[SKL]

Do those of you who have kids close in age notice that one of them is "lazy" to talk?

My wee one said her first two (English) words at age 10 months, a month after coming home. Now, 8 months later, she has a pretty small vocabulary (about 10-15 words if I'm generous), and most of her words are not well formed ("dah" or "dah dah" accounts for about half of her vocabulary). She doesn't yet put words together, either.

Her older sister has been ahead of her in speech and talks / babbles to her a lot. Some of the time, I have no idea what older sis is saying, but little sis seems to understand and responds nonverbally.

I have reasons to believe that wee one is very bright. She understands a great deal, follows directions (when she agrees with them), is good at puzzles, builds towers, recognizes some letters and many, many pictures, is fully potty trained, has very good non-verbal communication, etc. So I am wondering what factors are playing into her relative lack of verbal communication.

I know she's probably been slowed down a bit because of the change in languages 9 months ago, and having a nanny who teaches her in both Spanish and English, and maybe even the fact that nonverbal communication usually gets her what she wants. But, is the sister thing also a factor? Do you think it could be a factor for older sis too? Just curious as to what others have observed.