Thank you for this post!  I sometimes need to be reminded as I am not a talker by nature.  As Nee1 says the book Meaningful Difference is one of the most cited books.  I read many books on child development and kept seeing that book cited so I decided to just go ahead and read it myself.  It was very good and I highly recommend both books, The Read Aloud Handbook as well.

For those who are worried about non-stop chatter being too much I do remember that in the Meaningful Differences study they said that each family went up and down in the amount of talk.  That is, the "talkers" sometimes talked less.  I don't remember the exact number, but something like they said 800 sentences an hour one observation period and only 400 in another.  The point was that even on their lowest talking day they still talked more than the non talkers on their highest talking day. 

I know that at meal time when I read to my baby I easily surpass the recommended amount and that is 3 or 4 times a day for 30 minutes to an hour each time.  You'd be surprised how the words can add up when you are reading and talking freely.  Therefore, I do still talk but try not to worry if I am not narrating every second of life at times like when I just woke up and haven't had my coffee or when the baby is clearly enjoying concentrating on whatever fun thing he is doing.  The point is not to make yourself or your kids crazy.  I say that for myself because I often feel overwhelmed wanting to do the best for my son. 

But that being said, there is a mom in one of my son's classes who talks constantly to her daughter.  It seems very natural and unforced. Her daughter who is barely 2 talks like she is 4.  It is quite amazing and gives me motivation to keep talking!

My husband is a native Spanish speaker and refuses to speak Spanish to our son.  He has nothing against it he just can't switch his brain to that mode as he associates us with English.  Err!  What can I do?  All you can do is just try to give them as much exposure as possible and just let go of the results.  In my case I had to realize that it was more important in the long run to have a relaxed atmosphere at home.  Even though we didn't fight about it, it still added a bit of tension when I would suggest that he speak Spanish to him.  He felt like I was criticizing him as a dad. I know my son will learn something if he is exposed.  And even though I speak mostly in English to my son I do also speak to him in Spanish.  We also read books and sing songs in Spanish as much as possible. 

A little bit of shameless self promotion here for my youtube channel: www.youtube.com/mindymarissa  The songs are really wonderful, simple and easy to understand.  They are not mine so I can't take credit.  I just did the video.  The singer, Miss Rosi, has many many more songs with a few on Amazon and iTunes.  I am planning to make more when I find the time.  Ha ha.  Here is one of the videos:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/v8ajSezXnzc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/v8ajSezXnzc&rel=1</a>

   I am so glad that you find my recommendation useful.  By the way, I realized that I copied a link for a products page containing many products.  I think it may be apparent but I was referring to the Babybug magazine.

Here is also a link that shows an example of the magazine:

http://caruspub.richfx.com.edgesuite.net/catalog_caruspub/BBBSampler2/index.aspx?rfx_passback=

My son LOVES these books:
http://www.cricketmag.com/ProductList.aspx?cat=1

They are actually a periodical but really just books that come out monthly.  Not sure if you can get them where you are.  My son who is 14 months has such an AMAZING vocabulary.  I credit it to reading to him and specifically to these books.  My mom bought him 30 of these at a thrift store and it has been the best thing for him.  I read them to him at every meal.  So we pretty much get through all the books everyday. 

I just bought a bunch more on ebay as we can get a lot more for a lot less that way. 

At first he wasn't totally in to them.  Since it is a "magazine" I just read him the "stories" that I knew would appeal to him.  Now we read the whole book and he just loves it.  I think the language is slightly more complex than most of his other baby books.  But, that's a good thing as there are not too many words on the page to loose his interest. There is lots of rhyming and since each book contains different "stories" it holds his attention because every two to four pages or so is something totally new. 

I highly recommend them.

Here are some interesting reads on the topics of sleep and exercise that you may find helpful:

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
 http://www.amazon.com/Spark-Revolutionary-Science-Exercise-Brain/dp/0316113514/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323294353&sr=8-1

It is a little tedious, but very interesting.  I am "reading" it in audio book form from audible.  I think if I read in print I might not be able to get through it as the author is sometimes very scientific.

