Hi moms , I wanted to see if anyone has experienced something similar with their toddler and if this sounds typical for this age.
My son is 31 months old and uses a lot of functional language—he’ll say things like “more strawberries,” “more water please,” or “go see grandma.” Lately I’ve noticed he also does a lot of self-talk while playing. For example, today at a Christmas gathering, he was playing with toy pigs and talking himself through it, like “okay, put pigs on slide,” and then doing it.
He also sometimes says things like “you say go and I say go,” or “you go, I go,” which sounds like phrases he’s picked up from me since I talk like that with him during play. It feels like he’s replaying language he’s heard. Another example is recently instead of just saying up he will say “go up go up go up” just like he has heard on ms. Rachel.
He’s also been singing a lot of nursery rhymes, especially The Itsy Bitsy Spider. He’ll ask very specifically for us to sing it—like “Daddy sing Itsy Bitsy Spider” or “Mommy sing Itsy Bitsy Spider”—and he can get upset if we don’t sing it. Other times, if he decides he doesn’t want us to sing and we do, he’ll also get upset 😅.
I’ve also noticed he’s still working through pronouns. For example, he’ll say things like “Mommy hold you” or “Mommy pick you up” instead of “me.” And instead of saying “I want” or “my turn,” sometimes he’ll use his name and say “his name’s turn.” Other times, he does say “my turn,” so it’s kind of mixed.
Additionally, he is sensitive to loud or unexpected sounds like people screaming and cheering. He gets upset to the happy birthday song for example. We went to a magic show and once everyone started to clap and cheer he covered his ears and cried and said “go home too loud.” He isn’t afraid of regular everyday loud noises and is also totally fine going into an arcade or something loud.
At the same time, he does interact with other kids. He’s social at daycare, and today he went right up to his cousin (who’s a bit older), said “catch me,” and they were running, laughing, and playing together. He uses words to make requests (more strawberries, water please). He will ask me to play with him (mommy come or mommy read, etc). He will ask to go to his grandmas or the little gym and. Says ( put shoes on go little gym).
overall his language sounds weird too me and his fear of loud noises.
I’m just wondering—have other moms seen this kind of self-talk, repeating phrases, pronoun mix-ups, or strong preferences around songs at this age? Did it feel like normal toddler behavior for your kids?