What would you think if someone claimed that their 8mo baby could...

[QueenOfFlippingEverything]

Say 'ca' and 'gog' and point at it, when they see a cat or dog?

And if this was corroborated by 6 other adults, unrelated to said baby, who had seen/heard it over the last fortnight?

Is it possible for an 8mo to have meaningful words?

Its just a noise, and over zealous parents trying to hear a proper word

Yes, it is possible. DD use to say piggy, referring directly to her stuffed pig, at 6 months. She continued with lots of her own words for things too. One of her little friends, same age, 2.4, speaks incredibly clear and well and in English and Norwegian. Its blows me away. However, DD's talent is in her drawing. Another one of her little friends was ice skating at 18 months. Every kid is different.

Molly Good grief. Did you actually think that because you talked to your child all the time thats what enable him to speak so young. I hope it was a little tongue in cheek in that you only had him to speak to and were trying to be funny. If talking to children ALL the time makes them speak sooner, I better watch DD then in that case because she's libel to say to me, "Shut up already Mummy."

DS1 could say bird (actually more like Bu-d) at about that age. Drove me nuts as he turned into a bonkers bird spotter for about the next 6 months. Nearly took my eye out in Hyde Park pointing at the bloody pigeons.

You sound a bit defensive coccyx

I would be open-minded. Mate insisted her DD was saying "light" and a few other words from 6-7 months; the little girl was conversing in clear sentences with diverse vocab by 22 months, so it fit together (speech skills about 3 years ahead of my own DC! ). The mother didn't claim any other advanced development, just mentioned the speech thing occasionally, not like she was out to brag.

Mine was the first in our post-natal group to crawl, walk, run, climb a tree or pedal a trike (rather easier milestones to demonstrate), they are all different.

sounds fair enough.
at 9mo, dd2 could clearly pronounce "cat" and "dad" when the relevent folk entered the room. "mum" didn't get a look in until 14mo though .
dd2 on the other hand is nearly 6mo and not even babbling. there's a very broad spectrum of "normal" at such a young age.

DD said Dir-tchy (dirty) at 8m, I am a super clean and it was her first word

Yes, it is possible. A friend's baby was an early talker, and could say several words by 8mo.

I would be pretty astounded! That's very early to talk. I would also believe it because of how you've described it.

I take it this is your child we are taking about?

Queen...my DD1 could imitate animals on cue at 10 months...not quite the same as 8 months though! She's 6 now and bright but normal...I think some are just very quick verbally....I would say "What does a cat say?" and she'd say "Meow" and so on through a big list of animals.......she was speaking in long sentences very very early too.....like frantics child DD1 is not apparently gifted either. DD2 didn't do this....horses for courses.

Yep its my child, and not even my first

'Gog' actually appears to mean 'look, there is something hairy with four legs, I desire it to come hither so I can grab a handful of it touch it' - usually this means the dog but has also been heard in reference to the sheep and the horses. 'Ca' is definitely at the cat, especially when it appears at the window during mealtimes.

I won't be applying to Mensa for him just yet though. I think he needs to apply himself to learning some more useful stuff tbh - sleeping would be a good one, and maybe that blowing raspberries whilst eating porridge is frankly antisocial.

Queen -my DD (she of the aforementioned 'ka' [cat] also at 8 months) has also singularly failed to grasp the basics of life (possibly in favour of more esoteric pursuits) - sleeping, eating without making the kitchen look like Jackson Pollock's studio, actually doing the things that you ask her to do...

Molly - It's nice to know that the speech delay in my almost 4 year old is a result of me not talking to him

Don't stress it, thatsenough.
DS3's speech has come on a lot better since I started putting cbeebies on for him several hours a day. I don't think that tip is in the parenting book, either.

I think it must be normal as DS1 was referred to speech therapy at the age of 9 months, as he wasn't doing the preliminary sounds etc towards speech.

thatsenough all my DCs had speech delay. Now they won't shut up.

I would believe them. At 7 months ds2 was making the horsey clucky noise and pointing at pictures of Horses whilst making the noise, he also thought that a giraffe was a horse so he isn't that much of a genuis. He was also playing on the Wii at 4 months but thats probably not something to be proud of.

We have a tidy bookcase and by 16 months ds1 could find different letters of the alphabet and also had a photographic memory for different species of animals. They are just average kids who just happened to pick up a few things early.

I can remember being freaked out by a friends ds who shortly after his second birthday asked me when my birthday was and when I said September he said "Oh an autumn birthday".

i could say some words about 6 months. I'm not an outstandingly sharp adult or anything.

I was very precious about DD2 who was also an early talker. When her 18 month old check was coming up and coached her to say she wanted to be a doctor. Lo and behold, after playing with some bricks etc, I (probably unsubtly) steered the conversation round to careers and the HV asked DD what she wanted to be when she was big. I glowed internally with pride in anticipation of the answer.

"A bogie picker" said DD2, confidently and loudly. I nearly died of shame but tried to rescue the situation with a prompt:

"and what else, darling?"

to which she replied

"A bogie picker and....." pause for dramatic effect as I held my breath

"a bogie eater" she announced proudly

I have given up since then....

Moral: don't let your head swell too much just because they are able to express themselves verbally at a young age - it doesn't mean that they are having genius like thoughts!!!

Amy.

Perfectly normal DD third word after mum and dad was the two-syllable dogs name (said pointing at dog) at 6 months. She speaks in full sentences now at 21 months having started with 3/4 word sentences before 12 months.

I'd believe it. DD was saying 'gone', 'up', 'no' and a couple of others in context at 7 monthsish.

DD said "Want get down" while sitting in her high chair at 10 months (and she did want to get down)

She didn't say much else after this, although MIL and I are both convinced she said zebra at 7m :o

Clearly it runs in the family - DP has just reminded me that DD said 'Andy Warhol' at about 4 months [head swells]

Thank you lljkk and balloonslayer - Feeling a little touchy at the moment especially as DS2 has been at the same position on the waiting list for two months and it seeems that the only way he'll get any help before starting school is if we pay. DS3 seems to be following a similar pattern with very little speech at 18 months (on the other hand I could do with a way to shut DS1 up!).

If only he'd watch TV - He much prefers climbing and standing on his head