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Well Spoken
The bouncing ball of Developmental Worry has been hopping (in my bleary consciousness) between my two children lately. While neither shows any delays, just the prospect of looking at any sort of chart to figure out whether they're ahead or behind the curve makes my teeth itch.
Recently, the worry centered on the fact that Sebastian wasn't really saying much. Actually, he chats constantly in his own language and several of his constant spectators were sure (really) that he said the very very occasional "mama" here and there. But beyond that there was nothing. (I keep thinking about Jasper Fforde's novel, The Big Over Easy in which the detective, Jack Spratt takes on Prometheus as a border and is briefly delighted to learn that his guest understands and speaks baby gibberish, having taken an adult education class. Spratt's bubble is burst when he learns that his baby doesn't speak baby gibberish but something else, possibly an "obscure dialect of gobbeldygook.")
Anyway, suddenly this week, something pretty identifiable has emerged from the babble. Sebastian now says, with varying degrees of clarity, "thank you."
He says it as he puts cereal into yogurt, as he hands blueberries to the terrier. He gurgles "thank you" through cups of water and as he hands over some piece of paper he's been gnawing on. It's a fine start, though a more convincing "Mama" would be reassuring.
With this rush of politeness, I could wonder if my recent work has been rubbing off on him. Here's hoping he's a little less sponge-like when I return to writing horror movies and the like.
posted by Elise at 6:28 AM
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said...
My now 5 year old said almost NOTHING for his first two years. Not even mama. (It may have been influenced by the fact he had a brother who was only 15 months older - so when I changed, fed, etc., older brother, I did Liam - he didn't need to talk!) I was in an incredible state of panic, but thank God the state of TN had a fabulous Early Intervention Program. Working with speech therapists he made amazing progress, and now is really doing well. He'll probably need some more help in kindergarten, but at this point it is mere refining. When I get tired of hearing "Mom Mom Mom Mom Mom" all day I remind myself of when he didn't talk at all.
7/19/2008 8:12 PM
said...
No "dada" (an easier linguistic formulation for little mouths than "mama" or "thank you")? Certainly gramma and granpa are soon to follow, if not preceded by "you're welcome"!
7/20/2008 9:10 PM
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