A few weeks ago, a friend casually asked if I thought Owen was going to talk any earlier than Levi did. (You can find links to old posts about Levi's verbal development here; basically, he said only a few words until 21 months old, and didn't start talking at a "normal" level until 28 months. Now, at 31 months, he has more than caught up!)
But back to Owen: it startled me a little to realize that I hadn't thought about it at all. I spent so much time wondering about Levi's speech: not worried, exactly, but anxious, and sometimes fighting the tiniest bit of jealousy, and always feeling defensive about his "slow" accumulation of words. The target number, so the books say, is 15 words by 18 months. Owen is now 15 months old, and he has exactly two words: "hot" and "hat." (Well, he says "bap" all the time as well, but I don't think it means anything specific, so I'm not counting it yet.) It seems unlikely that he'll gain 13 more words in the next three months, although with Levi's rapid development over the past three months, I won't say it isn't possible.
The simple fact is, I just don't care! I knew in my gut that Levi would catch up eventually, and he did. So will Owen. In the meantime, he has an amazing variety of vehicle sounds, distinctive enough that we can tell the difference between the garbage truck, the fire truck, and a regular car. He's such a fun kid!
And an update on Levi's verbal abilities: he has developed quite the stutter in the past month. Everything I've read says that it's normal for a kid like him, and if he's not frustrated by it (which he's not), I shouldn't worry; he'll outgrow it by age four, if not before. Honestly, I'm not worried, but it is sometimes painful to wait for him to repeat the first syllable of a word a dozen or more times before he can get the rest out. I've done my best to ignore it completely, but you can pray for this mommy's patience!
But back to Owen: it startled me a little to realize that I hadn't thought about it at all. I spent so much time wondering about Levi's speech: not worried, exactly, but anxious, and sometimes fighting the tiniest bit of jealousy, and always feeling defensive about his "slow" accumulation of words. The target number, so the books say, is 15 words by 18 months. Owen is now 15 months old, and he has exactly two words: "hot" and "hat." (Well, he says "bap" all the time as well, but I don't think it means anything specific, so I'm not counting it yet.) It seems unlikely that he'll gain 13 more words in the next three months, although with Levi's rapid development over the past three months, I won't say it isn't possible.
The simple fact is, I just don't care! I knew in my gut that Levi would catch up eventually, and he did. So will Owen. In the meantime, he has an amazing variety of vehicle sounds, distinctive enough that we can tell the difference between the garbage truck, the fire truck, and a regular car. He's such a fun kid!
And an update on Levi's verbal abilities: he has developed quite the stutter in the past month. Everything I've read says that it's normal for a kid like him, and if he's not frustrated by it (which he's not), I shouldn't worry; he'll outgrow it by age four, if not before. Honestly, I'm not worried, but it is sometimes painful to wait for him to repeat the first syllable of a word a dozen or more times before he can get the rest out. I've done my best to ignore it completely, but you can pray for this mommy's patience!
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