I’ve mentioned that NikkiZ isn’t picking up words like the other kids in her class. She’ll point out every piece of litter along the highway on the way home yelling, “Trash!” but she won’t say “Juice”. When we watch Ellen in the evenings she’ll say, “Ellen” when I prompt her, but she won’t say “Mommy”. She has a weird selection of words she likes to say (like “Hot Sauce”) and it has actually become quite entertaining to see what random word she’ll say instead of something useful like “beer”.
BUT – it’s not like she’s not talking! Not at all. She talks CONSTANTLY. She is the most vocal little chatterbox you’ve every seen. She’ll point at something and say a long stretch of words and syllables and nod at us like, “Don’t you agree with my assessment of this situation?” Or she’ll come to us with something in hand and spit out an entire paragraph ending with a question tone and actually look at us like she’s expecting an answer. We just nod and say, “Yes! Definitely!” every time. Sometimes she smiles like, “Good. That’s what I thought.” Other times she seems to actually shake her head in disgust. We are such a disappointment as parents.
I think she really does have a lot to say, but has decided that she’s not going to let a stupid language get in her way. Periodically we’ll recognize one word in the mix as a sign that she does periodically use words she knows, but it’s still hard to gather the meaning of “Blah blah blah blah shoes blah blah blah” if she’s holding a spoon and pointing out the window. I’ll try my best and say something like, “You want to go outside and eat some shoes?” And of course, she responds like any normal person would with a look that says, “Damn, lady. You’re kinda stupid. I can’t believe they let you drive.”
I think we need a podcast of NikkiZ talking…
I know exactly what you’re saying I have a 18 month old. You do know the only reason she won’t say Mommy is because you want her to! Nat will look right at me and say “Daddy”, I’ll say “You’re silly, I’m Mommy.” She looks at me exhales loudly and walks away.
Don’t let it worry you. One of these days she’ll be talking non-stop to the point you’d like her to shut up for a while. Then when she’s a teenager she’ll be telling you stuff you don’t really want to know. My cousin’s daughter didn’t say a single thing until she was over two years old, then started talking in complete sentences. Guess she just wanted to wait until she could say it correctly. She also turned out to be extremely intelligent and gifted. So there you are.
My son had a few made up words that he used all the time. Words that we never did figure out despite him carrying them long into childhood. Ironically they seemed to just disapear from his vernacular once his baby sister started to babble. We think one word “bobnoise” was a reference to music, but the other “pickleway” still boggels the mind.
We have asked what the heck he was saying, but even he doesn’t know.
Do you have a baby monitor? If so, tunr it on in the mornings while she’s just playing in her crib, chilling before the day starts…
My nephew refused to say anything to anyone for the longest period of time, but one day we turned on the monitor and he was up there practicing! No lies, he was in his crib repeating the words he knew in random order like “Cow, shoes, Baby Shoes, Car, Daddy Car, Ca-coor, Poppa Ca-coor (Tractor), fish-y! Puppy, kitty, cow, Poppa cow!” It was so, so cute, and we never had anything to record it with!
Sometimes they like to hide their skills until later!
Just wait….you want her to talk now but wait until she’s 6 and talks NON-STOP!! I let you talk to my 6 year old then you may change your mind…lol!
We have a little girl at the daycare I work at who babbles all the time. We have no idea what she’s saying but apparently she does. She gives us the exact same looks.
Hee hee… what a riot! It sounds to me like you and MrZoot are doin’ just fine…:)
You’re daughter sounds adorable!
I miss those days when my daughter would talk to me in her language at that age, and was always so serious. Her favorite words was bon bon, and e-shoey. My sons first word was S—, which he used quite often, specially when he would get stuck underneath a chair or our couch while he was learning how to crawl, but just pushed himself backwards. After a week or two of that, he found his own way to get around. He would rotate his right side in the direction he wanted to go, then roll. He never said S— again.