Conference moira::parenting

    
    I am still waiting for my son Michael to say "Ma ma"....He has been 
    saying Da Da for about 2-3 mos now, but not sure he realises what he is
    saying yet. (he's 9 mos next week). 
    
    But I do know that he "KNOWS" words. If you say "where's Da Da?" he
    starts looking around the room for Daddy. The same with "wheres Ma ma"
    or "wheres the ball"....he starts looking all around. 
    
    We kind of laugh about the fact of him not saying Mama...I'll turn to
    him and say "Say Mama" and he automatically says "Dada"... (not fair!)
    There have been a few times where he has started to try to form his
    mouth to say something different, one day it came out "gaa daa".. So I
    can see that he's trying. 
    
    Yes...It is SO AMAZING to watch them grow and learn. I am still in awe
    every single day!
    
    Chris
    

    
    I forgot...about crawling...  
    
    Not sure what is the norm, but my son was going backwards and sideways
    since about 5-6 mos old...then about 8 mos, started to finally go
    forward. Bellyflopping of course, but it sure was great to watch.
    
    It happens SO FAST. One day he went 4 ft, the next 8ft, then 2 days
    later room to room!!!!  Then 1-2 weeks after that he wasn't
    bellyflopping anymore, but actually all-fours crawling. The same time
    he started pulling himself up to the furniture, and now a meesley 1 mos
    since all of this started, he is cruising along the furniture at rapid 
    speed.  He wants to walk so bad.
    
    I'm sure all kids are different...this has just been our experience.
    
    Still in shock, and waiting for my nerves to catch up!
    Chris
    

    Jessie also says DA DA and GA GA, no MA MA yet.  She is 8 mos.  She has
    been crawling for two months and is now trying (unsuccessfully) to
    walk.  I feel so bad when she falls over.  She has also become very
    successful at getting down from a standing position. Her sister took
    forever to learn to drop down on her butt.
    
    Now we need to work on those teeth.  (she doesn't have any yet).
    
    Angie

    re: .2
    
    Don't feel so bad.  Kayla will be 8 months in two days and has been
    saying da da since six months (now an occasional dad).  She says many
    things that sound very similar to words.  She says dog (we have a dog)
    and when I say, "Kayla say ma ma"  she says, "Dog".  Thanks, kid.
    
    Katrina

    My son Michael said his first word(s) on his 2nd birthday. 
    
    "Hi, Dave" (Dave is our wonderful next door neighbor) :^)
    
    Up to that point Michael didn't say so much as a boo.
    I was pretty concerned, and at 18 months brought it
    up to the pediatrician who basically said if Michael
    wasn't putting two words together by his second birthday,
    he'll be tested.  
    
    He never did say just one word like mama or dada.  
    
    Michael's next phrase was "Go Big Red" (Dave is from Nebraska) :^) :^)
    
    So just in case some of you are reading this note and wondering
    why your darling isn't talking at 6 months, not to worry. They'll
    talk when they're darn good and ready.  Of course I can't guarantee
    what they will say!
    
    Jodi-

    "Daddy" was also Johnathan's first word.  The only problem is, he
    thinks it means any man.  So, if we're out in public and he sees a
    man, any man at all, he'll point and exclaim, "Daddy!"  
    
    His first sentence came at 18 months.  A bug was flying around him and
    he swatted at it and said, "Go away bug."  
    
    Now, at 20 months, he likes to label everything and also say goodbye to
    everything that he can label.  So, when we're going out someplace, he
    walks slowly toward the door saying "Bye-bye TV", "Bye-bye Piano", 
    "Bye-bye fridge", etc., waving as he goes, until finally "Bye-bye
    door."  
    
    Jane    

    Daniel is saying Ma Ma for the past two months.   He is now just gone
    7 mos.   He has just started saying Da Da, Ba Ba and Di Di.   No
    crawling or teeth yet, but they will all come in their own time.
    
    
    Bernie

    Matthew didn't say anything for the longest time, and then his first
    word was "truck" (more like tuck!) - He's 20 months now and has quite
    a large vocabulary of single words, no sentences, but I have yet to
    hear him say momma!!   Dada is, of course, his favorite word!  Matthew
    was also a late crawler - he'd scoot around on his belly.   He started
    crawling at about 10 1/2 months and started walking shortly after.
    
