I agree. I noticed my chilren could understand what was being said long, long, before they could speak, and a lot of their tantrums were annoyance and frustration over the fact that they could not express themselves well enough to be understood.
This was mostly alleviated by teaching them baby sign language.
They love, not only being able to tell you that they want milk, are hungry, are all done, etc, but they also love telling you about the kitty/doggie/fishie/birdie they see, the book that they'd like you to read, or the cars they see driving by.