to let DD call the robot-dinosaurs "ih-thee" (kitty) without correction because it's CUTE

[marenmj]

My parents are convinced she's starting onto poor pronunciation and sentence structure. IL's despair of her ever learning her numbers and letters.

She's 9 months old FFS and since she was 7 months everything that moves has been "ih-thee" - including the cat. I always tell her the real names of things, but don't see the point in correcting her.

I say she has plenty of time left to learn letters and numbers and proper pronunciation. Why does a nine-month-old need to know her numbers anyway? I'm putting her to work sweeping the chimney, not at the till!

[freename]

YANBU that is too cute and should be cherished (it won't last long)

My DS used to miss the first sound off every word so daddy would become 'addy'. Don't know why he because could make all the sounds separately when necessary. But it was very cute.
Nursery teacher used to talk to us like slack parents for not correcting him. We were like he's our baby and it's soo cute or is that 'ooo ute! She didn't laugh

[Firawla]

yanbu, at 9 months this really does not matter!!! your parents and ILs must be extremely ott and pushy if they are worrying like that at this age

[Lizzylou]

9 months?

I do hope that she is at the very least reading fluently now though

Her Grandparents sound bonkers!

[PfftTheMagicDragon]

It will be no time before she is saying things correctly and have no recollection of calling everything Kitty. I long for the days when DS has many mispronunciations.

[4andnotout]

Yanbu she is only 9 months!

My dd2 is 4 and still describes timid animals as 'nerbous' which still makes me smile

[marenmj]

lol, yes, her grandparents are bonkers.

All of them are a wee bit OTT competitive (MIL and FIL are locked in a aren't-we-getting-along-so-well competition ATM). She won't get into the best schools and her life will be ruined forEVER!

Step-MIL tells me that babies in her care always start talking at nine months and know their letters/numbers by 12 months. All I can think (very quietly to my self) is that the only reason one would push tots so hard is to show them off.

However my tot is a little person, not a parlour trick and as such doesn't have need for her letters or numbers until either school time or when she shows an interest, whichever comes first. At their last visit IL's bought DD stacks of letter/number-related toys because we had been shirking our parental responsibilities and buying her funny-looking stuffies and nice things to chew on.

I can't wait until she starts mispronouncing other words too. Right now all she can manage is making her "oooo" face while pointing at the "ih-thee"

[PrettyCandles]

At 9m she's actually quite advanced if she's naming things, and not just that but differentiating between moving and non-moving things.

[6feetundertheGroundhogs]

Oh bless... My DS was practically apoplectic when he saw helicopters for the first time. We were in New York for my sisters wedding and I have a million pics of him pointing up at the sky in absolute awe and wonder, and every time he said Oo-gadda (helicopter)! I never corrected him, I used to laugh and repeat it too....

He learnt to say Helicopter all by himself eventually. Now he knows the difference between a chinook and a helicopter.. but gets just as excited...

Hiding was 'Idin' as in eye-din... that was hysterical, anything he couldn't see fully was eye-din... there were some really funny tales from his understanding and use of that word, but again he grew out of that too.

Enjoy all these lovely times, they pass so quickly, but you can torment her later, in her teens, with them...

[marenmj]

PrettyCandles I can remember the moment when the moving vs non-moving things light went off in her head. She was 6.5 months and it was at a zoo while looking at the elephants. When one of them turned round and walked over to us she looked as though the sofa had just stood up and walked away!

Ever since then she has paid very close attention to moving things. I think she calls them kitties because we have a cat, who we call kitty every time he appears (single most named thing in the house).

Personally I think she learned how to crawl just to get her little hands on the poor fellow

I can't take credit though, she's always been very observant and pretty clever. I dread the day when she turns her mind towards thwarting me and sometimes wish for a less-clever child