Every animal is "kitty."

goodtobethelarkster · April 2009

We have two cats whom DD is fascinated by. "Kitty" was one of her first words. Now every animal with four legs is "kitty."

Dogs are kitties that don't beat you up when you put them on leashes. Horses are really, really big kitties. Cows are kitties that go "moo."

I don't want to be discouraging to her efforts to label and generalize. And I totally get why she thinks animal = kitty when she spends so much time with our cats. But sheep aren't kitties that you shave to make sweaters and I want her to learn the correct labels for stuff.

So how do you walk the line here? How do correct DC without discouraging them? Or do you? If not yet when?

nosoup4u · April 2009

She'll figure it out, they all do. Babies/toddlers are made to talk and understand language, and using the same word for everything is part of the process. DS says "bah" for balls, bottles, dogs, cats and most things he likes, but he knows the difference between all of them if you ask him to point them out. Don't stress- and if she's still calling all animals "kitty" in kindergarten, well, then maybe you should worry...hee.

Temp174496125006552 · April 2009

I would just tell her, "No, that's not a kitty, that's a dog (horse, whatever)." I don't look at it as discouraging her. I look at it as teaching her the proper name for things.

marinewife51 · April 2009

DS's first word was "Izzie" which is our dog's name, and he calls all dogs "Izzie"...I usually just say something like, "Ohh, you see the PUPPY?" and try to use "Izzie" only for our dog. I figure he'll get it right eventually, and in the meantime I think it's kinda cute that he recognizes a species, no matter what he calls it

LoriFalce · April 2009

For Joseph, everything with fur is "a dog!" Even if there are six of them, they are, collectively, "a dog!"

But if you ask him to point animals out to you, he'll identify the kitty, the sheep, the cow, the pony, the bunny, etc. He does say "bird," "duck," "ishy," so it's definitely the fur that defines "a dog!"

Try to get her to point to things instead of saying it. Joseph is starting to add other animals into his vocabulary, but it's slow. I figure as long as he knows what he's talking about, we can work on actually developing the words.

fIowerchild · April 2009

In our house, every animal is 'dawg'. We have 3 dogs (and 3 cats).

jennhawk · April 2009

My dd did this for a while. She panted (her sign for dog) when she saw any animal. I just said the correct name, did the correct sign, and smiled. Eventually, she started being more specific. Sometimes she still does "fishy" for non-scaled animals, but I don't think it's a big deal.

olivia_eve · April 2009

Every animal to DD is a dog. Even birds, which don't really look very dog-like to me. I wonder if in their heads they think they're saying the correct thing. Like, "Dog!" "Oh, honey, that's actually a bird. Can you say bird?" "Dude, mom- I am. Dog! See?" I just gently correct her. I don't really say no, because I don't want to discourage her from talking, so I just say the name of whatever animal she's looking at.

lizzyjames · April 2009

Ours is "dut" or duck and then she looks at me for approval. I just correct her and say "cat" or "dog" or "frog" or whatever.

Tess12 · April 2009

seans_grl:
I would just tell her, "No, that's not a kitty, that's a dog (horse, whatever)." I don't look at it as discouraging her. I look at it as teaching her the proper name for things.

This. You're expanding her world, not criticizing her. "Fluffy is a kitty, this is a dog. The dog says, 'woof!' "

JoyousJulia · May 2009

I just have to say that I find it comforting that I'm not the only mommy that talks to their DC like this. I talk to DS almost constantly when we're out of the house (ie at the store). All the other mommies and babies we see seem so quiet compared to all the conversation we have going on. LOL!

Look Matt! See the airplane! Do you remember the sign for airplane! Airplanes are so neat. I like the way they look.

Look Matt! See the horse? Horses say neigh!

Ooooo Matty, look at the ripe, yummy mangoes! Should we get one and have it for supper with Daddy?

KittenGator · May 2009

Well, at least if she met me again, she'd know what to call me ;D

funchicken · May 2009

S is pretty good with trying to say the animal name if I tell her what it is, but in her world most animals say "woof." I usually correct her and say, "a sheep says baa, a doggie says woof". We were at the pedi the other day, and they have a big plastic penguin that she was playing with. She kept looking it right in the eye and saying "woof, woof". Since I can't even begin to approximate the noise a penguin makes we just went with the woof in that situation.

Bride2bMO · May 2009

DS says three words: Mama, Dada and Dog. At the zoo, every.single.animal is "dog!" Even the flamingos! Very cute, but I do correct him so he'll start to learn the difference.

DS: "Dog!"

me: "That's a giraffe! Can you say giraffe? Look how tall...blah blah blah..."

BubbleToes · May 2009

In our house large animals are dogs and small animals are bunnies (bubbys). We don't even have a rabbit so I have NO idea where that came from but it's darn cute.

When she calls something a dog that isn't I usually say "it's kind of like a dog but it's called a cow. Do you know what a cow says? Moooo." She knows a few animal sounds and will usually chime in with the appropriate noise if she does.

june05iris · May 2009

we have a bit of this situation. we have 2 dogs, my ILs have 2 dogs, and my parents that watch DD while i work, have 2 dogs. needless to say "dog' was pretty much DDs first word. she can now say "gidget" which is one of my moms dogs (also happens to be the yappier of the two, so my mom is constantly yelling "gidget!") now, when DD wants one of our dogs, she says either "dog!" or "gidget!" but these days its usually gidget. when she does that i say "well, thats not gidget, thats sophie! can you say sophie?" and of course she doesnt. i dont know if it helps, but thats what i try to do!

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