Here's the thing though- I'm not that worried. Perhaps I should be, but I'm not. He is very expressive. He is very "verbal", even if the words he says are made up. Ted likes to say, "If this were a language, Mo would be fluent." When he is hungry, he pulls out his high chair. When he is tired, he rubs his eyes. When he is happy he screams (which he did over and over and over when I got back from Israel - much to my delight!).
I recognize that I can't just ignore that he isn't talking, so we will get it checked out. I'm just saying - I feel pretty convinced that he'll be catching up soon.
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Oh let's get these babies together! Georgia was seriously having full conversations at this age. Hattie? She is taking. Her. Time. -kate
My brother didn't say a real word until he was 3. Now as an adult we call him "motormouth" because he can't STOP talking!
My brother had his own language until he was two. He'd even get mad and repeat what he'd said if we didn't understand. Like what's wrong with you? I'm speaking very clearly!!! I'm sure he was very frustrated. We were. He's smarter than all of us. Mo looks smart and very busy and pensive. Be prepared!
My son was similar, but I was more concerned than the ped :) We did do a few months of speech therapy that was basically useless as he refused to speak at all during it, but it made me feel like we were doing so something. The therapist recommended we stop coming because there was really nothing she could do at that age (just over two)
My son at 22 months only said uh-oh!, dada, and mmmm (like yummy). He also did pig snort and cat meow. By two he had a few more words like cookie and cracker and baby. Still less than ten. Around 26 months he started gaining new words consistently and it was slow and steady from there. He is 3.5 now and right on track. I expect Mo will talk soon. I wish I hadn't spent time worrying about it and dragging him to the therapy appointments.
I love all of these comments! Thank you! We are hesitant to bring him to speech therapy because we really don't feel concerned. I sometimes just worry about my lack of worry. After what we've been through, these things all seem pretty small to me and I hate to get us all knotted up over stuff that isn't a big deal. I also don't want to do Mo ANY disservice because he deserves the best. We are waiting on the speech therapy. :)
abby, i think you have a great perspective on this. it will be like his walking, which he did late too, but once he did decide to do it, he did it well. he's just taking his sweet time. love to you all.
Alyssa isn't talking either! She just turned 18 months and says: Mama, Dada and ball. I am not worried either. They will catch up soon enough and then we won't be able to stop them from talking!
I think your instinct is right on--Mo is communicative and expressive and words will come. Baby sign counts as words and may be more his speed for a bit. We only did "more," "all done," and "milk" I think. It sounds like he is baby signing in his own way already. Lots of love!
Hi Abby - I haven't commented in a long time but I've been dealing with this with Paulina (who does have a speech problem) and I just wanted to say that I think your instincts are right. I saw Mo's video of animal sounds (so cute!) and Paulina (who is the about the same age) can't make half those sounds. I also wanted to let you know that Paulina's speech therapist says animal sounds count as words. Of course, Paulina rarely talks at therapy but babbles on her own at home or daycare. But since her's is a structural problem, we're sticking with it for now. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
I have a son who got speech therapy starting at just over a year old (he was nowhere near as communicative as Mo, from what I have seen you post, though!) and I work at an early intervention center. I would say, even if you're not really concerned, to go get an eval done. It never hurts, and if it's bad you can always quit. At this age all speech therapy should be play-based and it's usually really fun. I loved it for the years we did it with my son. We had phenomenal therapists and it was just a really positive experience overall.
I really think you shouldn't feel bad about being unconcerned though. Mo looks like he communicates really well. That is FAR more important than the actual number of words! I don't think you can go wrong with whatever you end up deciding to do. :)
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