace," we were both like, "Whoa baby! We have to write that down." I can't wait until she's a teenager and I can pull out the list and she will look at me and roll her eyes because she thinks we're dorks!
GOLD / wonderful pomegranate / 28905 posts
LOL I did when she just started but I've stopped now. But I might take @winniebee suggestion and put together a list for her 18 m visit.
But I agree, parroted words don't count. Only if she saids it herself and/or knows what it is.
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