early mobility, late verbality?

[seafox]

Not sure if verbality is a word, heh, so figures my son would have trouble with his milestones in that dept


He's been super interested in being mobile from day 1 - could do a weird head-down bear walk at 3 months and rolled over both ways by 4 months, was crawling with a flop at 5 months, and now, not quite 6 months, can pull up to standing and *badly* cruise (his balance is not quite where it should be for this! but he tries)


so that's cool. Although frightening sometimes - we've had to watch him like a hawk for months now. No putting him down and assuming he'd stay where we put him for a while now.


but, verbally he seems kind of late - 'they' say he should be combining vowels w/ consonants now and he's still pretty much all vowel from what I can tell. He does do a lot of 'talking' and 'yelling'! (especially when teething) so its not that he's quiet, just not making new sounds so much. Should I worry? I'd like to think its because he's SO focused on moving and it'll come when he can finally walk or something since that seems to be his primary goal.

[physmom]

Yes, it's very normal for kids to focus on one set of skills at a time (and ignore other ones). DH was an early walker (9 months) but a late talker (2 years) and turned out just fine. I think that the fact that he is making those sounds now at least is still a positive sign.

[Logan's Mom]

Originally Posted by physmom

Yes, it's very normal for kids to focus on one set of skills at a time (and ignore other ones). DH was an early walker (9 months) but a late talker (2 years) and turned out just fine. I think that the fact that he is making those sounds now at least is still a positive sign.

No worries mama!

[Sk8ermaiden]

This was me, to a "T", and I didn't talk except a few words until I was 2! However, when it happened, it was complete sentences. I am still a grammarian.

[odoole]

Originally Posted by Sk8ermaiden

This was me, to a "T", and I didn't talk except a few words until I was 2! However, when it happened, it was complete sentences. I am still a grammarian.

Yeah, my SIL was like that as well. Didn't talk until 2. Her mom thought she was mentally retarded. (This was back in the day before screening, etc.) Then one day she just started talking in full sentences. She's a very smart, professional woman now.

Everything I hear from mothers before us is that kids tend to pick a "skill" and go for it full gusto. It's natural for babies to excel in one area and lag in others, but it all comes together in the end.

[by-the-lake]

Wow, thats exactly what DD did. Walking, or rather running, at 9 months, late talker. Cool to see its somewhat common.

[Abraisme]

I don't think there's any correlation. My son was an average mover, a late talker, but advanced in fine motor skills.. My friend's DS was an early mover and a pretty early talker. Every kid is different.

[Blueone]

My sons the opposite. He has really good verbal skills but now at 5 months he's just now started rolling to his tummy on a regular basis and is still trying to figure out how to roll back to his back. However, he's learned that rolling side to side will get him places and has even started inching forward on his tummy some.

But I swear he said Dada at 2 months and Mama at 4 months, but he only did it once, I haven't heard mama again, but I think he said dada recently. I don't think he knows what it means though! His all time favorite words are Agaa and Agee. He says unga when he's hungry though, it's cute!

Every kid is different. However if he seems to have a really difficult time with word pronounciation at 3 years you might want to get him into a speech therapist. But that's a ways a way!

[kamane18]

Originally Posted by Sk8ermaiden

This was me, to a "T", and I didn't talk except a few words until I was 2! However, when it happened, it was complete sentences. I am still a grammarian.

This was totally DD! She was almost 2 before she talked other than a few words. Then she started speaking perfectly, by 3 was speaking better than most 4-5 year olds and today doesn't stop talking! She was that way with everything actually - a bit late to do it because she didn't want to do anything (walk, talk, etc) until she could do it perfectly.

OP - my DS is like your son. So focused on the physical stuff that the verbal is a bit behind. Lots of "talking", noises, etc but not "real" babbling per se. Not worried - I think as long as we talk a lot to our babes, about what we are doing, read to them, etc - it all follows.

[elmh23]

Dd sat at 3 months, crawled and cruising at 5 months and full on walking at 9 months. She talked at the appropriate time.

Ds crawled at 3 months, sitting and cruising and climbing at 4 months, walking at 10 months. He has a language delay. At 16 months (when he was evaluated), he had the average language of a 7 month old. He's almost 3 now and still a bit behind but is catching up very nicely. He's very much a man of little words and LOVES to be active.

[seafox]

sounds normal then! just today I did notice he does use consonants, just sparingly - once or twice a 'guh' will pop in. He also does this weird falsetto sometimes (I swear, it sounds like he's imitating a baby, its super bizarre) but still very vowel-y.

And now he's really cruising - just still falling a bunch (so we have to be very near him!) He does it much better naked

[elmh23]

Sounds like he's doing well! My guy who was an early mover/late talker wasn't babbling at all at that age. In fact, he didn't babble until he was around 2.

[jillmamma]

I was the total opposite...talked relatively early, but did not walk till 19 months! I agree with the others...some kids focus more on one type of skill at a time and then catch up on the others after they master what they are working on.