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We're in the same boat here. I asked our pediatrician, and they recommended to just continue doing what we're doing (which is essentially normal stuff - reading to him, talking to him, etc). We enrolled him in some classes - music on the weekends and a mommy and me pre-preschool (it's just 2 hours once a week for socialization) just so he can experience some new things, but other than that, I'd be interested to hear other ideas as well!

Sounds like whatever you are doing is encouraging all the talking. I would just keep it up and add some classes here and there to help your LO socialize more with his peers. My oldest walked early and spoke later. My youngest spoke earlier and walked later. Siblings can be very different and mine are!

My LO is almost 2 and had been speaking in full sentences for several months, I've stop keeping track of words but she's well over 600 by now.

She was talking in 4-6 word sentences at 18 months, our doctor said the best thing we can do with her because of her advancement is continue to have normal conversations with her like we would an older child but also remember she's young and may not always comprehend like we expect her too. She was at a 2 1/2 year old level then, so I'll be interested to see where she's at her 2 year check up. She speaks clearer than my 3 year old niece and might have a larger vocabulary, each kid learns at a different pace.

I'm lucky that in my family they just say she's smart and I don't think they will compare LO2 to her, they just know she's advanced, which I'm okay with. I don't want LO2 to feel pressured. But I would just reiterate to them that your LO is advanced verbally.

@jedeve: My gut feeling is that even early talkers need plenty of time to catch up in their emotional development. Just from remembering what an immature selfish kid I was at three and I started talking early too, and was also speaking in sentences by two.

Maybe try reading to him more... at least in my family, all the kids who talked early also taught themselves to read by watching the words on the page while they were read to. Though my mom first learned to read upside down because of this

@jedeve: Our son is similar, really good vocabulary for a not-yet-2 year old and sentences. We're continuing to do what we've been doing, which means talking to him a lot (I think maybe it helps that we're pretty chatty with him, as is our nanny, and we talk to him like he's a regular person), and reading a ton. We also signed him up for preschool pretty early, because we thought he'd like it and get a lot out of it - he's in a class for 2-3.5 year olds (he's 2 in October). We're looking into maybe doing a French immersion preschool next year, just for fun.

I definitely know what you mean about high expectations, though! DH and I need to constantly remind each other that even though he sounds older than he is, he's still not even 2, and we need to be more patient with his toddler-ness!

@jedeve: get the monies!

@Mrs. Jump Rope: +10000 on the frustration that comes with a child that seems older than she actually is. I have to constantly remind myself that even though LO is a couple of years ahead in her language development, she's still only 2. We've had to be especially careful in how we discipline her.