language acquisition

It's been a never-ending source of amazement to me to watch Andrew as he gradually picks up new concepts and abilities. Lately, although his practical experience with language still seems limited to making a variety of noises and partial words ("ch" for cheese, "sa" for sock, "sh" for fishies--i.e. goldfish, etc.), his theoretical understanding of language definitely is improving. For instance, if I say, "mommy has to go potty" (I've been told that narrating action to children is good for them, although maybe he doesn't really need this level of detail), he generally responds by promptly trotting over to the bathroom door and looking at me expectantly. And tonight, when I told him it was "time to go 'noosy'" (a word I picked up from Dan who picked it up, I think, from his sister Sarah--it's sort of a cross between "nursing" and "snoozy"), Andrew started a funny little "uh uh uh" whine of excitement and practically ran down the hall to his bedroom. When I opened the door, he made a beeline for the rocking chair and, within minutes, was indeed snoozing away happily.