Importance of Speech & Word Games With The Kids

In this conversation, Times With Dad discusses the importance of capturing and documenting his children's speech and language development. Jonathan reflects on his own childhood memories of mispronunciations and wants to create similar memories for his own children. He also talks about how his son's speech delay was identified and the significance of matching the pacing of adult speech. The conversation then transitions to a fun word game where Avery and Blair try to pronounce various words. They also discuss their favorite animals at the zoo and their favorite games to play.

Transcript

Times With Dad
What do you want Blair? I got teeth. You got teeth? Yeah Blair what's in your nose? I got booger. You farted!

Yo, what's up everyone? Before we get into that episode, which is going to have Avery and Blair talking about words that they're trying to pronounce and having this little bit of a fun moment of word games. Avery talking about going to the zoo recently, as well as games that we're playing currently or we'll be playing or he enjoys playing. Avery's now very quickly getting super comfortable on his podcast to talk about his own topics, which I love and encourage.

In doing so, kind of had a little bit of revelation in that moment. That was the importance of the speech and how it's probably not a memory that I dwindle on and capture as well as I would hope. Besides your first words or their first words of, mommy or hey daddy, it's kind of one of those things where it gets put in the back runner and you live more in the day to day of it. And it's not something that I want to do. I remember

My mom telling me stories of when I was a kid, I used to say certain expressions and had certain things I would mispronounce and how she would laugh and laugh and tell me about it. And I actually really enjoy those stories. When she says it, it's almost like I can picture me saying it, but I don't know how I sounded when I said it. I now have tons of these moments where I get to see how we pronounce certain things correctly and correctly. I get to now have a record of his voice at this point in life, besides pictures and videos.

And he can look back and say, wow, I can't believe I sounded like that. Think about when you first heard your voice for the very first time and how taken aback you were. You don't sound the way you think you sound until you actually hear it. And with me having Blair now, a lot of things that Avery used to say, his expressions are kind of a little bit gone for me because I have Blair. And so these moments are a little bit more recent with her and a little more fresh. And so I kind of at moments live in that recency of it.

And it really does bother me a little bit, if I be quite honest. And that's because I want to have these same memories that I've gotten. I want to have more than just one or two stories. I want to have as many stories as possible. And I want to be able to show them that as well, not just a picture or a video and something additional to add to that. again, that's where me having this little revelation of the importance of that speech, you know, not just documenting their first words or not just.

fighting for their first words and looking forward to their first words, but to look forward to the words that they will have in the future, their enjoyment of the current moment that they're in now. Avery, for the longest time, would try to keep up with us, with our speech. And he would always say, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, laga, And for long time, I just thought it was playful banter or he's gonna grow and evolve like a dad would normally say. And it wasn't until my wife said,

think he's a little bit behind here. And probably, like most fathers, I know myself, I didn't believe it. I was like, no, he's in a phase, he will grow, he will get better at his speech in due time. And it wasn't until we actually took him to a speech therapist and she said, no, he's a little bit behind on pronunciation as well as his ability to have a different vocabulary than that. But she also broke down what the lug -a -lug -a -lug -a -lug -a means. And it was, just as I stated, him trying to match our pacing.

And that's an area that I never considered that he would look up to as far as myself or even my wife as adults where he's like, I am trying to fit in and I'm also trying to develop my own personality. And I feel that matching the pacing is more important than the pronunciation. And I don't think I have that moment ever recorded. And if I do, it's going to be very difficult to find. Another is Blair used to always say this or that. That's it.

She would only pronounce those two words, or she would pronounce the last word you say. And in this podcast, you kind of see her mimic a lot of Avery, and I noticed how much she looks up to Avery, because as soon as he would begin to talk, she would want to join in. And she would be repeating a lot of things he would be saying and adding onto it. And I really missed the this or that phase with Blair. It was super enjoyable how she can only say two words to us, and we understood everything she said. Or she would repeat the same word over and over, as if it was a sentence.

and we understood everything she said. It really dawns on to you how these moments are truly phases. The speech included is part of that phase. The only other time I would think of speech being part of their phase besides their first words is when they begin to have their voice change and becoming more to their adult voice and their permanent voice. And that's another moment where I'm looking forward to, but again, the only two moments that have ever come to mind where I feel their significance around their speech. As sad as that may be,

It's true. In the episode, I noticed that Blair's also changed up certain patterns of hers, for example. used to always say, yeah, with a very strong head nod. And if you're in a car with her and you're asking her a question and she's not responding, but she's giving you very strong head nod, it's very difficult because you're not sure if she's sleeping, if she's actually responding to you or not. But it is super adorable to look at. And when it came to Avery, I noticed how much he's improved in his speech.

And now watching him on the podcast and him not only pronouncing certain words, it's pronouncing them very well actually. Being very proud of himself and showing it. And then him also no longer just having that lack of ability where I would ask him questions and unless it was a very close ended question, a yes or no, he would very much struggle to articulate what he was trying to say to me. In this episode, he starts conversations. He...

response to conversations. He's now built up some of his own slang and I love to see it. I love to hear it because that's another element of his own personality that I just again overlooked to be part of him as a whole. I want to get into the episode because it is a humorous episode and just them pronouncing all of these words. Many of these words, Blair, I've never asked her to pronounce. So this will probably be her first attempt and then some with Avery as well. Looking forward to you guys listening to it and I hope you all enjoy it.

and I no longer wanted to delay it, so let's get right into it. We're starting with what is your favorite animal at the zoo. That's where we're starting at. You wanna start with your favorite animal at the zoo? Yep, I'll go first. I'll go you then Blair. Blair goes last. My favorite animal is... Zebras and dragons and snakes. But I don't like them that much. But it's good.

