Hellobee Boards

Haha my 16 month old third born is the same. He says mommy and daddy, bubba for bottle. And sometimes his bro and sisters names.

I’ve just been telling him to say things even though he can’t. So like I tell him to say thank you etc or point things out. But yes he is majorly short on attention. We have a video of my oldest at this exact age saying “cookie. Please. Nanoo (thank you)” and poor thirdy is no where near that! It will come im sure!

@bhbee: yes at this rate his 4th word is going to be penis..courtesy of his big brother 🤷‍♀️🤪 older siblings are crazy lol

@bhbee: I could have (and thought about!) writing this post with my August girl. I found a vocab list I'd written on my computer from my son when he was 13 months and it was like over 25 words long, but more than that, I remember before his birthday he was actually communicating with words to get his needs met, like he'd hold his arms out and say, "up". My daughter only has mama, dada, dog, and she has mimicked a couple other words/sounds, but then they've never re-appeared. She calls her brother "gah-gah" (not even close, but she's consistent), but otherwise, she just doesn't have any words yet. And same deal as your daughter with the constant babble/chatter/screetch, no hearing worries. Every night when I give her a bath I line up all our munchkin squirt farm animal toys and try and teach her pig and cow etc, and then reinforce it with all the Sandra Boyton books and other toys that have farm animals. I'm trying to teach her foods and commands, too. I don't know what to say other than I hope it's sinking in and you're totally not alone!
ETA I have had a little more luck with some of the animal noises, I remember that was a big one for my son, too--like she will try to say "moo". So maybe that's another good angle.

@bhbee: I only have two kids and I have to do things like that or we forget! now he brings me books after diaper change. Plus it’s the only time I get any baby snuggles anymore!!

I hand over hand did the sign language for whatever my toddlers screeched for. "No scream, more please" while shaping their hands in the sign for more. Same thing for screeching for other things. You get nothing of you screech. You get whatever you want if you sign please.

@Jess1483: totally true! Nothing works for everyone. I'm a preschool teacher so my sample size is a couple hundred. It works for more than it doesn't.

@Jess1483: totally! And thank goodness for speech therapists having a hundred different ways to address the same thing. Kids can be quirky.

This was my second and she was still behind on her second birthday. In addition to getting less attention than her brother did, we think sending her to a daycare where they spoke most Spanish to her from 11 months until just prior to turning 2 contributed to her confusion. We actually just finished up 9 months of speech therapy and she is back to being on level at her third birthday. One thing I was continuously reminded of was that each kid is different and blossoms in their own time.

DS2 is just about 15 months and I'm so over the pointing/screeching!! He says mama and dada and just makes a lot of noise. Just this last week he has started to show an interest in books and will sit through a few pages of reading.

Hopefully they figure out some words soon!

@bhbee: we never got too many, he'd learn a new one and stop doing the others. But "more", "please", and "all done" were most helpful. DS would sign "please" for everything he wanted. Yes and no took a long time for him to say.

Even now at 5 he's learned his gross motor skills (riding a bike) before communication stuff (memorizing the alphabet). But he's really good at remembering the things he's interested in. All kids are wired differently.

@pachamama: @agold: My little brother started talking much later than me; my mom was apparently really worried and when she took him to the pediatrician, he said my brother wasn't talking because I never shut up

@bhbee: We mostly just signed more and all done. Sometimes he would sign milk as well. He doesn't do it much now that he talks much better, and I kind of miss the adorableness of signing

Ok nerding out- this part is about how a child develops two-word phrases which is considered to be "grammar". It mentions gesturing as a way they learn:

"For children acquiring English, the production of two-word combinations is usually regarded as the first step in the acquisition of grammar beyond one-word utterances. Recently, however, it was discovered that the appearance of two-word utterances is preceded – and perhaps facilitated – by changes in the child’s word + gesture combinations. First, the word and gesture become temporally synchronized so that they are produced simultaneously; then the word and gesture are used to express distinct elements (Kelly 2003). For example, in the latter stage, instead of reaching toward a banana and saying banana, the child will reach toward the banana and say want. Two or three months later, the first two-word combinations appear (Kelly 2003; Iverson and Goldin-Meadow 2005). Thus, the acquisition of grammar may have developmental roots in the domain of gesture."
(Genetti, 2015)

neat!