first words

[MrsCodswallop]

ds3 (11months and 2 weeks!) has pronounced the official wallop first word..."Edgar" (our cat). he pointed and said "Edgar there" just now!

other unusual first words plese (excluding mama dada)

[Evita]

I prefer mama to mommy actually. I just wondered.

[Evita]

Hi expatkat. Yes, dd does say some words really well and seems to be v. proud of herself when she does. Bag and bath and water are some good ones. The dice business is so strange because if I call a dog a dice she doesn't have a clue what I mean. So she says dice thinking it sounds like dog!

[expatkat]

Evita, it varies from child to child but I think sometime after 2 the words feel less distorted. I think even at age 2 a lot of children are understood only by their mothers. But it really does vary. Saying "dice" for "dog" seems perfectly normal at this age. Are there any words dd says perfectly? The switch from mama to mummy also happens sometime after the age of 2, I think, or just before. . .but as it happens, my ds, who's 4, still prefers to call me "mama." Once an older boy laughed at him, but I flashed him a glare.

This is all my opinion, by the way, on the basis of my experience with ds. But he (unlike dd) was incredibly attuned to proper pronunciation. He almost joyfully used to repeat words and phrases (after age 2, mostly) things like "water on the radiator" which he said again and again attempting perfect pronuncation. Dd is much slower with language, though girls & second children are "meant" to be faster.

[Evita]

So, does anyone know when a mis-pronounced word becomes the 'real' word? I'm wondering when dd's little 'dice' for dog will become 'dog.' And when her mama and dada will become mommy and daddy.

[wobblyknicks]

Thanks celandine, think dd is just working herself up to saying laalaa but that's all for now - at least she sounds normal then!!!

[Evita]

Aloha - re. early / good talkers, I remember going to a play group with dd at 15 months and there was another little girl there who wasn't walking but sat there very still talking REALLY well, things like 'look, mummy, bricks!' and 'what's the story ballarmory'. It was kind of spooky.

[Evita]

He's a clever little chap, aloha.

Actually I made a list today of dd's words, just for me to remember them more than anything as some of them are so cute. I think she's got about 60 at 17 months. Some of them are clearly recogniseable, some need a little interpretation! But generally I've found in the last 2 weeks her vocabulary has really taken off, some days she says 5 new words.

[aloha]

I can remember him talking down the phone to people (hello, look, moo) well before he could walk! Mind you, he didn't walk until 16months.

[aloha]

Coddy, I only know because dh and I sat down and wrote them as a list one night! You are almost certainly correct and they were only really clear to me and dh and probably my mum. And lots were very similar - eg Moo (for cow) and Moon, and More etc etc. I was suprised how many there were. He didn't use them that much though - the words were interspersed with long periods of dummy-sucking silence. He certainly wasn't constantly engaging us in conversation or anything and they weren't used in lovely sentances. But he named a lot of different things. He couldn't walk or crawl though!

[clary]

Hmm this is very interesting. DS1's first was Daddy and Hiya so not that interesting; DD was her big brother's 1st name very sweet, both at about 12mo. DS2 said Hello very clearly at not quite 8mo which I thought very early, and has also been saying Mum-mum-mum since about 9mo, certainly means me (eg calls it when I leave the room etc). He's always been in a hurry tho, right from birth! DS1 like Throckenholt's took ages to say mummy. 1st word can be anytime 8mo-15mo or even older; perhaps after three my ears are more attuned as they are not always that clear, but I think if the word is repeated and said with apparent intent then it's fair enough even if only you can understand it. (Interestingly hello from DS2 was to another mum he barely knew)

[Coddy]

i cant beleive 30 words Aloha!
well, I dont mean you are lying but wrere they sounds you recognised or words other prople could recognise?

wow!
(skulks off to lick wounds!!)

COd (aka mrsclooney)

[Evita]

cazzybabs, what's a late talker? I mean when would you describe it as late?

[cazzybabs]

at for cat

She was a late talker.

Now all she seems to say is Marma for Marmite, daddy for eerything especally her teddy, no and bye bye and then whatever it is is leavning.

[RexandBen]

LOL 'choc-late' was ds2 2nd word! 1st was 'boo-boo' (he was a breast-feeding addict!)

[Emmalou]

Wait for it .... choc-late ..... followed by
get down!

I have to say that a lot of these entries made me laugh so much I nearly wet myself ....

[Davros]

Thanks Evita, I was beginning to wonder! All very interesting though.

[Evita]

Wow, aloha, 30 words before 1!! Dd hasn't quite got 30 words yet at 17 months.

[aloha]

My ds said 'Moo' at 8months. He can barely negotiate steps at 2 1/2 though!

[Evita]

Davros, don't think anyone's saying their kids said clear words at 7 months! My dd is 17 months and is saying her first clear words now and since around 15 months. At 7 months we had pure babbly mamma dadda yayyaa sort of stuff. We got the first approximate words only at around 13 months.

throkenholt, that's interesting what you said about 'mummy blindness'. Dd doesn't have that but she has blindness to her closest cuddly toy who we've named 'wolfy'. She names ALL her toys except for him! He just gets pointed at and cuddled etc., so maybe when something's VERY close to them they don't bother to name it because they think of it as a kind of extension of them?

[aloha]

Ds had at least 30 words before one. He's a talker though, not an action man. I think kids do better with body language than speech when young.

[cas1968]

dd (12 months) said "oba der" for over there the other day when I was asking her older brother where she'd put ther socks. She was right too!

Also, if you sing "Who let the dogs out?" she'll say "Ooh, ooh" in all the right places.

[polly28]

I know a little boy who proudly shouts his first word everywhere....Beaver!

apparently they have a collection of beavers at home ( the animals)

[Davros]

I'm with MrsClooney on this one. Are you all serious that your babies are saying clear words at 7 months plus? Mine is 1 year old tomorrow and makes babbly sounds but not words and nor do any of the other babies I see (Crechendo, Mother/Baby group). This is a new experience for me as my first is autistic so am I missing something?..... Soooo worried now need to go and read the latest Heat and have a lunchtime nosh

[throckenholt]

True words were very recognisable - tractor was very clear with DS1, and hullo is with DS 2&3. All 3 of mine say/said dadadada and mumumumumum from about 10 months but I am sure they are not dad and mum. 13 month olds currently say mumumum when they are not happy about something, and gurgle dadadada when they are happy. Hmm - not sure what that means !

DS1 did not say daddy in context until he was about 18 months, and did not say mummy until nearer 2. In fact he had what I called mummy blindness - he would name everyone in a photo if he could, or point at them if he knew them but couldn't say their name, but if asked about me he wouldn't answer and didn't appear to recognise me in the photo - wierd, and funny, but it made me feel a bit odd. It seem to wear off by about 2 and now he is a typical 2 year old saying mummy mummy constantly !

[popsycal]

evita!!! how is your dd's talking coming on then!?!? we need a catch up session!