Paranoid rant about my M

stever · December 2010

My kid is super smart and alert. He's very communicative and has amazing receptive language skills, but I'm slightly worried about his expressive language skills.

He grunts and points at everything he wants - the only exceptions being nanas(bananas), appas(apples) bop(the Boppy and boob).

He has a few other words - "up" being a fave - but they're not always clear. Robyn's post about Aaron saying "Baby" got me thinking about this since M says "Baba."

He'll be 17 months on Christmas. Is he doing OK or am I excessively paranoid?

mama.bear · December 2010

Grunts, points, words and sounds - He is a good communicator and absolutely PERFECT!

Piranha54 · December 2010

I asked our pedi about this at our 12 month appt recently. Over the past 2 months especially, Ellie has just started babbling even more than she had been, and very back and forth like speech. I've been listening for a first word, but there's nothing we can divine. She occasionally momma's or dadda's appropriately, but it's at her whim. I know several LO's on the board are already saying several words, as are many friends with similarly aged kids, so I was nervous and asked. The pedi said not to worry until after 18-19 months - apparently there is quite the cognitive burst at this point and she said we will be amazed at how rapidly she gains words, starts putting words together around this point, regardless of how many words she's learned before then. So I would say wait a bit longer and see what happens. If you can

Good luck!

Pesky · December 2010

I forget how many words you are "supposed" to have by 18 mos but I know DS says "bah" for baby and a number of other b-words. I wouldn't freak out yet. Sounds like he is communicating effectively and continues to add to his vocabulary. FWIW, DS doesn't say "up" yet but "PUPpy" is an all-time favorite. Depends on the kid.

robynlesley · December 2010

Aww... Heather... M is saying all he needs to say. And FWIW, the only words that A says clearly are "NO" and "baby". Everything else is baby talk. And he'll just grunt and point to have me pick him up, even though he can say up (more like uhhhp).

peeper72 · December 2010

We just had Ada's 18 month appointment and had this talk with the pedi. We do group appointment and some of those babies are practically hailing cabs and reciting poetry already. Ada's word? "ruff ruff", which she says in response to anything. We are concerned. Pedi asked:

can she hear?

does she seem to understand you?

does she point or grab to indicate what she wants?

Does she make eye contact, smile, seek affection?

Since the answers were yes to all of these, she said to come see her in about 3-4 months if she still had no words. As I understand it, hearing multiple languages in the home can slow them down a bit as it takes a bit longer to process them both before forming words. Surely enough, in the past 3 days she came up with tree, Ada, aqua, and I love you. Occasionally, she will say da or mama but hardly ever.

busybea · December 2010

He sounds just like N, he'll have a whole conversation with me in baby language, very expressive, very in tune with his feelings, very loving and very communicative with hand gestures and or pointing, he'll even pull my hands and/or pant leg, but as far as actual words...close to nada. He barely says mama or dada and unfortunately his chosen words lately have been "uh-oh" and "no"....although I could have sworn I heard him say "Oh, man!" the other day (much to my dismay) LOL! I read in a book that they concentrate so much on the walking and their balance at this age that anything else goes out the window. The book assured me to be patient and that talking in "real" words will come after they get the walking/running down pat.

Dragonflyer · December 2010

This describes Finn perfectly. He is learning to run and jump so language is definitely taking the back door to that. No worries, he sounds right on track. With Noah, the lanuguage thing was a trip. He had about 4 words and then at 18 months he had a language explosion. There wasn't a gradual change at all. It was all of the sudden there one day.

daisydana · December 2010

stever:
My kid is super smart and alert.

Really, I think this says it all. He is learning and processing and tucking it all away for future use.

Just to throw my .02 in about Sydney, she says: mama, dada, up (hardly ever) more (her favorite word), and she has said "mmm hmm" about fifity times between yesterday and today. If you ask her a question (doesn't matter what it is) she will answer you with mmm hmm, like she is saying yes. So, she has four words.

ateytelb · December 2010

Looks like he is doing just fine.

mtnrider · December 2010

M is WAY ahead of Simon, who doesn't even say Mama or Dada. His ONLY word is "uh-oh". My pedi isn't worried. He can run, walk backwards and do small hurdles so the kid's got other priorities than speech. Also my DH was a late talker and I've heard it can be hereditary.

stever · December 2010

Thanks ladies. I know I'm being a paranoid head case, but it's just so hard to be objective about how he's doing. I go back and forth between being super proud about him pointing up and saying "up" when I ask where Dada is(DH works upstairs) and worrying that I've said "cat" to him maybe 5 million times since he was born and he still won't say cat.

vanverth · December 2010

stever:
Thanks ladies. I know I'm being a paranoid head case, but it's just so hard to be objective about how he's doing. I go back and forth between being super proud about him pointing up and saying "up" when I ask where Dada is(DH works upstairs) and worrying that I've said "cat" to him maybe 5 million times since he was born and he still won't say cat.

But does he know what the cat is? Remember that a child's receptive vocabulary is much larger than his expressive vocabulary. As pp have said, there will be a language explosion and then you will be on here complaining that he does not shut up. Wink

Peppernut · December 2010

Margaux has "cat," hat," and "dat," and she uses them correctly, but nothing else, not even "mama" with any consistency. Signs don't count, right?

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