25 Words All Toddlers Should Know by Age 2

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Some toddlers are very chatty, others are more quiet, and every kid develops at their own pace. I see this firsthand with my twins -- they don't hit their milestones at the same time. Often it's not something to worry about, but as the parent, you know your child best and your instinct will tell you if a missed or slow-to-come milestone should be mentioned to your doctor.

Speech and talking is a big one. Once our babies say their first word, it's exciting when they add more words to the mix either verbally or by sign, or both. By the time a child is 2, there are 25 words every toddler should be using say researchers from the Child Study Institute at Bryn Mawr College. Twenty-five words is considered the minimum for late talkers -- the average is 75 to 225 words with phrases. These 25 words are considered to be the building blocks of a child's vocabulary.

  1. all gone
  2. baby
  3. ball
  4. banana
  5. bath
  6. bye bye
  7. book
  8. car
  9. cat
  10. cookie
  11. daddy
  12. dog
  13. eye
  14. hat
  15. hello/hi
  16. hot
  17. juice
  18. milk
  19. mommy
  20. more
  21. no
  22. nose
  23. shoe
  24. thank you
  25. yes

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Dr. Leslie Rescorla is a director at the institute who determined what the words should be. She shared that if your child doesn't say all 25 of these words, it doesn't necessarily mean you should worry -- some kids have delayed speech and catch up by age 4 or 5.

toddler words age 2

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