He imitates phrases and words he doesn’t know the meaning of, very well, all the time. But often, when he isn’t just babbling either real or apparent nonsense – and by “apparent” I mean it could have some other than purely phonetic meaning which we simply don’t know (maybe all baby talk has such meanings?) – often he does know what he’s saying.
The other day he was holding some Barbie dolls together, and said “Help? Hug?”
He’ll say very briskly, in transition, “Okay” – and with the same briskness if he’s hurt or has a spill he’ll say “Oops – sorry”.
Sometimes he’ll withhold objects from mommy and coach her to say “Please?” if she forgets to.
He remembers objects in places he has seldom or only once been, and calls for them before he sees them on returning.
He also recently came to me sleeping in, and from the side of the bed tugged at my sleeve and said “Pull? Pull?” – then trying to push me up – “Up? Up?” – and I got up and he took my finger in his hand and said “Hand? Hand?” – and led me out of the room to play.
And best of all if you ask me, he often exlaims, often when running to me -“Dad-dy dad-dy dad-dee-dee-dee-dee-dee!”