can babies count at 1?

My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet. I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a 2
or 3 year old milestone?

What do you think?

"Carol" wrote in message
My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no
sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year
and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different
rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet. I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a 2
or 3 year old milestone?

What do you think?

It really varies according to the baby and also according to their
particular personality strengths--i.e. at this point your baby may be more
interested in physically exploring the world, whereas another baby might be
interested in working on their verbal communication. counting in
particular. According to the baby journal that my mom kept about me, I could
count to 17 at about one and a half (I could also recognize all the letters
in my name, regardless of where they were printed and I could read preschool
books when I was 3--I have always been verbal & had good verbal skills.
Plenty of kids don't learn the alphabet until they are 3 or 4 though. As a
different example, my brother could ride a bike without training wheels when
he was 3, but couldn't read very well until he was about 6 or so. I, OTOH,
didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 10!). A friend of mine's daughter
could count to 3 at about 15 months--accurately it seemed to me, as in put
three items into your hand one by one saying the words as she did it.

All babies have their own strengths and talents! I think it sounds like
yours is doing fine :-) (& I would bet that she can build a block tower or
throw a ball or something like that that your coworker's son can't do!)

--
Em
edd 9/23/03

"Carol" wrote in message
...
My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no
sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year
and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different
rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet. I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a 2
or 3 year old milestone?

What do you think?


Sure a 1 year old can recite the names of numbers.
Takes about 3-4 more years before they can truly count

Jeez. Em.....reading your posting was like reading my own baby book......
I could read by 3 and only rode a bike by 9.....
I totally agree that each child will have different skills and strengths and
that we should just be there, support and encourage them as they develop

FayeC

"Em" wrote in message
news:A8_Va.22989$Ho3.3263@sccrnsc03...
"Carol" wrote in message
My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no
sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year
and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different
rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet. I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a
2
or 3 year old milestone?

What do you think?

It really varies according to the baby and also according to their
particular personality strengths--i.e. at this point your baby may be more
interested in physically exploring the world, whereas another baby might
be
interested in working on their verbal communication. counting in
particular. According to the baby journal that my mom kept about me, I
could
count to 17 at about one and a half (I could also recognize all the
letters
in my name, regardless of where they were printed and I could read
preschool
books when I was 3--I have always been verbal & had good verbal skills.
Plenty of kids don't learn the alphabet until they are 3 or 4 though. As a
different example, my brother could ride a bike without training wheels
when
he was 3, but couldn't read very well until he was about 6 or so. I, OTOH,
didn't learn to ride a bike until I was 10!). A friend of mine's daughter
could count to 3 at about 15 months--accurately it seemed to me, as in put
three items into your hand one by one saying the words as she did it.

All babies have their own strengths and talents! I think it sounds like
yours is doing fine :-) (& I would bet that she can build a block tower or
throw a ball or something like that that your coworker's son can't do!)

--
Em
edd 9/23/03

Carol wrote:

My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.


Some parents are just like that. Some are exaggerating; some
are truthful (if braggarts ;-) Yes, it's possible for a child to be
counting at that age. I've known some, and some who've achieved
similar verbal feats at that age. I knew one child from a very
musical family who could sing all sorts of songs at just over one
year old. But not being able to do that sort of thing isn't
unusual or even an indicator that you'll be able to tell the
differnce between the two kids a year from now in terms of their
verbal development.


When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet.


It really varies hugely. I wouldn't worry about when you can
expect it. There are perfectly normal kids who don't recite numbers
until much later--especially if their parents aren't drilling them on
it!

I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a 2
or 3 year old milestone?


Somewhere around there, yes, though it's obviously something
that comes over time. Kids will start learning the difference between
"one" and "more than one" and will progress to being able to count
small numbers of objects before they really "get" the whole concept.

Best wishes,
Ericka

In article ,
"Carol" wrote:

My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet. I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a 2
or 3 year old milestone?

What do you think?

I think there are three levels. Recitation, Recognition, and
Understanding. Her son is very likely in the recitation stage. An early
talker can learn to recite all kinds of things, numbers included.

