It's N's favourite phrase. When things fall to the ground, such as dropping clothes from upstairs, she cries jah-mani. It's a conjoining of jah - closely translated to gosh and mani - being a sound from "jameen" meaning ground.
N understands most things we say, in English and in Hindi. When instructed to come and brush her teeth, in hindi or in english, she immediately understands the routine of finding the stool, climbing up, grabbing her toothbrush and waiting for one of us to apply a dab of baby McLeans. A separate example is "Dada se baat karna" meaning lets go talk to grandfather on the computer (via Skype). She drops everything, runs to the computer room, climbs up on to the chair (or further on to the desk) and waits patiently for us to dial in.
But at the same time, we're noticing her falling a bit behind in expressing herself in more ways than just nods of the head or saying no or nah. On the phone, she can say bye, take care and change her loudness to mimic me and say it very softly. What we don't hear is phrases like "I want cake" or "Mummy's got a camera" or "I love it" or the hindi equivalents. We get jumbles. N knows what she's saying is nonsensical because she doesn't get frustrated when we don't understand her, just smiles and tries again.
So it feels a bit disorientating; trying to talk to her is a one way conversation, with her understanding but not responding. And then it comes back the other way, with jumbles of total non-words and phrases. We're at a bit of a loss to explain why its taking her so long to progress from one word to two to three.
11 comments:
Before you know it, she'll be saying "you don't understand " and "shut the door" and "you can't make me!"..These days will seem like a dream x
As a certifiable hypochondriac, I can only sympathize. As far as I'm educated in these matters, your anxiety is unfounded. Certainly Jinu has several friends older than him who happily babble unintelligibly, and the 20 month old we met on the weekend is not talking at all.
More scientifically, this randomly selected website gives irreconcilable data that is simultaneously comforting (average sentence length should be 1.2 words) and disheartening (70% of what they say should be intelligible). But even they caution that the schedule will not be followed to the letter.
Beyond that basically you've got two choices to deal with the anxiety while N gets her grammar together. Time, or when impatience finally gets the better of you, a trip to you child health nurse. Both seem like good options.
Oh, and remember that bilingual kids are supposed to talk later.
Hi Pran, those days seems years away. It's hard to make the good things last. Everything's a bit bitter sweet at the moment.
Hi Bob, perhaps it's a distance thing. Today as I was standing in the cold, for an hour, waiting for a bus, sort of thinking to myself, man, we are so alone, start to ponder all those inscrutable delicate things.
Everyone tells me I'm being stupid and the advice you give is great. But perhaps by nature I'm also a little too demanding (very demanding), very competitive and very impatient. Start doing counting now, god-dammit!
Just a small part of me that wishes I could hear some words coming together.
:) Goddammit, Mozart was writing symphonies by now!!
Yeah, I dunno what to say. It's impossible not to compare your kid to others.
In any case, two-to-three is supposed to be the year that language blooms, so you're doing the right thing thinking about it, though it still seems a bit early to be genuinely worried.
My mum is a big fan of child health nurses (she's biased -- she basically used to be one). So if the worry keeps getting to you, she'd counsel going for a chat, even if just to get things straight.
Is she developing in other ways, instead? It seems to me that kids develop unevenly, and in spurts. Sometimes it's height. Sometimes it's weight. Sometimes it's teeth. Sometimes it's motor skills. Sometimes it's linguistic skills. Sometimes it's muscle strength. Sometimes it's hair (Naina got onto that one early). With all the different parameters that can be developed at different rates and in different orders, it's no wonder that all kids are different.
If you're seeing no progress in any aspect, then I'd be getting some specialist advice. However, my bet is that N is working on some other aspect of her development right now.
oh dear you mean she cant say Steve Waugh is the greatest yet!!
Looked back at my last post and it seemed a little more down than I'd expected. Just wanted to reiterate that I also think there's no need for professional advice. The only possible reason for it is to cure your anxiety:) But that could also be cured by hanging out with lots of other kids.
Sorry, I just had to comment because the word verification text was "pricken".
But now that I'm hear, I might as well add that one of H's favourite words at the moment is "datz". Or, at least, that's what it sounds like. We have no idea what it means, but she's happy to use it on random occasions, even talking to other kids.
I've asked, is that "dance"? *head shake*
So, still wondering.
I was chatting to a speech pathologist at the local primary school (thanks to the fantastic program Maree Yuncken is involved with) and she said that (current theory is) kids move on to two and three word phrases when they reach a critical mass of single words. Bilingual kids have to amass about twice as many words (and presumably two sets of grammar) so it takes longer. If really in doubt I find a specialist to put my mind at rest, at worst I look a little bit foolish. Charlotte now shouts "stupid mummy" when I displease her so be careful what you wish for :)
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