talking, or not??

Alli's 8 months, and over the past week or so she seems to have a few sounds
she uses regularly-which are starting to sound like words. She seems to say
"Cat Cat" when she sees one of ours, but also when she's excited and
playing. She seems to call "Da Da Da Da" when she wants to be picked up by
someone. And she seems to say "daga" for her stuffed dragon (which has
definitely shown signs of becoming her lovey). I had really thought this
kind of deliberate talking came later, though. She did start regularly using
MILK and imitating other signs about a month ago-about the time she just
seemed to explode with sounds, but doesn't seem to use them much
expressively.

So, experienced moms-is she talking or not? Is there anything special I
should do?

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Band/Choir
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

Hi --

It seems that whatever you're doing is the right thing! So keep it up.

Some babies do acquire a few words towards the end of the first year.
Others don't. It doesn't seem to have a huge effect on long-term verbal
development, according to the lore. Our own experience is that early
talkers get lots of verbal feedback, so become even more verbal.

Have fun!
--Beth Kevles

http://web.mit.edu/kevles/www/nomilk.html -- a page for the milk-allergic
Disclaimer: Nothing in this message should be construed as medical
advice. Please consult with your own medical practicioner.

NOTE: No email is read at my MIT address. Use the AOL one if you would
like me to reply.

Donna Metler wrote:
Alli's 8 months, and over the past week or so she seems to have a few sounds
she uses regularly-which are starting to sound like words. She seems to say
"Cat Cat" when she sees one of ours, but also when she's excited and
playing. She seems to call "Da Da Da Da" when she wants to be picked up by
someone. And she seems to say "daga" for her stuffed dragon (which has
definitely shown signs of becoming her lovey). I had really thought this
kind of deliberate talking came later, though. She did start regularly using
MILK and imitating other signs about a month ago-about the time she just
seemed to explode with sounds, but doesn't seem to use them much
expressively.

So, experienced moms-is she talking or not? Is there anything special I
should do?

You know, my experience with ds was this: I'd hear him make some babble
sound like DaDa or Ball and I'd wonder, was it a real word or not. As
he got older those same exact sounds would evolve just ever so slightly
so that it was a real word and we'd sit back and think, "Ok, so that
*was* a word way back when".

We are going through that with Jessica who is now 9.5 months old. For
about a month and a half now she's been making the same sounds that
seem to mean the same things. The other day dh walked out the door and
she crawled like mad to the door babbling, "DaDaDaDa". When she wants
to be picked up she says, "Mamamama". We're not sure if that means mama
or milk. She also says, "Hiiiiieeeee" pretty consistently when she
hears us say hi to someone or someone walks through the door.

I'm not really counting these as words yet, but I think in another
month or so I'll know for sure. It's just on the very young side since
she started doing this so I find it hard to believe but I guess they
could be. Fun, isn't it?

JennP.

Donna Metler wrote:

Alli's 8 months, and over the past week or so she seems to have a few sounds
she uses regularly-which are starting to sound like words. She seems to say
"Cat Cat" when she sees one of ours, but also when she's excited and
playing. She seems to call "Da Da Da Da" when she wants to be picked up by
someone. And she seems to say "daga" for her stuffed dragon (which has
definitely shown signs of becoming her lovey). I had really thought this
kind of deliberate talking came later, though. She did start regularly using
MILK and imitating other signs about a month ago-about the time she just
seemed to explode with sounds, but doesn't seem to use them much
expressively.

So, experienced moms-is she talking or not? Is there anything special I
should do?

She certainly could be talking. I was talking at 7 months,
though all my kids were closer to 10-12 months before they were
talking. I don't think you'd need to do anything differently than
you would with any other baby learning to talk.

Best wishes,
Ericka

Yes, she's talking!! Converse with her!
For example, when she says "daga", hand her the
dragon or start talking about it or playing with it.

Here's one way to look at it: it doesn't really matter
whether she means what you think she means. If you treat
her as if she is really talking, soon she will start
meaning that. For example: if you misunderstood and
really she meant something else, or nothing at all, when
she said "daga!", after a while she'll notice that you
keep handing her the dragon every time she says "daga!",
so then after that when she wants it she will say it
deliberately with that meaning. It probably meant that
right from the beginning, but the important thing is for
you to converse back and forth. Meaning will be established.

Babies babble "ma, ma, ma" because they're learning that
sound, but if you act as if they're calling "mama!" and
come, soon they will notice that and deliberately use
it as a word to call you. It also helps, I think, if
you sometimes repeat back to them the sounds they're
making.

I don't think 8 months is very unusual for learning
a few words. I'm not sure what the average is.
I know there's variation from one baby to another.

"Donna Metler" ) writes:
Alli's 8 months, and over the past week or so she seems to have a few sounds
she uses regularly-which are starting to sound like words. She seems to say
"Cat Cat" when she sees one of ours, but also when she's excited and
playing. She seems to call "Da Da Da Da" when she wants to be picked up by
someone. And she seems to say "daga" for her stuffed dragon (which has
definitely shown signs of becoming her lovey). I had really thought this
kind of deliberate talking came later, though. She did start regularly using
MILK and imitating other signs about a month ago-about the time she just
seemed to explode with sounds, but doesn't seem to use them much
expressively.

So, experienced moms-is she talking or not? Is there anything special I
should do?

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Band/Choir
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)




--
Cathy Woodgold
http://www.ncf.ca/~an588/par_home.html
We are all Iraqis now.

"Catherine Woodgold" wrote in message
...
Babies babble "ma, ma, ma" because they're learning that
sound, but if you act as if they're calling "mama!" and
come, soon they will notice that and deliberately use
it as a word to call you. It also helps, I think, if
you sometimes repeat back to them the sounds they're
making.

I agree. One of the first things my daughter said was
"dadadadadadadada" and we'd say things back to
her like, "Oh!, you want your dada? Here's your
dada!" Though her first official recognizable
word was, "Uh, oh," "Dada" came very soon
thereafter.

Bizby

We've been doing the repeating back thing for awhile, and she's definitely
starting to use her words when she wants something specific. Today when I
left her with her grandmother to run an errand, she was looking around and
saying "dada, dada" while I was gone-and when I came in, it was Ohhh,
Dada!-so apparently she's using that one for both me and DH-whatever parent
isn't present. It's just hard to believe a baby who can't sit up well yet
and isn't crawling, exactly is talking-pretty amazing how fast they develop!

--
Donna DeVore Metler
Orff Music Specialist/Band/Choir
Mother to Angel Brian Anthony 1/1/2002, 22 weeks, severe PE/HELLP
And Allison Joy, 11/25/04 (35 weeks, PIH, Pre-term labor)

On Sun, 14 Aug 2005 17:31:19 -0500, "Donna Metler"
wrote:

We've been doing the repeating back thing for awhile, and she's definitely
starting to use her words when she wants something specific. Today when I
left her with her grandmother to run an errand, she was looking around and
saying "dada, dada" while I was gone-and when I came in, it was Ohhh,
Dada!-so apparently she's using that one for both me and DH-whatever parent
isn't present. It's just hard to believe a baby who can't sit up well yet
and isn't crawling, exactly is talking-pretty amazing how fast they develop!

Some babies actually concentrate on sounds and verbal abilities before
they start concentrating on gross motor skills like crawling and
walking. Every baby is different, but from birth babies converse with
us as they begin to look at us and make sounds and repeat them.
Very young babies will pick up the rhythm of the language in their
babbling.

Infants are truly amazing.


--
Dorothy

There is no sound, no cry in all the world
that can be heard unless someone listens ..

The Outer Limits