I ask and say things like- is Burt a good boy, does Burt want to come out, what’s Burt doing, come here Burt, does Burt want a tickle, can Burt go to the stand, does Burt want to give mum a kiss, can Burt leave my hair alone, Burt needs to get out of there- that sort of thing.
He knows his name for sure but has never said it even though he says mum, where’s Frankie, Frankie come here, wanna give me a kiss, I love you, wanna tickle, no get out of it, that’s mine, give it back.... the list is huge and some things he hears probably a 100 times a day but doesn’t say and others he might hear every few days and says it a lot. I don’t think it’s only the repetition that gets them interested in mimicking certain words, I think sometimes they just take a shining to the sound of a certain word and then they copy it.