When does the babbling stop?

[muddaofsuburbia]

Ds is 21 mths, has a fantastic vocabulary and is using 3/4 word sentences very clearly. However every so often in between he babbles in the same way he did from about 8/9 mths. The babbles sound like complete sentences with correct intonation but are gibberish.

He babbles mainly when playing on the phone or "reading" with his finger along the page, so at first I figured he was just playing. But he does this increasingly when talking to others, like using his own language. I have noticed that when he plays with other children he can mimic them perfectly to such an extent that it almost sounds like he's taking the mick out of the ones that don't say much.

Is he just playing around with sounds? When might he grow out of it? I haven't heard any 2 year olds speaking gibberish. They either seem to say nothing or single words. Any ideas?

[muddaofsuburbia]

What I mean is all the other children of ds' age don't gibber - they're either quiet with the occasional word or speaking clearly. Ds has to fill a silence with gibber.

[strangerthanfiction]

I've heard loads of toddlers doing this and even kids beyond 2 still having funny little conversations that are more like singing than talking 'real' words. i think it's just a practise thing. My dd's 20 months and doesn't do it much herself but my mom said I did it right up until I was 3. I think it's rather charming!

[SenoraPostrophe]

dd does this and she's 25 months.

She is bilingual though so it may be that some of her gibberish is in fact baby-Spanish, but I think most of it really is babble.