What's a normal level of understanding/comprehension for a one year old? What does yours understand?

[squishedblueberry]

I don't know if I'm worrying about nothing.
DS is just one (29th December) and is a lovely little boy - smiley, active, giggly, playful. But he hasn't said any words yet and doesn't seem to understand much.
I wasn't worried until yesterday when we did a zoom call with a group of friends and their kids - we hadn't seen the children for ages because of Covid and timing to get everyone online together - and they all seemed so much more advanced than DS.

Waving, clapping, understanding 'milk' and 'go and get your XX'.

DS understands 'arms up' and 'come to mummy'. He understands 'where's mummy?' and 'Where's daddy'. He understands 'finished' or 'all gone' at dinner time as he wails in disappointment!
He will also hand us toys if we ask (but I think that might be because of the gesture we will do) and will feed us his food if we ask, again with a gesture. He also brings me books he wants me to read him and moves all the flaps/tactile bits in books in the way they were designed for.
Recently, in the last week, he's started gesturing for things like his sippy cup or his snack etc

But if I asked him to bring me a toy or fetch his coat or shoes he would just grin at me then promptly start climbing me or crawling away!

He's cruising and trying to walk (although we are absolutely not allowed to help, this causes a lot of upset from him! )can crawl like a speed demon and is into everything, trying to climb our sofas, trying to pull dining chairs over, get in cupboards etc.

I'm worried I haven't been doing enough with him, I don't maybe say the names of things as often as I should, I just chatter generally away to him but I'll start doing it more. And I know I shouldn't compare, and up until now I haven't been worried aside from wondering if the lockdowns etc are going to affect him, but it was just the fact that all the other babies seemed so far ahead.

He also spends a fair amount of time roaring like a dinosaur (he picked this up after playing with his dad one day) and seems far more interested in making different noises than trying to say actual words or associate them with objects

He sounds totally normal. DS is 17 months and still doesn't say any proper words although makes the odd approximation and can sign quite a few animals (but not any useful words...). I would say that it's only in the last few months that he's responded to basic commands although at about a year he could do the odd thing like point to his ball if we asked. Clapping and waving came and went a bit but again we're only established with meaning at about 14 months (he would do both before but somewhat randomly). He sounds great and absolutely on track.

If you talk to him quite a lot (just waffling on about what you're doing) then there's nothing to worry about.

It sounds within the range of normal for a 1 year old (I've had 2).

Neither of mine said.many words at 1 but they both have great vocabularies now (2 and 4).

For what it's worth both would still quite happily crawl off laughing/giggling on occasion if I asked them to bring me their shoes

@squishedblueberry if you google 'Ages and Stages Questionnaire 12 Months' you can download the health visitor assessment form and go through the activities with your child. If you have still have any concerns at the end then it might be worth contacting your health visitor to put your mind at rest.

But your baby's behaviour sounds well within the realm of normal to me!

Thank you!
I should have said he's had his check up and scored lowest on communication but still came over the threshold so no concerns there. DH thinks I'm worrying over nothing, but it just kind of surprised me yesterday and now I'm thinking I haven't been doing enough!

Sounds normal in my experience. The gestures are good, and if trying to walk I find their focus is on that particular goal. Once he has accomplished learning to walk he will develop in other areas if that makes sense.

Dc4 is 20 months and doesn’t say any words yet, there coming though. He is very focused on walking up the stairs and using his balance bike. Talking can wait and with siblings doesn’t need too. I only had 1dc who talked very early at about 14 months, very clear speech and understanding. She is 5 now and literally never stops talking .

Thank you @EcoCustard my mum did say to me “don’t wish for it, make the most of the quiet!”
I’m a first time mum incase you can’t tell and it’s been really tricky to know what’s normal while lockdown etc has been happening so really appreciate the feedback

My DS was a late talker, most of his peers were way ahead of him. But he's 20 now and talks fine. Although actually now I think about it he hasn't quite grown out of the teenage mumbling yet

A couple of things.
If he is just 12 months, and the others are approaching 13/14 months, although they won't look much bigger, they can do a huge developmental jump at that point.

For my dc, dd2 did some very early communication. I remember asking her to come to me. She was crawling at the time, so was under 8 months. She turned round shook her head in a very definite answer of "no" and continued. She was chattering away by just over 12 months, so I was confident she understood. She's now a teenager and communicates with grunts and single syllables
Ds didn't really show that he understood before he was a year. He didn't come to you, wave, clap hands etc. But once he'd discovered he could ask for things (and blame his sisters) he got going fairly quickly. He still speaks in full sentences despite being a teen.

The ENT specialist wearily told us that the very first thing to consider with slow or lacking speech is a hearing problem. My youngest son fooled us, the staff at the creche, a speech language therapist and our GP. I'm not talking about profound deafness either but enough to make it harder to learn to form their own words. Of course your son might have hearing like a fox but I do wish I'd picked it up sooner. It really affected years of my son's schooling.

Thank you @Rangoon I don’t think there is anything wrong with his hearing as he responds to his name and if I so much as try to creep out of the room (even with his back turned to me) he will be at the edge of the playpen quick as a flash. He also responds to noises/songs and cries at the food mixer as it makes him jump/doesn’t like the noise.
I’ll keep an eye on it though - he does have quite yellow/waxy ears which I’ve been told are normal at this age but they do look like they could get easily blocked up!

The other little ones are 12,13,14 months. He will be coming up to 13 months soon in about a week and a half. The gestures are new although intermittent, but I know how quickly things can change - he went from not being able to pull himself up to attempting, succeeding and speedily cruising around the playpen all in one morning

He has good comprehension in how things work/how things are designed to be played with ie moving things in the right way, pushing cars along, pressing buttons on his musical book etc

In the last day he’s started making new sounds and is standing longer without holding on to things (usually when distracted by toys!) so I think we seeing progress in our own time :)