Maybe they do talk

I really thought my girls didn't have any words, but now I'm starting to think they do and I just haven't been understanding them. Monday we went to DH's office because his coworkers have been requesting a visit from the girls. I noticed that several times after someone said hello to Annelise, she would say 'lo. The thing that made me think she was saying hello is that she would put her hand up to her ear like she was holding a phone. It was super cute. It makes me a little sad to think that I've been missing their first words though. I wonder how many other things they "say" that I don't understand. They still don't call me mama or DH dada though. They babble those sounds all the time, but they never seem to be directed at us. Anyone else have kids who say words, but still don't say mama or dada?

Our monthly PT appointment with EI is next Tuesday. Usually they go to the girls daycare to work with them and I just get an emailed report. Now that I'm home for the summer I will get to talk to them face-to-face when they come to our house for the appointments. I'll ask them what they think about getting a speech eval.

 

Doesn't hurt to get an evaluation if you are concerned.

My boys had very few words before 15 months old. They learned to say dada (to daddy) around 16 months and they were 18-19 months old before I got mama. Before that they could say ball, puppy, bye bye, and maybe another word or two. Not much.

Since they've turned two, they are saying ALOT. I'd told myself that if they weren't saying much by the time they were 2.5 to 3, then I was going to seek an evaluation but lo and behold it happened. But like I said, it never hurts to go ahead and do it. At that age, it took me a long time to realize certain "words" that they said were actually words.

Good luck!

 

I think my girls do this too. I went away for 5 days and when we got back the next morning when I went to get the girls out of bed I heard "Mommy!" And that is the first time I've heard it. There are also a lot of things they say that I can't understand at all. We jokingly call it gibberish but I think they are trying to say something b/c it's the same sounds over and over again.

 

I think the same thing about my girls! I've started to pick up on some of the stuff they say although a lot of it is still kind of random. Their favorite word I think is "uh oh". They like to throw their cups (yes, both of them!) and then look down say "uh oh!" Hailey jabbers a lot and I can't make any sense of what it is, but she does pick up shoes and says something that sounds like shoe!
They have other words too, those are just their favorites they say alot.

 

My duo STILL say stuff that I don't understand, but I know makes sense to them. And there are things that ONLY I understand because I'm with them more.

As for the Mama/Dada thing, I NEVER thought I'd hear Mama! My boys had a vocab of over 20 words before it FINALLY came around 17 mos. They had been saying Daddy since about 14 mos. I hated it! But, now I hear Mama all the time .

My guess is that now that you are home with them this summer, you'll pick up on more words that they say that you hadn't recognized. My boys have a very large vocabulary, but only about 50% is recognized by other people (which amazes me since I understand about 90% of it...even DH sits about 75%!). I bet your girls will surprise you!

 

Same thing for my girls. I just now noticed they are saying book "buh" and blue "bwuh". Once I realized those were real words they were saying I noticed a whole bunch of other stuff!

 

My twosome do the same thing, some words they say very clearly and other words are shortened, like they will point to their ears and go "eehas" and mouth is 'oufh'

 

I had the same experience with my twins. I didn't get a "ma" from them until almost 20 months, whereas "da" was one of both of their first words (around 15 months). DS says cat as "a-at," and his "bye-bye" sounds more like "aaa aaa" accompanied by hand waving. DD shortens almost all her words-- mil for milk, moe for Elmo, B for Buddy (nickname for our DS), etc. Anything that she consistently says for a word is considered a word. So if she says "lo" consistently to mean hello, then that's considered a word for speech evaluation purposes.

If you want a speech evaluation, go ahead and ask for one. I had one for my DS around 20 months, and he's been in therapy now for about a month.