All children develop at their own speed – we all know this intellectually, yes? But it’s pretty fascinating to watch it play out in real time.
Baby J is all about physical activity. (Everyone who told me it’s easier to have girls because they are calmer and aren’t as physical can fuck off, because what a lie.) She’s bold and fearless and yes, sometimes covered in bruises. She’s a squirmy little monkey who at 14 months can walk forwards, backwards and sideways, can pull up, stand up, climb up and now down a flight of stairs, connect mega blocks, walk while carrying the half-her-size duplo box, dismount properly off the couch, rock chairs (even non rocking chairs – yikes), climb through tunnels, use a bumbo seat as an obstacle course, climb in to the dishwasher (just that one time when my back was turned, I swear), turn almost anything in to a walking push toy, pull up on a handle and get her feet off the ground, scale the back of the couch on to the desk, self feed, help undress, flip through books, takes apart duplo, pat herself on the chest when she coughs, and so on. She’s so, so physical.
She doesn’t talk.
Like, at all. Well. Okay, she says a few words: no, oh oh, oh no, hi, and a two syllable inquisitive noise that means “what’s that?” Mama and dada, but we haven’t quite figured out what she’s talking about yet – it’s certainly not us. For a while, we were pretty sure she thought her name was dada… She listens, she understands words and requests and is again sleeping thought the night, this time after the doctor told her that she wasn’t going to be fed at night anymore. She’ll bring you items on request and knows that when we say NO we mean it. (Which sometimes starts this hilarious little temper tantrum I work very hard at not laughing at.) She babbles noises and sounds. I’ve had her hearing tested twice, and all signs point to fulling functioning ears. She just … doesn’t have anything to say yet, or something.
I’m not worried. She’s an effective communicator, for a baby, and makes it very clear what she does and doesn’t want. (Not that, obviously, she always gets her way.) She has a sense of humour. She likes to blow raspberries on my belly and play the Squish With Love game (she crawls, I chase after her, and when I catch her, I cover her in kisses until she collapses on the floor giggling.)
When my friends post videos of their similar age kids talking I can simply marvel at their babies without feeling doubt. My kid will get there. My kid is fine. No, my kid is more than fine. My kid is an active little peanut who is too busy with all the places to go and things to see to be bothered talking about it. She’ll get there, and it will be adorable, and until then, I’ll just focus on trying to keep her from using the toilet as a water toy and teaching her how to properly dismount furniture taller than she is.
Places to go, things to see
highdivingboard 
My toddler had 3 words at 14 months: mama, dada, and up. At 16 months, we counted 100 words before we gave up and stopped trying to keep track. I think at this age, unless there’s something physical stopping her, once she decides she wants to use words everything will completely explode. 🙂 Like yours, mine was an effective wordless communicator and clearly understood words we were saying to her, just had no interest in using them herself. Until she did.
Now I want to try having the doctor tell mine she’s going to sleep through the night… Nothing else has worked!
Honestly? Try it. The two different times (sigh) that we’ve got her to stop waking at night were after verbal explanations of how there would be no more food at night. That if she needed cuddles or medicine, we could do that, but that there would be no more food. (She was only waking to eat, and then went right back to sleep.) It worked at 10 months (me telling her), and again at 14 (me and doctor). Like, the very first night. Made me realize that my kid was a person who I could communicate with, which was a bit bizarre. But it totally did work.
I was, however, totally willing to try CIO if she kept waking up at night past the point there was a need for it. But I’m mean that way, and luckily that we never had to.
I think I will try that. Come to think of it, that is basically how we stopped nursing to sleep at bedtime. I’ve been feeling bad about trying to end the night feedings because she’s going through a picky phase and not eating much during the day, but I’m getting close to the end of my rope. Worth a shot… This whole communication thing is definitely bizarre/amazing. 🙂
Oh man, she is so adorable!
It’s the tiny jeans. Tiny jeans are like, brain hurtingly adorable.
This is exactly how I feel about E-dog and walking. SHE WILL WALK WHEN SHE HAS LEARNED ALL THE WORDS, thanks.
Babies. They so wacky.
My parents say that I was walking by like 10-11 months, but I didn’t talk for a long time. I think I actually still didn’t talk when my sister was born (when I was 17 months) or even for a while after that. So it’s totally okay 🙂
I love that your kid understands you even though she doesn’t talk to you! That is so cool.
Our godson is a little over 2 and not saying very much. He has two older siblings and just hasn’t felt motivated to say too much. We figure it’s in there and soon as he decides to speak more, he’ll probably have a pretty big vocabulary.
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