Anyway, both girls are doing great. Lucy's been nightweaned successfully (for the second time), and is either sleeping through the night or waking once, settling back down quickly for Daddy. Junie sleeps through the night most nights, but if she does wake, a quick nursing session has her asleep again in no time.
However, I'm not looking forward to Lucy's well-baby visit next week- it's her 18-month check-up. She's growing great, eats a wide variety of foods, is incredibly coordinated for a child her age, and knows so many signs that I've stopped counting them. She can also put together short phrases- her favorite as of late being "more banana, please."
The issue? Lucy's still not talking. I mean, she says Mama and Dada regularly. I've also heard her say "hi!" and something that sounds like "dance dance." But that's it.
I'm not worried. I know that every baby develops on his or her own schedule. Some pediatricians even "count" signs as being the same as spoken words, as far as communication development goes. However, I know that pediatricians are also big on milestones, and I'm anticipating that Lucy's will have an opinion and likely some ideas on how to encourage her speaking. I also know that research indicates that signing does not hinder speech development, which is a common misconception about signing. Still, I can't help but wonder if proficient signing makes speech less of a priority for a child.
I can't wait until Lucy becomes more verbal. I just want to hear her little voice!
4 comments:
Hopefully your pediatrician won't give you a hard time.
She'll hit her language explosion growth spurt soon enough! The fact that she signs so well is excellent.
Does Lucy babble?
Because Rowan doesn't have a lot of words - or at least, not understandable. He says babababa, all day long. Legitimately, baba is book, ball, food, drink, etc. But he uses it for everything - cat, musical instruments, trucks. He sometimes can muster up "UP", but most of the time that's actually for Down. He doesn't have a lot of "words", but he babbles non-stop. His pediatrician thinks he's right on track.
Glad your ped didn't give you a hard time!!
haha, i read this after my last post. I am glad your Pedi didn't give you a hard time. I was wondering the same thing, that if knowing sign language makes verbal skills not quite as important?
Oh yes, she babbles all the time. Mostly babababa, mama, dada, or some variation of them. But she does know who "mama" and "dada" refers too.
It sounds crazy, but I think she just prefers signing at this point. With the babbling it's hard to figure out what she wants, but when she signs, it's generally pretty clear.
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