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LisaMc and Plaidmom I completely agree about talking. We talk every day about anything and everything under the sun that only a toddler would understand.
Its funny that you mentioned art and color as today I was making myself a crystal light pink lemonade drink and I was repeating over to him pink, pink. Later he came up to me with pink chalk and went "ink! ink!"
As a former art educator I am a huge fan. Next step: set up a messy-art place in your house and let him play with some red and white play-do or tempera paint and let him "make" the color PINK. (or just take the primaries: red, yellow, blue) and let him discover the secondaries :green, orange, violet). If you want to get into Impressionism and Cubism....well that's totally up to you!
Just talk to him alot. Ask questions about his day. Interacting with him and getting down on his level to sit down and talk to him while playing will help build his vocabulary. As he hears words over and over and hears new words introduced by you, he WILL expand his vocabulary. Give it time
We have a well-worn big book of poetry for children that both of my girls loved. Most of the poems in it are classics, and we used to just cuddle on the couch and and I'd read it to them. It's not anything fancy; in fact, I'm pretty sure I picked it up on the clearance table at Barnes and Noble. As many other posters have said, the important thing is to immerse children in spoken word.
Children will learn a lot more vocabulary from listening to you TALKING, than from listening to you READING. Make yourself conscious of using REAL words when speaking to your child, and putting every sentence into correct grammar and syntax. If necessary, put a little hat on your child with the words "Speak correctly to me" printed on it, as a memory aid. (Just for fun, take him to the supermarket wearing that hat, and see what happens.)
For starters, train yourself to never say "Yup" or "Uh-huh" or " Yeah" to your child. Every time an affirmative reply is necessary, say "Yes". You will be amazed at how quickly you can get in the habit of doing this, and once you are, you will have just guaranteed your child an improvement of at least two letter grades on every line of every report card in school for the rest of his life.
Having said that, yup (oops!), it is also a good idea to seek out books in which the language is positive and constructive. I did not mean to demean that idea at the expense of another.
Agree with this as well with all of the other posters who said "just talk to your kids".
Turn off the cell phone when driving or walking or doing daily chores and talk. Talk to them as if they were adults. Baby talk is not needed.
Read to them daily.
When they start to read, don't limit their reading choices. I thought the post about being sent back downstairs to the "kids" section of the library was sad.
Mostly, though, try not to stress out. Children learn at their own pace. A calm happy parent is often a good parent.
Ok I know i'm going to be unpopular for this one but I absolutely believe that children's reading choices should be censored just as with television and movies. In fact books can be even worse than television and movies because they go into more detail AND you can be reading something inappropriate right in front of your parents and they wouldn't know any better.
I know this thread is about much younger children and I don't believe you need to censor a very young child who wants to ditch the Cat in the Hat and pick up the latest Babysitters Club or Bakugan book. But when kids start reading chapter books you really have to pay attention to what they are reading, especially if they are advanced readers for their age.
When I was growing up I was quite the bookworm and read at a very advanced level. My mom didn't speak much English and wasn't familiar with the books I was reading since they weren't exactly classics that were translated and sold world wide. I have to tell you I read things I probably shouldn't have MANY MANY MANY times. To the poster who got raised eyebrows when she tried to check out "Flowers in the Attic" i'm not surprised nor do I think that the librarian was wrong for checking with your mother. I would do the same. I read that book in second grade and it took me a while to really sort through all the incest, none the less I read the whole series but way younger than I should have. In 3rd grade I read "Go Ask Alice" great book but definitely not appropriate for an 8 year old. I've always loved crime/thriller novels. I'm reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo triology now and it's probably something I would have picked in the 3rd or 4th grade if it was available at the time. Without giving it away for those that are still planning on reading it there is a very graphic rape in there that 8yo eyes have no business seeing.
I'm just saying censorship on books is not a bad thing, especially if you have an advanced reader.
I wouldn't worry too much at this point and compare to other kids. So hard to do, I know. My oldest daughter didn't speak a word other than mama and dada until after she turned two. We read TONS of books everyday. Fast forward to the start of kindergarten last year and she tested reading at an almost 4th grade level at the beginning of the year.
She just took her time to start talking but there was lots going on inside. Once she did start talking, she would speak at least one new word everyday. Try to just relax a little and just focus on having fun! I remember how we tried so hard just to get her to say the word "milk" - now she talks so much I have to tell her to just "stop talking!" for a few minutes. My husband and I both look back and wish we hadn't stressed so much.
There was one boy who barely said anything until he was 2 1/2 - then he started talking in complete sentences, using multi-syllabic words, holding conversation. We all joked he was just waiting until he had it down before he tried it!
Sounds like my father in law! He did not talk until he was two years old. Then it was in complete sentences. He went on to be valedictorian of his high school class, salutatorian in college and valedictorian at an ivy league law school.
He apparently did not talk until he had something he felt was worth saying!
I taught at a preschool, and there were a couple of kids there who were late talkers - it wasn't anything the parents were or weren't doing, it was just how the child was. There was one boy who barely said anything until he was 2 1/2 - then he started talking in complete sentences, using multi-syllabic words, holding conversation. We all joked he was just waiting until he had it down before he tried it!
That's how I was. The running joke is I haven't shut up since!
Ok I know i'm going to be unpopular for this one but I absolutely believe that children's reading choices should be censored just as with television and movies. In fact books can be even worse than television and movies because they go into more detail AND you can be reading something inappropriate right in front of your parents and they wouldn't know any better.
I know this thread is about much younger children and I don't believe you need to censor a very young child who wants to ditch the Cat in the Hat and pick up the latest Babysitters Club or Bakugan book. But when kids start reading chapter books you really have to pay attention to what they are reading, especially if they are advanced readers for their age.
When I was growing up I was quite the bookworm and read at a very advanced level. My mom didn't speak much English and wasn't familiar with the books I was reading since they weren't exactly classics that were translated and sold world wide. I have to tell you I read things I probably shouldn't have MANY MANY MANY times. To the poster who got raised eyebrows when she tried to check out "Flowers in the Attic" i'm not surprised nor do I think that the librarian was wrong for checking with your mother. I would do the same. I read that book in second grade and it took me a while to really sort through all the incest, none the less I read the whole series but way younger than I should have. In 3rd grade I read "Go Ask Alice" great book but definitely not appropriate for an 8 year old. I've always loved crime/thriller novels. I'm reading the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo triology now and it's probably something I would have picked in the 3rd or 4th grade if it was available at the time. Without giving it away for those that are still planning on reading it there is a very graphic rape in there that 8yo eyes have no business seeing.
I'm just saying censorship on books is not a bad thing, especially if you have an advanced reader.
I agree with much of this. However, the really smart child will figure out a way to read the books you would rather he not without you ever knowing about it. (Until the nightmares start and you worm it out of them.) Speaking from experience with this one.
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(or just take the primaries: red, yellow, blue) and let him discover the secondaries :green, orange, violet). If you want to get into Impressionism and Cubism....well that's totally up to you! 