Alright, so what was your favorite animal? My favorite animal was zebras and... I take it... and dragons and snakes. But I don't like them that much. Bland, what's your favorite animal at the zoo? What was your favorite crocodile? Wait, wait. I she said crocodile.

Wow.

you like the crocodile? Yeah. What is your favorite animal daddy? That's a good one. I like the lion. at the zoo? Yeah great choice. And also I like the lioness too I forgot I... Get the elephant. You like the elephant? Yeah, tickle.

She just took off her headphones for no reason. It's okay Avery. It got full of elephants. When is the last time you guys went to the zoo? when you were not here. When you were not there. see, I see a cocomelon. I see you were not here. see you went to the zoo. first, first we just asked, first we just, first we, first I asked to go to swim.

enough for to go to gymnastics. Second, I think we went to the zoo. And third, I think you came. I think that's why you came. I got to go to So Blair, you went to gymnastics? Yeah. What did you do at gymnastics? Jump. Jump. Wow. You had fun? Yeah. Hey, so I want to, I want to, I want to ask you guys something because you guys, you guys sometimes make me laugh. So wait Blair.

Lynn, let me ask you a question. You make me laugh always. And when you do funny things to me, you make me laugh. I'm going to ask you to say something and then I'm going to ask Avery to say it. Okay? Avery. I want to ask you, are ready? Can you say... Can you say strawberry? Strawberry, yeah, strawberry!

Can you say strawberry, Avery? Strawberry. Can you say chocolate?

You like chocolate? Avery say chocolate chocolate. Mmm. Avery's pretty good. Okay, Blizz turn. Yeah, wait, wait, wait, I got another word. You ready? Can you say spaghetti?

You like spaghetti? Yeah. Did you eat spaghetti today? No. Avery ate spaghetti today. Yeah, she ate what you were not here yesterday. She did. She actually did. She did eat spaghetti. She's having the truth. was just yesterday. All right. Can you say spaghetti, Avery? Spaghetti. three for three. Yeah. You ready?

Yeah. Can you say hippopotamus? Say it one more time. Avery's turn. Hippopotamus. can you say aluminum? Say it again. Say aluminum. Good job. Avery's turn. Can you say aluminum? Say it again.

Hmm pretty close I like melon melon. you like watermelon? Yeah me too Wow, all right. Let me see. Can you say Blair? This one's tough. You ready? Yeah, you ready Avery? Yeah. Okay. Can you say cinnamon? Yeah, what was that? She said cinnamon, but it was a different voice. She said it different. Let me hear you say cinnamon Blair

Say it louder. Wow. Not bad. smooth. Here, I say cinnamon easily. Avery, you're pretty good. Alright, let me see. Let's try changing it up. My turn. Wait, see. Let Avery go first this time. Avery, can you say ambulance? Ambulance. Say that again, please. Ambulance. Ambulance? Let me hear Blair say it. Blair, can you say ambulance? Ambulance.

Whoa!

Good job! Yeah, ambulance and fires, yeah!

Wait, can you say police? Wait, can you try to say police? Just police. Just police. Okay, wait, wait, wait. Alright, Avery, go. Can you say police? Police. Alright, Avery, can you say caterpillar? Caterpillar.

Is blue's good or mine's good? You both are good.

Alright, can you say Rhinoceros? My turn. My Rhinoceros. Alright, Blair, can you say Rhinoceros? Rhinoceros. Wow. Blair, can you say octopus? Octopus. Octopus. My turn. Avery's turn. Octopus. Wow. Alright. Last one.

Okay, Avery can you say trampoline? Trampoline baby, baby, where can you go? Baby, baby Can you say can you say crocodile, but you say chocolate Yeah, she says crocodile. I'm just telling her where can you say can you say can you can you say this?

Headphones! Headphones!

Avery, what is your favorite game you like to play? Mario and wrestling. And Roblox. Leia, what's your favorite game you like to play? You like to play hide and go seek? Yeah! Hide and go seek! Hide and escape! Hide and escape! Yeah! Hide and escape! Do you like to play in a fort? Yeah. Wow, what about you? I like to play hide and go seek.

What is your favorite game? My favorite game? Yeah. What is it? Is it wrestling? Hi, Daddy, is it wrestling? Yeah, I like wrestling. How about Mario? I love Mario. Avery got one more question and then daddy's got one last question and then let's wrap it up. If I got one more thing to say to you is how to go seek your favorite game.

I used to really like hiding a sink. Were you a kid? Yeah. And I played it sometimes with you and Blair. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. But sometimes you're tired and after you just do something else and sometimes I was going to hang out with you. Remember that? I remember. Let's this up right now. All right, Avery. I love you. Love you.

Yep. Wait, I gotta use two hands.