Hellobee Boards

I agree with @loveisstrange: in that there is a wide range of normal. LO was starting to put together 2-3 word sentences at that age, while other friends' kids were speaking in full sentences. "Straw" sounded like "Daw". Her receptive language skills were stronger than expressive skills. It sounds like LO1's skills are normal.

LO is now just under 29 months and can speak in full sentences (though not all the time). One thing i realized was that she probably had the capability of speaking in full sentences earlier, but we would just give her whatever she wanted when she said, "I want x item". Last month we finally decided to drill in "may i _____" and yesterday she actually said, "May i watch Old Mcdonald on ipad please?"

LO will be 2 next week and that sounds about right. He was leaving the ending off a lot of words ("ca" for car and "bir" for bird), but he had a huge language explosion over the last month or so and that seems to have gotten much better. Though there's still a LOT of stuff he says where I have no clue what he's trying to tell me! I hate seeing the look on his face when I don't understand him:(

He's also really made some strides with sentences lately. I find if he's not tired/cranky, he is much more likely to put words together than to just give me one word and a whine.

Our problem now is that he's learning just because he asks for something in a sentence - and adds a "please mommy" to the end - doesn't mean he automatically gets it!

That's very normal

Our pedi said putting together a few 2 word sentences is right on target for 2 years old. My lo turned 2 in May and just in the past 6 weeks I've noticed an extreme increase in her vocabulary and now she's starting to make longer sentences.

@Bao: it sounds like your two year old is right on track! It is ok if they aren't understandable all the time. As others have mentioned, there is a wide range of normal when it comes to speech. However, as an SLP there are a few things I look for at this age.
-150-300 words
-combining 2 words together
- using a couple pronouns like "me", "I", "you" but not necessarily grammatically correct
-understanding simple two step commands
-asking questions like "what's that?"
-take turns in conversation with you

You also mentioned that she drops the ends off words. That's a normal phonological process that tends to disappear around age 3. So I wouldn't work on that with a child until 3-4 years of age.
At any rate, it sounds like she is doing great!

@Bao: you're welcome!

@lamariniere: your child also might have difficulty with the "l" sound as well by your examples. Totally normal at 3.5!