I know that if your child mis-pronounces a word you should still say it properly, but what if they have their own word for something?

[Tigerschick]

DD is 25mo. Her speech isn't wonderful but she is getting better everyday. She isn't putting words together yet but has quite a wide vocabulary.

If she mis-pronounces a word then I tend to repeat it correctly - not religiously or in a strict way. For example, one of our dogs is called Widget and she says 'tidgy' so I say, 'yes, Widget' or something similar.

My question is; what about things that she has her own words for?
She uses muslin squares as comforters and calls them 'ish'. We have no idea where she got this from and she knows what we mean when we say 'muslin' but she always says 'ish'. DH has started calling them 'ish' too and I'm not sure if this is the right way forward or if we should stick to calling them muslins.

This is just an example, there are a few other things that she has her own words for but, of course, I can't think of any right now!

I know that, in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't really matter but we want to do everything we can to help her language to develop so would welcome any advice or suggestions.
TIA

I dont bother to correct anymore,in the 'yes, an adult' for example, cos shes bright enough to change it, and its only for a little while!
She says 'when Im an adont, Ill wear that'
too cuuute!
My family made up loadsa words for things, and caused many hours of merriement, and a feelin.g of belonging

My nephew used to have a few like babbit for rabbit, bombine for combine (harvester) and toge for cold. If we asked, "is it toge" he looked at us like we were a bit mad, he thought he was pronouncing it properly. They do tend to stick though as little familyisms even though your child has really moved on and is using the correct words! Make good memories.

My youngest of three ds2 has just 2 and has been the slowest but funniest as far as speech development is concerned. He will quite happily ramble on in completely incoherant babble for several minutes whenever we are somewhere quite, but has recent started to recognise family names
We now have Wahwah for Alannah (dd1 age nearly 8) and babriel for Gabriel (ds2) but his funniest thing is that for about the last six months he has insisted on calling Thomas The Tank Engine and every train in that series, Henry. We have no idea where this came from as Henry is not exactly a popular character but it has definately stuck now whenever we are looking for a train we are all looking for henry!

My little girl now 3.3yrs old (who has a very wide vocab now) says 'jarmagies' (at least I think you would spell like this) and has done since she could speak arounds 2yrs and although she knows well enough that the word is pyjammas - still insists on 'jarmagies'.

Ooooh I forgot, we got "poo chair" for computer.

Its wonderful when they have their own words. I have a book in their memory boxes where I write the words down as it always brings a smile to my face reading them.

CoptCopt - Helicopter
Pryvups - my privates
Oggie - doggy
M'La - Millie (Big Sister)

I still refer to a helicopter now as a coptcopt!!

This thread has made me feel better - DS (21 months) doesn't have a vast vocab and most of his words are nothing like what they should be.

The cutest though is he calls Thomas the tank engine 'Gigis' - so me and Dh now use that aswell (funnily enough he understands us saying both Thomas and Gigis )

ds1 used to say 'ap' for yes.

Chipstick - we still refer to helicopters as het-hots and hail-hops (thanks to DS when he was one!!)

At the same age, DS also gave us gar-goo (for bottle - we never knew why).

DD called gloves "gubbles" when she was two, and now has no idea what we're talking about when we ask her if she wants to put her gubbles on. Now three, she has just stopped asking for "a regg" for her tea (boo hoo).

It so happens that I do know a large amount about language development, and it's absolutely right that you're "supposed" to correct them - not by pointing it out to them, but by just repeating the word "correctly" in your reply. However, a little collection of family favourites will not harm anyone's language development, and is a lovely thing for a family to share!

dd has just turned 6 and has only just stopped saying some words incorrectly. We have adopted quite a few.

eg 'limin room' - living room & 'omputer' - computer

Wait till they're a little older and start playing eye spy.

My daughter had something beginning with p - puter (computer) CH - tree!

have not read through the whole thread but have been meaning to ask this - is it normal to make up words for made up things? like a made up action or some unknown thing in a toddler's mind. i'm not worried - for once - as ds speech is very good but interested if others do this?

DS is 3.5 and came out with a great one recently- a coaster (to put mugs etc on) is now called a fonk. It's not that his misheard the real word, or can't pronounce it, he just decided that they should be called fonks. We think it's great and use it too now!

One he mispronounced is computer, he used to call it a spooker and that has stuck. He now uses the correct word but dh and I still call it a spooker cos its funnier!

my favourite is 'chunk it and bunk it' which involves throwing things down hard i think...

My ds calls crocodiles "fukaniles" and flatly refuses to pronounce it any other way. Hilarious!

I'm with nelly

My 23 month old for the last couple of months says wawah for a car and sky wawah for a plane. The nursery isn't too happy as he's taught the other kids to say it too and I've been informed to ensure we say car and plane.

Well, he knows what they are and and my view if the nursery's got a little revolution on their hands I'm sure they can control it.

DS will say car when he gets bored of being different.

ming ming = dummy
giggor = digger
bu-gum = shoes, slippers, boots
tuc tuc = tractor

worrymummy - I'm sure it's normal (or like to think so, anyway, or my DCs are fruitcakes). DD calls rooting through the washing basket "scrumbling" (far better than "sorting the washing out", if you ask me), and DS calls his bedcover Tucker (having called it Tucker-Upper as a toddler).

On the family favourites front, I forgot "ot-pot" (octopus)!

washin'na-nan-nan-nan - washing machine (I'm going to be really sad when she stops that)
Abeedee = Auntie Tracey (I call her that now!)

DD1 stopped saying 'bisdie' today and instead said 'spider'

My DD (4 at the time) baffled us one day by saying she wanted to go the the "flowerpot dentist".

We asked her to describe the flowerpot dentist and she said, "Well...you get a big trolley...and you push it round...and you choose lots of pretty flowers...and then you come home and plant them in the garden."

She meant the Garden Centre.

Kitty

Not really read through all this thread, but it's actually quite cute!! In out house a helicopter is a 'bellypopper' as that was DH's baby name for one!!!! It's still stuck 31 years later!