Since my last post about Charlie’s speech (16 month old vocabulary), I’ve become increasingly concerned about his lack of new vocabulary.
He is so smart that I can hardly believe it, but he just isn’t vocalizing things with words. He is the master pointer, and he will wildly gesture. He also uses “yeah” and “uh uh” *all* the time to get his point across.
Words he uses at 25 months:
- Mom
- Mama
- Dad
- Dada
- Ba (ball)
- Baba (his grandma)
- i-ee (mine)
- No
- Uh uh (means no)
- Yes
- Yeah
- Yay
- Do (dog)
- Mo or Mu (more)
- Eww
- Ow
- Up
- Hi
- Ep or Up (help)
- Iss (this)
Physical Development
Physically, he’s well developed and soaring in the skill department. I took him with me to my 4 year old’s flag football practice, and he tore out of my arms to go complete the drills and obstacles that the big boys were doing – and he rocked it! He loves to poke his play swords on his back, tucked into the back of his shirt, so the handle is there for easy access to pull out and challenge a brother to a duel.
He is learning to jump and skip and hop. Those are some of the cutest things I have ever seen in my life. How adorable! I know that in his mind, he’s really taking off and up in the air – when in reality, the over-exaggerated 1.5″ bounce in the air is too adorable.
He is totally aggressive, taking great pride in his ability to beat the crap out of everyone with his hands, feet, or any object that he might have in his hands. He’s also a pincher and a hair puller. Eeek! We’re working on him with being more loving and also with apologies and apology hugs. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Time out totally ticks him off, so he understands what it means when he gets it and usually straightens up quicker.
I’ve also been working on signs with him again. Not many, but we’ve been doing things like water, more, and please. He also made up his own version of thank you, which looks like (and really is) exactly like him waving at the person. 🙂 It’s cute and we know what it means, so whatever!
News
I decided to make a call to ECI (Early Childhood Intervention). According to several developmental milestone lists I’ve seen, he should be speaking in 2-3 word sentences and should be using at least 50 words to speak.
This really reminds me of his big brother, Heath. He wasn’t very verbal at this age, either. He said very little, but he did say one 2 word sentence (ALL THE TIME), which was “Puppy Baby”. He would say, “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!” I would say, “What is it, Heath?” and he would whisper, “puppy baby.” Adorable, but also a little frustrating because it didn’t really mean anything. 🙂 Sometimes he’d pretend to be a puppy, but usually he would just say his silly sentence, proud that he had a phrase that he’d NAILED and that I could understand.
I think Charlie has a great shot at getting the help that I think he needs from ECI. I’m hoping that we’ll get some good feedback from the therapist that comes out to evaluate him in the next couple of weeks. If they determine that he isn’t behind, I’ll still ask for tips and advice as I do feel he’s lagging behind the pack.
With all of that said, I think my daughter has my perception skewed because she was my first AND she was a total chatterbox from the very start….so her brothers have all thrown me for a loop!
At this point, Charlie doesn’t seem too frustrated with his lack of verbal language. He is highly effective with his non-verbal and his simple vocabulary. I can’t forget how sad Heath was at age 3 and 4 when he was upset no one could understand him, and I don’t want Charlie to get to that point without having a good help system in place.
Have you ever used ECI for your child(ren)?
I’d love to hear your experiences!
Betsy Mitchell says
I don’t have kids so I’m no help but just had to comment on how cute he is!
Jenn says
Awww thanks!! He sure is a little toot – the cuteness saves him. 🙂
Jenn recently posted…TURTLE FEST at Sea Life Aquarium Grapevine
Katie Harding says
What a cutie! Keep your head up, just keep trying and practicing and I’m sure it will happen for him, the most important thing is to stay positive and not get frustrated by it and it looks like you are doing a great job of that!
Katie Harding recently posted…Backyard Fun: Popsicle Chalk, Bird Houses & Active Play + Giveaway