Mason barely said a word till he was 2 1/2 so I understand your frustration. He'd say Dad and Bob (as in the builder) but I was just Ahhh. He was fantastic at animal sounds though. He'd spot a dog and say "woof woof" or scream when he saw a cat so there was langage there but not that we could really understand.

I spent a lot of time reading to him, especially books with real pictures of animals and everyday things. I also talked to him all the time eg putting on socks and shoes "this is a sock Mason, can you say sock etc.
One day we were looking through the photo album and he started telling us the names of the people in the photos. Nanny, Poppy etc. It was like he'd been waiting till he was ready to talk to us, then he didn't stop.