Yesterday my eleven month old son was playing in the floor. He picked up one of his books, opened it up (upside down) and began “reading” to himself – flipping the pages as he quietly babbled “doo ga doo ga doo ga”. It was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen, and my hand is now permanently attached to the video camera waiting for him to do it again. We read to him quite a lot; I’m glad to see that it seems to be making an impression!
My daughter did something similar with “Moo, Baa, La La La” by Sandra Boynton when she was 2. She decided to “read” it to the cat, and made it through the first 3 pages exactly following the text of the book (memorized, obviously).
She was very careful to show the cat the pictures, just like Mommy & Daddy show her. So, she’d “read” the words, turn the book upside down for the cat’s perusal, and the flip the page.
We watched her say “Moo” <flip of page>, “Baa” <flip of page>, “La La La” <flip of page>, “DUCK!!!” <Mieow!>
The cat got upset because my daughter had a duck fetish, and got so excited when she saw the duck, she accidentally clobbered the cat in the head when she flipped the book over to show the duck to the cat.
It was very cute, and why I try to keep a camera available at all times.
Eli
Similarly, we were once driving to Boston with our daughter, singing songs to her. We were just about to start on another, when I said, “Lisa, now you sing to us.”
She came out with this tuneless, wordless chant that was purely delightful.
A couple of years ago when my son was about 4, we were listening to a Hebrew language learning CD in the car. (My husband is taking lessons in a casual way.) It was one of those where they say a phrase in English, pause, and then repeat it in Hebrew.
After the CD ended everything was quiet for a while, and then my son made some ordinary observational comment like “There’s a yellow car.” Then, after exactly the right pause, he repeated his comment in “Hebrew.”
My daughter used to make up her own songs and sing them while she was sitting in her car seat. I surreptitiously recorded a couple of them using my cell phone’s notes feature. Unfortunately, I never figured out a way to transfer them from the cell phone to some more permanent medium.
The sound of my daughter giggling with glee is the greatest antidepressant that Og ever invented.
My son was riding in the car with my parents at around the age of four when he asks (out of the blue), “Grandpa, why do policemen like donuts?”
When my nephew was 3 1/2 he and my sister were visiting. He saw my birds sitting on perches and said “Birds!”
Then the birds flew across the room. He pointed and yelled “Airplane!”
Awesome. My son loves all Boynton book, but especially Moo Baa La La La. He’s 18 months, and knows all the sounds in the book, even when the book isn’t around. It’s especially cute when you say “Rhinoceros,” and he leans in to you and snorts and snuffs. 
Lately, whenever babyx, who is six months old, sees one of the cats, she starts laughing.
This thread looks like it’s going to contain delightful kid stories.
Moved from IMHO to MPSIMS.
And so it begins…
Mwoehahahahahasnort
I was babysitting my niece, then about 3, and my son, who was about 4, trying to keep them entertained by making animal noises. They’d name the animal, I’d make the noise. We went through all the mundane ones, like cow, dog, cat, etc., and then they started getting more exotic. They requested a camel noise. Since camels spit, I made a “hocking a loogie” sound, to their immense delight.
Later on, my sister was reading Dr. Seuss’s ABC to the little urchins. She turned the page to “Camel on the Ceiling” but before she could read it, my niece pointed excitedly to the picture and starting going, “hyock ptui! hyock ptui!”, mimicking my “hocking a loogie” noises to perfection. It was priceless.
Are you sure it was an accident? 'cuz that’s pretty funny. Good grasp of language for a two-year-old!