Babies first word, babies first sentence

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My baby amazed nurses his first few days in NICU by being able to raise his head up on his own and look around. My doctor didn't believe me when I let him know that he was turning himself over (usually when furious at being changed - the indignity!) in his first month. He crawled around until between five and six months months and then began lifting himself up on furntiture and moving himself along. I thought he'd be walking then his first summer - eight or nine months. But I found he'd walk a few steps then get scared - perhaps remembering falling at previous attempts then just sit down. I didn't mind, I've read crawling for awhile is good for brain development - cross crawling as it uses both sides of the brain. He would dance in place though - he loves dancing! He finally started taking wobbly jaunts across the room at about a month past his first birthday. Of course past, because we visited my husband's relatives on his first birthday who were very quick to tell me that his cousins all started walking well before their first birthday. And they were all potty trained well before the first birthday too. They apparantly pretty much did it on their own too. Now its the talking race. He's 20 months now. He jabbers alot. He understands words - like if I say where is the and fill in the blank with tree, light, ball, truck etc - he goes to find it or looks at it. If I ask him to sit on his potty he walks across the room to it, or to that mommy has to go pee pee, go open the door! Etc. He has a small vocabulary - many words which he'd been saying for awhile before I figured out what he was saying - like he says door door - it took awhile to decipher it and pick it out of the sentence. I think it took him pointing to it to figure it out and realize he's been using it! He says light, hi, yes, no, no, no (the last to any dogs that are barking), dog, up (to mean pick me up, wake up) and out for outside. And of course Ama (grandma), mama, dada etc, simple words. But no sentences. His Ama has brought it up a few times saying that he needs to go to nursery school so he can talk more (we can't afford that and don't qualify for vouchers). And last time said maybe it was because his dad and I don't talk to him much. I talk to him ALL the time! I relay what we're doing - like washing dishes (he helps) or point out things to him - now I just say look at the tree, water, stream and he looks without me pointing so I know he listens! I make songs for things like animals, bathtime etc. And when he says something to me, I listen and nod or say really? And let him reply. I even play sharing, please and thank you games with him. I talk ALOT. We have first word books too. So she says, "Oh well, maybe he's slow..." Of course if he is I'll love him just the same, but every child is different. His friend Braan who is like two and a half is only just starting to string two or three words together, like if I come over with Robert he says, "Amy play! Robert play!" His mom is a SAHM too and talks and explains things. And a friend from base, her baby only just started his potty training at two and wasn't alking in sentences then. Of course, he thinks he's talking and sounds confident that what he says makes sense! I barely talked until I was five then you couldn't shut me up. And my mom said I started reading at two - probably because I've always loved books (I even vaguely remember my favourite from back then) and I wasn't read to enough for my liking - but again all kids are different, I started reading at two, I devoured my moms sci fi and other books in the fourth grade and even delved into my sister's college books, but I couldn't tie my shoelaces until like third grade and though I really concentrated I couldn't make my bat connect with the ball in school. My neice paige was singing her abc's and other songs by two and half and knew her shapes and colors but that doesn't mean if they have another child they would be the same. Or that that other child would be flawed for it. When did your child start really stringing understandable words together into sentences and did you have any annoying relatives like this? this was the same m-i-l who all day long each day of our visit was telling me how the baby must be hungry and thirsty and wouldn't grow up big and strong and healthy because I nursed him!