In the past few days I have been surprised with how much Baby Boy understands when it comes to me talking to him…He is only 14 months (almost) and he only says “Ma-Ma, Da-Da, Uh-Oh, Look, and What’s That?” Everything else that comes out of his mouth sounds like “Bah!” or “Da!”
For example:
About a week ago, I asked Baby Boy to throw away the piece of paper he found on the floor. Viola! He did it! (and clapped afterwords…obviously proud of himself).
The other day, I casually told him to go put his toy in his room. I wasn’t expecting him to understand…and then he turned around and walked to his room. So, he apparently knows where his room is.
This afternoon Baby Boy laid his head on my lap when I was sitting on the couch. I looked at him and asked, “Do you want to take a nap?” Amazingly, he turned around and headed for his room. When we got there, he stood by his crib and looked at me…I put him in bed and left the room–No crying…he just went to sleep (and slept from 2:00pm-5:30pm when I woke him up).
Tonight, I got the boys and we went to Big Brother’s room to clean it up (they had been playing with EVERYTHING all day, so it was quite a mess.) I showed Baby Boy where the dirty clothes was and put him in charge of putting socks in the dirty clothes and throwing paper away in the trash. He made several trips and did it all very well.
I guess one day he will look up at me and speak in sentences…I am constantly shocked to realize how much he knows. It is easy for me to lump him and Big Brother together and forget that everyone learns differently. For Big Brother, speaking came fast and easy–physical stuff was slower to come. For Baby Boy, physical seems to be innate, while speaking is not. Just something that I think about and wonder about…
We have two that are talking (8 and 3)and one at 6 mos. We found that they spoke if they had to. If they were getting what they needed and wanted, then there wasn’t a reason for talking. we ask them questions…
“What do you want for lunch?”
“A” or “B”?…and tried to get him to say it. We’d show him something hed’ want and something he wouldn’t touch. It just got them communicating verbally. They are all different and things happen when they are going to happen.