I think my DS is pretty advanced, and it wasn't till about 20 months
that he could recite the numbers 1 to 10, but I wouldn't call that
counting. He could also sing the ABC song, but that doesn't mean he knew
his letters. That's Recitation.

Then we gave him an ABC puzzle and he learned all the letters from that
and refrigerator magnets, and what the numbers looked like from books
and more magnets. That's recognition. At 28 months, he recites from 1 to
20, and can identify all the digits, and all the alphabet letters by
sight.

As to Understanding, at 28 months he can identify 1, 2 or 3 of something
by sight, and he knows how to count by pointing at each thing, but he's
not careful about it. He can reliably count to about 5, but often he
just keeps pointing and reciting numbers until he's counted to 10
regardless of how many things are there. If I remind him to touch each
thing just once, he can get closer, and sometimes counts things just
right. Similarly, he can count the "bongs" of the grandfather clock, and
is usually within 1 of the right time.

He's also starting to learn what the letters sounds like, but so far
it's still mostly memorization - "L is for Ladybug," because that's
what it is on his ABC puzzle. He can't recognize lower case letters yet.

- Lynn

Carol wrote:

My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no
sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year
and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different
rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

There are a couple of possibilities here -- one is that she's boasting, of
course, and the other is that she really does have a child who is advanced. If
you think she sounds very nice in all other ways except when she gets on the
topic of her advanced child, then in all likelihood she's telling the truth. If
so, cut her a little slack, it's nasty when no one will believe what you say
about your kids.

If you think she would be just as likely to brag about the great superiority of
*her* front door or *her* hair coloring method or *her* anything else, then
she's probably just boasting.

*Many* children learn to recite the numbers just as they might sing a song or
memorize a simple book, long before they can really count things. A year old is
quite young even for that behavior, but not wildly so. Real counting, what they
call one-to-one correspondence, at that age would be quite unusual.

Your daughter's talking sounds absolutely normal. There are plenty of kids who
aren't speaking one single word yet at a year, and two-word sentences are a
two-year milestone.

--Helen

On Wed, 30 Jul 2003 21:03:24 -0400, "Carol"
wrote:

What do you think?

My gut reaction is that your friend is either exaggerating (at best)
or lying (at worst).

But what do I know? Her kid may be able to count.

--
Daye
Momma to Jayan
EDD 11 Jan 2004

My nephew Ethan knew all of his letters and numbers by sight when he was 1
1/2 yrs old. I don't know if he knew what it meant, but he knew what they
were called. My nieces and nephew that followed were pretty quick, although
not quite as quick. My sister in law had to learn that Ethan was not
"normal" and she shouldn't compare the rest of her children to him.

You shouldn't either. You probably should just try to tune out your
coworker, or let her know that you've heard her story 100 times and really
don't need to hear it again. :-)

BTW, Ethan is now 10 years old. He is a very serious and studious boy while
his brother and sisters are athletic, or creative. It's just the way he is
wired.

Gayle


"Carol" wrote in message
...
My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no
sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year
and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different
rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet. I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a 2
or 3 year old milestone?

What do you think?

"Carol" wrote in message ...
My girl is just over 1 now and she has a few words to see, but no sentences.
A coworker is always bragging about how her son is also just over a year and
can count. Is this possible? I know all babies develop at different rates,
but this gal seems to boast often.

When can I expect my girl to count to 10, or even do the letters of the
alphabet. I would assume this baby is just mimicking the parent and not
really counting or identifying the numbers. I assume identification is a 2
or 3 year old milestone?

What do you think?


I agree with everyone else here. Our eldest is gifted, but his sisters
are not. It took us awhile to figure out that they were just being
normal little babies! Our youngest, also just over a year, only says a
few words, the rest is jibberish! She is good with her hands, and very
mischevious...

IRL there is a woman I know that has a baby that is 7 months younger
than Abby, and she is constantly asking..Well when did Abby do this,
MY baby is allready doing it! So she says to me, MY baby is allready
sitting up on her own! Wow, I say, that is really early. So she shows
me how the baby is sitting up on her own. Sure all babies sit on there
own if the mom or dad pulls them into the sitting position and props
them up with pillows. Ugh, i can't stand braggers! The competion of
motherhood can be exhausting...

Brandy