Words/pointing

[wobblyknicks]

The other thread on language development made me curious, but don't want to hijack that one!!! My 14-month old dd has no recognisable words apart from "mamama" (which she says to everyone) and "da", which she says when you say something to her, regardless of what you say. She points a lot but very randomly, she doesn't seem to point to anything you ask her to, in RL or in a book but she loves pointing at things just for the hell of it. She has a couple of signs, like pointing to her mouth and pretending to eat if she wants food but thats it.

I know that I shouldn't be paying attention to the milestones or what other babies do, but does this sound 'normal'??

It sounds normal to me.

wow - wk. Dd did sometimes point at some things at that age (although it took me a while to work it out - she used to point in the general direction of the kitchen when she was hungry, for example).

But she didn't do anything as specific and obvious as pointing to her mouth/pretending to eat.

Sounds like she's doing really well to me. Plus are you sure her other pointing is random? Like I say, it took a while for me to work dd's out and it was often rather innaccurate. As well as pointing to the kitchen, she'd also point in the general direction of other rooms in the house (specifically the livivng room from her bedroom) but I didn't realise that's what she was doing for ages because it wasn't very clear - she sort of pointed at the wall rather than the door.

She also still calls every woman a "mummy" at 2.5. I was flattered at first as she'd point to people like Claudia Schiffer on the telly and say "mummy". But she also said it when Mrs Shrek was on . She does usually say "a mummy" rather than "mummy" though - she knows I'm the only real one!

Your dd sounds just like my ds who is also 14 months. If he wants something he points and goes "am", and does "mamama" when he is tired. So your dd sounds perfectly normal to me.

My two year old was saying 3 word sentences at 14 months though, and if I hadn't had the others to compare ds4 to I would have been worried about his lack of speech, but none of them talked much before they were 2.

WK, your dd sounds very much like my ds, who's also 14 months. I tell myself that he does have a few words but really he doesn't! He will say 'da! da! da!' at his rubber duckies and ducks at the pond, which is great until you realise he's saying 'da!' for everything else too! He will point at the toaster and say 'tsssss' and at the kettle and say 'deeeeee', but that's about it. He says 'muhmuh' randomly and I just brightly say 'Yes! Mummy! How clever, darling!' like some mad stage mamma when he says it in my vague direction...

I think pointing is the thing - if she's pointing, even if it seems a bit random, and has a couple of signs, sounds like she's doing fine. Understanding and 'some form of' communication is the thing, rather than actual words, I think.

sounds normal to me - my 19 month old twins have been pointing for about 3 months I guess.

sounds normal to me. Especially as she's pretending (miming). The time to worry about pointing is if it hasn't developed by 18 months. A lot can happen in 4 months!

Thanks everyone - getting too worried about 'other' babies!!!

SP - it definitely 'seems' random to me but I'll keep a much closer eye and see if I'm missing something. Didn't realise her miming was such a good thing - if she sees someone else with food, even if she's just been fed, she'll put her fingers together as though she's got something in her hand, then put 'it' in her mouth. Also, if you give her an empty sweet packet or one of her stacking cups, she'll pretend to pull things out and put them in her mouth.

Will wait a few months and stop being so impatient!!!

Awwww! She sounds like such a cutie, WK.

Agree with everyone else that she sounds fine. Ds2 is 19mths old and def wouldn't be able to pretend to eat. When he was about 17mths old I had to actually teach him how to hold his finger out to point. He still doesn't quite get what it's for but likes holding out his finger anyway.

Thanks ct!! Sounds like dd, she loves pointing but doesn't seem to have a clue what she's doing it for.