    Lila
    
      
    

Elise's first word was "Kitty", at about 10 months.  At least, this was the first
time we could be absolutely sure she meant the word for the object.  She was
chasing the kitty around my mother's kitchen, screaming "Kitty! Kitty! Kitty!"
Lucky the cat is good natured and liked the attention.  It actually came out
more like "Key! Key! Key!".

Before that, she would say "Da-Da", and "Me-Me" (her early version of Mommy),
but we were never sure she connected the word with the person.

"Dada" became an official word a couple days later.

I finally became convinced "Me-me" was me at about 15 months, when my husband
asked her where "Me-me" was and she turned and pointed to me and said "Me-me".


Pat

    Unfortunately, Mitchell isn't showing any signs of talking
    yet....isn't it way too early anyway????  He'll be 6 months in 4 days
    (the 19th)  We talk to Mitch but maybe we're not being
    repetitive enough....
    
    I think they say ba and da because they can form the sound
    but have no idea what they are doing....the only thing Mitchell
    does is fill his mouth with air and blows out and says BA!
    
    He also blows raspberries on your face if you put is mouth up
    to your cheek.  Another favorite is he puts his bottom lip out
    and make a high pitched squeal like a guinea pig...just about
    pierces your ear drum...he cries in this pitch as well....the
    daycare people said they are going to get ear plugs...he literally
    rattles your ear drum from the high pitched squeal...
                         
    But...he is ready to crawl...he's been up on all fours for
    about 2 weeks now...rocking away...every so often he lunges
    forward and falls on his face....and he's trying real hard
    to go from lying on his tummy to the sitting position...he's
    almost there....
    
    just can't get over how fast he is progressing...I look at
    the other babies his age and older and they are learning at
    a slower pace...I envy their mothers...I feel like Mitch 
    won't be a baby much longer....he's entering that toddler
    stage at 6 months....but....on the other hand, I'm proud
    of him...
    
    Kristen
    

    I think that the m sound is a tough one for them to make. My son Brian
    is 15 months old and he can't say Mama. He calls me An-na or Na-na. Dada
    was he first word. The other day he said Shut. (He was shutting the
    door to "his" kitchen cabinet.) 
    
    It's funny how they add a new word to their vocabulary and use it for
    awhile and then they go on to something different and you don't hear
    the old word. His only constant words are Dada and An-na or Na-na.

    I'm glad to hear someone else who's not MMMommie.  Russell also has a
    problem with the M sound.  I'm called Onnie (I think).  Russell's
    latest "word" is "IDEWIT" - more commonly known as "I do it".
    
    marianne
    

    My husband gets so annoyed because my daughter often calls him Mommy. 
    When I say "Go to Daddy" she trots right to him, so she KNOWS he is
    Daddy.  I figure she thinks Mommy means parent, and I told him not to
    sweat it.
    
    Has anyone else had this experience?
    
    L
    

    
    My 17 month old Patrick is deaf, and he can do the 'M' sound, as well
    as the 'N', 'S', 'C' and 'B'. Obviously he isn't speaking but is
    starting to get the picture about how sound fits into his environment.
    I think the sounds kids make at a particular time depends on the kid
    and what they're tuned into at the moment. Actually, I think the whole
    business of what a child is supposed to do when is highly
    overemphasized by some parents, but that's another rathole. 8^)
    
    Re: Laura
    
    Patrick used to confuse the mommy and daddy signs, as well as the
    grammy and grampy signs, as they are essentially all the same with
    different placement on the face and different movement of the hand.
    In the beginning he knew all four signs as meaning 'parent' or
    grandparent'. Now he does each one as it should be and understands the
    difference. So it's probably just a part of their social development,
    not the spoken word.
    
    Chris
    

re:                 <<< Note 217.13 by TNPUBS::STEINHART "Laura" >>>
                     -< Daddy - Mommy - what's the diff? >-

>>    Has anyone else had this experience?

   Oh yeah... frankly I think its kind of cute.  Now that my two older
   girls are more articulate and can actually say both mommy and daddy,
   its fun to watch.  Even now when they get excited they sometimes
   forget which one is which... even my oldest who is 3.5.
   