The No Cry Sleep Solution for Toddlers and Preschoolers:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_3_6?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=no+cry+sleep+solution+for+toddlers&sprefix=No+cry

The author also has one specifically for naps which I haven't read.  I was such a skeptic on this book.  But wouldn't you know it is actually working!  My son is sleeping so much better and he even sleeps through the night more and more.  I believe sleep and exercise are both so important.  I hope this helps some of you.

I use interactive books with my baby who is the same age.  We have a gazillion lift the flap books and a few pop up and slider books.  He loves lifting the flaps and grabbing the pop ups and I always let him.  I just reinforce the pages with clear packing tape so they don't rip.  Sometimes they still do but that's to be expected. 

Also, it seems obvious but make sure they are books that they like.  My baby is very particular with the books he likes.  He won't sit still if it doesn't interest him and we have plenty of books that don't.  He loves the baby books by Karen Katz.  I also have home made books with his picture, family pictures and his favorite - the dogs.

Love it!  Thanks so much for sharing.

Does anybody have any insight on what really is the difference between LR Basic and LR Delux?  Can anyone who has the Delux help me decide if it is worth the extra money?  So grateful for your responses!

My baby refused to spend anytime on his tummy.  He hated it!  I was worried about his development when he was 9 months and not crawling.  I started to feel guilty because I had read but not followed "How to Teach your Baby to be Physically Superb."  But, he took his first steps at 9 months and one week.  About the same time he learned to scoot on his butt and then crawl.  Now I try to encourage him to crawl and walk as much as possible.  We go outside for walks everyday.  He often just stands there contemplating a leaf in his hand. But, we both enjoy it. 

The main idea of the book is give your baby lots of opportunity for development.  A lot of the suggestions are a impractical: building a crawling track, monkey bars in your house...for me anyway.  So we just try to have lots of development opportunities which are also quality moments we spend together.  The quality time together is more important than anything.

I am teaching my son Spanish.  I found a wonderful children singer that he likes - Miss Rosi.  She has a beautiful voice and her songs are often pretty simple.  You can go onto YouTube and there are lots of videos with her songs.  Just search Miss Rosi (or often people who put up her songs spell it Miss Rossi)  This video in particular I made from one of her songs.  Hopefully it will help some of you who are trying to teach Spanish like me.  I plan to make more from her more basic songs.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/0cPTvIN3LvU&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/0cPTvIN3LvU&rel=1</a>

I had a similar dilemma in principle and I agree you should not toss the program.  The program will provide your child with an introduction to the language which will allow him to have many more meaningful experiences with it.  Those experiences will be possible because of what he has learned even if he does learn a few things that are not quite right. 

Further, his brain is wired to look for patterns.  You may find that he already understands the difference between “la mano” and “las manos” even though he has been hearing it wrong because he has heard other examples of singular versus plural, e.g. “la oreja” and “las orejas.”  This is why kids often say irregular words wrong even though they hear it right.  Their brains pick up the pattern.  But, with constant exposure to the language from multiple sources they learn certain words don’t always follow the rules.  Similarly, they learn certain speakers (videos, books, etc.) don’t always get it right!  He will learn to pick up the difference.

That was my dilemma.  I wondered should I speak to my baby in Spanish at all even though I sometimes make grammar mistakes and have difficulty pronouncing certain sounds (rr!).  I decided I would in order to provide him with a foundation of meaning.  This would serve him to be able to participate in other experiences with the language.  The combination of all his experiences with the language will refine what he learns. 

My husband is also from Peru!  I also make videos to help my son.  There is a wonderful children’s singer from Peru whose songs I am using.  I try to use lots of large text to help him learn written Spanish as well.  I am posting my videos to YouTube.  Maybe they will serve you too.  Right now I only have one but hope to add more!
http://www.youtube.com/user/mindymarissa?feature=mhee

Mindy