When did your child start talking?

[JenniferJeffrey]

I don't mean just a first word, I mean sentences and such. My 20 mo. ds is not talking, and my mom keeps asking if he is yet, and I just want to know what is "normal". I am not worried, I just want to hear from you all what it was like for your little one's budding communication skills.

Thanks so much,

fellow AP mum Jennifer

[yoga]

My first (son) started talking after his sister started talking. Let's see...I think she was around 15 months old, so he would have been about 31 months old.

Does that help?

[Jillby]

my dd was almost 3 before she said things. that was hard! my ds was 2 and a half. one of the first things he said was thank you! so cute. anyway,now they just will not be quiet!!

[Embee]

My son is just over 2 and is just starting to talk beyond toddler jargon. He is still only using single words except for a couple two word phrases (OH MAN!:wink) I can see that for now, it's still a slow process for him and I think for sometime to come. But I'm not at all worried about it. I know he'll talk in his own time. He understand well (not always perfectly) and we communicate very well in spite of his lack of words/sentences. So if your mom is concerned, let it be her concern. You need not sweat it! :)

BTW, what is normal for talk is just like anything else: depends on the child. Many of my son's 'same-age group' companions are talking quite a bit and some are not talking at all. Many kids in the second and third years are so busy learning other things about the world, they just haven't made the time to learn how to talk well yet. My son was actually starting to say words just before a year and I was thinking, "wow, he's going to be an early talker!" Then, he learned to walk just after his first birthday and the language skills 'not so' mysteriously disappeared.

In time, when it becomes important to them, I imagine we'll be amazed by what comes out of their mouths and how quickly! Hang in there...

[oceanbaby]

Ds is 21 months old, and doesn't really say any words. Communicates very well, and understands more than I want him to sometimes :rolleyes: , but other than "no", "wow", occasionally "mama", and "kitty" a couple of times, he hasn't said anything. Just in the past few weeks though he has become obsessed with pointing at objects everywhere - in books, outdoors, on his toys, on the tv, and "asking" me to tell him what they are. So it seems like he is on his way.

Every other child we know his age or younger talks a lot more than he does, and our family is also always asking if he is talking yet, so sometimes I wonder if I should worry, but my instict says that everything is fine, so I'm not worrying . . . .yet.

[JenniferJeffrey]

I thank you, wise and gentle Mummas, for sharing. My ds, too, is always patting and pointing, asking for the names of things. He loves to imitate the cat meow and dog noises, too! We have no problem communicating. He understands everything I say! And he communicates in a variety of ways, and we are close and intuitive and I believe, also telepathic with each other. Maybe he won't talk until later because he doesn't think he needs to!:p

[JavaFinch]

I'm not sure exactly how much your child is talking, but one thing that worked great for my ds was teaching him signs for things before he had the words. He picked them up super fast, and made life in general easier. My son didn't have any word at all, not even mama, until 33 months. Shortly after his 3rd birthday he started whole sentences, and now at almost 4, he's extremely conversational - long, complete sentences :) Sometimes kids just take a little longer.