   Why should we worry, eh... I mean, where's that note that talks about
   all of us who don't always get the kids' names right and end up
   scrolling through the names until we get the right one... same thing,
   really, right?
   
   - Tom
   

We went through phases when my children would call me "Clay."  Kinda bothered 
me, but then it's entirely logical.  My wife calls me "Clay" and I respond 
(well, usually -- sometimes I'm "in a fog"); other people call me "Clay" and I 
respond.  I must be "Clay".

Of course there were many "You're special.  You're the ONLY one who can call 
me `Dad'" conversations.

And sometimes, if you're in a bunch of kids, it's helpful for your kids to 
call you by name; otherwise you're constantly snapping your neck, and 
responding to strangers.

Clay

    Aj is 5-1/2 and still frequently calls me daddy, and his dad is called
    mom (well more like hey ma!).  But he realizes his error and corrects
    himself! If I feel like being foolish, I may react by saying, "excuse
    me, but who am I?"
    
    Lyn

    re .13
    
    Jesse, who is now 3, started with "dada" at 6 months and it was
    his only word for the next 6 months.  He used it to refer to 
    either parent.
    
    Max, who is 7 months, has been saying "mamamama" for 2 months 
    now, and has recently begun saying "dada" too.  Jesse is 
    waiting for Max to start saying "jaja" because he figures that
    is how Max will say Jesse!
    

As I mentioned before, we were 8 children.  We quickly learned that my mother
could turn off to "Mom" when it was yelled at here (about a thousand times a
day :-).  But she couldn't turn off to "Alice".  The habit stuck and we all
use either when speaking to her.

My father was always and still is "Dad" or "Daddy".  

My children call J�rgen either "Dad" or "Daddy" or "Papa" or "Papi" (depending
on which language they happen to be speaking at the time) but Mark has started
calling him by his first name.  J�rgen just keeps saying "what?" until he 
uses one of the appropriate terms.  I am "maman" or "Mom", never "Mutti" (the
German version) nor "Cheryl".

Kind of fun!

Cheryl

Re: .16

Clay,

It wasn't until I was about 5 or 6 that I realized my mother had another name
besides "Mom" or "Honey"!  I remember it like yesterday.  I couldn't understand
why she would need another name.  Didn't everyone call her "Mom"?

W-

    Well, I went to the pediatrician's office on Saturday (My baby received
    her 6 mths shots) and told my pediatrician that my daughter said her
    first word the week before which was Da Da.  He said not to get too
    excited and I really could not say that was her first word until she
    understood what Da Da really meant.  He said that we would know when
    she said her first word.
    
    Well, I didn't want him to rain on my parade so I still wrote down the
    date in her baby's book and that her first word was Da Da.
    
    

    
    In general there are three levels of vocabulary development.
    
    Imitation
    Receptive Understanding
    Initiation
    
    Your child may learn a new word at any or all of these levels, although
    comprehension is only a part of the latter two. Here's a way you can
    see if she really knows what Da Da means. With him within sight, ask
    her 'Where's Da Da" and see if she looks towards him. If she repeats Da
    Da ahe's at least imitating the word. If she looks towards him, she's 
    understaning the word. If she points to him and says Da Da then she's
    comprehends the word and uses it expressively.
    
    Even if it's just imitation, that's great, because that will lead to
    expressive use eventually.
    
    Chris
    

RE: .16 and .20  (only being known as Mommy)

It amuses me a lot that all the kids in Elise's room at daycare call me "Mommy".
The daycare providers all have "real" names, but us mommies are all "Mommy".

(As in, "Mommy! More juice!")

I've mentioned to my husband that Elise now knows to call me Mommy, and he could
start calling me "Pat" again....


"Mommy" (aka Pat)

    One day, James was pointing to everyone and naming them.  He pointed
    to Mike and said, "Your name is Mike Nelson."  He pointed to his
    sister and said, "Your name is Hollis Maclean Nelson."  Then he
    pointed to himself and said "My name is James Tucker Nelson."
    
    then he paused.
    
    I said, "What's my name, son?"
    
