DC's saying 'i love you'

[peggotty]

Please bear with me on this one I'm ill with a virus so think I might be being a bit self-indulgent really but when do children start to say 'i love you' to their parents off their own steam? I know it makes me sound like some kind of emotionally needy weirdo but I would love for my dd to say 'i love you' without any prompting from me! At the moment she will (sometimes) say it at bedtime, but if I say it to her at any other time she replies 'no love you!!'. I don't seriously think that she doesn't love me, it probably just that I annoy her by saying it to her when she's busy/being particularily cute/well behaved etc, so she doesn't feel like saying it back. She's 2 btw.

DS has recently startd and he is 2.3. I can't remember when dd strted [bluh], but she says it loads and I think that is why ds says it. I think he sort of knows what it means.

Depend on the child. Dd says it a lot a I think started saying it from about 18 months but I'm lucky if Ds says it at all My neice is 3 and she says it all the time but usually when she wants soemthing

My DD started saying "I love you so much mummy" or "daddy" from about 2 years old.
I don't even know when she got it from as I didn't teach her to I'm not that type of person to say "I love you" all the time because my mother used to say it to me too much rather than show it.I would have felt more loved if she took more interest in me or if she looked after me more rather than dump me to my gran or even neighbours.
Obviously thanks to my dd I now tell her I love her on a regular basis, but she taught me to not the other way around.

awww ya heart just melts when they do say it,...i always say "i love you" and dd whos 2 and a half says "i love you too mummy", then i say "i love you more" then so does she lol

She does also say it off her own back and its so very sweet, she doesnt say it all that often so extra special when she does x x x x

ds 2.7 has just this week started to say I love you without prompting, though it was a I love you daddy first

Ds rarely rarely says it, maybe just once or twice in his life (he's 4) but he is very affectionate, huggy, kissy, cuddley, just doesn't say I love you. Don't know why.
Dd started saying it at a bit under 2 I think, said it routinely every night, but not the same physical affection as ds. She carried on saying it til she was about 7 or 8, now doesn't say it at all (too uncool!!!) but I still tell her regularly, and every night
I knw they love me, but it is nice to hear isn't it?

My dd, 4.5, says it all the time - usually when she's feeling happy and excited or nervous and needy. And always when we part either at school or bedtime etc. she shouts 'love you, mum!' I think she started saying it around 2.5 or 3. Hard to remember now.

My 2yr old DS says love you mummy and says yes if I ask him if he loves me, but never says it without these promps. I really don't think he has a clue what it means though, even though we say it to him loads....

My DS says "I like that (whoever or whatever)" which is a general appreciation.. he likes his mates, his grandparents, his dinner, his book....

dd has been saying it since she was about 18 months old in responce to us saying it to her but she's said it of her own accord since before she was 2.