    Replied my little genius,
    
    "Mummy!"

    My son said his first words that actually had a real meaning, and
    he uses only on this one thing - the dog, Bubba.  He stood at the 
    sliding glass door in his walker, screeming BUB BA at the dog at 
    the top of his lungs.  He will only say it looking at the dog.
    Everything else is Da Da, me included.
    
    Angie
    

    When my son Alex was about a year and a half old, he first used a 
    word in a way which made it absolutely clear that he knew it was a
    word and wanted to communicate.  The "Dada" and "Mama" stuff is less
    certain.
    
    We were at a dinner party, in a fancy house whose kitchen had a
    sky-light.  While the adults were talking at the table, he went into
    the kitchen and came running back as fast as a toddler can "run".
    
    "Moon!" he said, "Moon!"  He wanted us to go into the kitchen with
    him.  Sure enough, the Moon was visible through the sky-light.
    
    	-John Bishop

    OK, I admit this is bragging but what-the-he :-)
    
    When Neel ( 4 months old ) cries he usually says "Maaaamaaaa". 
    
    I know , I know it is just the way he cries but he looks sooooooo cute
    when he says "mama".
    
    Shaila
    (Smiiiiiiiiiiile)

    My daughter Alyssa said her first word at 12 weeks.  She said hi.
    When people say hi to her she'll return the greeting.
    I don't think the comprehension is there yet.  :^)

    You could be surprised.
    
    Babies comprehent more thn people give them credit for.
    
    meg

    Oh I agree with Meg COMPLETELY!!!  Just keep talking, talking, talking
    to them - and she'll only be a few more months old before she'll really
    understand you.  Jonathan knows what I mean when I ask him to share
    some of his dinner with me, he understands "Throw the ball" and "Go get
    the ball", he understands "do you want to watch Barney?" enough to go
    over and start slapping the tv.  He knows if he sees his cup, and I say
    "Just a minute, it's empty", that he'll get a drink in a second, and
    many many other things.  He's 13 mos old.  I know a little boy that no
    one ever spoke to him because they figured he didn't understand (since
    he couldn't talk).  By the time he was 2, he still didn't understand
    simple phrases like "go get your sneakers" or "We're going bye-bye" or
    anything like that.  It was really hard cuz I expected him to
    understand.  Even now I tell Jonathan "We're leaving soon!" in the
    morning, and he'll crawl over to the door and wait for me (better
    trained than a puppy! (-:)
    
    So keep on talking, and explaining, and before you know it, they'll be
    communicating back in their own way, LONG before they can talk!
    
    -Patty

	Lauren, 11 months, is starting to echo things that we say.
	Last night, my husband was saying WoW! in response to something
	that Lauren was doing and she started saying it VERY clearly!
	She will also say bye and wave but I'm not sure she understands
	the concept of Bye.  She just knows that waving goes with that
	word.
	
	She knows what "do you want a bottle means".  And the phrase
	"do you want to jump?" gets her looking towards the doorway
	where her doorway jumper gets hung.  She knows several other
	questions "Where's your nose?", "Where are the kitties?", etc.

	From about 7 months, she understood "do you want to go see your 
	buddies?".  Whenever this was said, her head would turn straight
	towards a cute plaque on the wall that of Noahs Ark.  My husband
	would show it to Lauren saying enthusiasticly "Theres Lippy the Lion,
	and Ellie the Elephant, and Gerry the Giraffe....".  

	Karen

	What about "Want to take a bath?"  This is my favorite thing to say
	to Kristen (18months - but she's been doing it since about 15months).
	She runs into the bathroom and climbs into the tub.  She just
	LOVES baths!

	Now I tell her, "first we have to take of your shoes" and she'll
	sit down and try to get her shoes off.  It's just so cute!

	Karen T.

    Alyssa (1 year + 1 week) just loves "tubby tubs".  I say to her "want
    to take a tubby tub and she walks into the bathroom.  While undressing
    her I keep saying to her "tubby tub" and she tries to say the words --
    it comes out more like ubby ub cuz she really can't pronounce the Ts.
    
    Its the cutest thing when they try and say what your saying.  I guess
    the 2 words that she says the most clearly is "oh oh" and "hello"