[echaos]

Liam is 17 months old today and is a babbling fool! He has 2 words that we have declared as his first "official" words.

The first is "GAT" which of course means cat. (no big surprise in our house!)

The second is "TA" which means star. He is obsessed with stars. In the sky, on his clothes, in the mall, glow in the dark ones on his ceilling.

These are certainly not your "average" first words. We are still waiting with baited breath for the sweet sound of Mummy. He does use Ms and has a singsong mamama, but he does not use it as a label for us yet.

What first words did everyone else's children have? The standard Mama and Dada? Or anything more exotic? What age did your kids start using words as labels for the correct things?

I love this age and can't wait for the next words. We are trying to get him to use UP (instead of trying to pull my track pants off when he wants to be picked up), JUICE and of course Mummy.

Looking forward to everyones input.

[shirleyville]

My first words were "pipe" and "shampoo" (sha-poo) --- certainly NOT your average first words!
My God Daughter, who is almost four had some unusual ones as well........her first word was "woof", which was her word for "doggie" and after a few more "usual ones" like"mommy" and "juice", I nearly fell off the chair when I had my back turned to her and I heard her say (what I thought was) BUFFALO! I turned around and looked at her, and she was clutching this little stuffed buffalo she got on a trip to Montana. She held it up, smiled at me, and said, "purple buffalo"! I was staying with her at the time, and I was on the phone to her mom at work in no time flat! I was AMAZED!!!!!!!!!!!
I love that time in their little lives! It's incredible!
It makes me smile to think of you guys and the joy it is bringing you all!
Hugs,
Sally

[spaypets]

The first word we understood (our daughter was 18 months old when we brought her home) was "Boo!" But I think she was saying "there" as sort of punctuation (finish putting her clothes on and you say "there," Put the plate down and say "there").

Her first two syllable word was "elbow." Another early word was "home" which was sort of sweet. She said Papa months before Mama. She was home two months before she said "up" and she's been saying it ever since. It was another 5 months before she said "down" (she first learned it as a dog command -- yes, my daughter gives the dogs commands and they obey!).

We did some basic sign language with her so she could say more and milk and banana before she had the words.

[shirleyville]

I don't know if anyone else has experienced this before or not, but when my God Daughter was little, and just learning words, she made put her own "twist" on words......and for some reason, many of them have remained a part of our vocabulary ever since! Her "twists" have become the norm among us "adults", now instead of the "real" way of saying things! LOL
For instance, I doubt I will ever say banana again......it will forever be "Be-mana"! She also created the question...."what are you doon-ing"...and the phrase "Oh, that's Be-scusting"! We call these "Shaela-isms" and I have to STOP myself from saying these things in public, they have become such a part of our world!
I will also never forget figuring out for the first time what she was saying and what she actually MEANT when she kept saying "ga"! We THOUGHT that was what she was calling her father, who, at the time, was travelling a lot on business. Every time he would get ready to leave, she would say "ga" and then after a few times of doing that, she would add "go" after it.....so we thought she was saying "Daddy's leaving" --- but one day the lightbulb went off when we were visiting a friend's home, and as we were getting ready to leave, she said , "Ga Go!" very cheerfully, and we realized she was saying "Gotta Go" which was what her Daddy said everytime he left!
By the way...this thread makes me smile!
Hugs,
Sally

[jodyk]

I don't remember what my fs's first words were, but some cute ones he said/says are: "my nanny" (banana); "breaksas" (breakfast). The one that was the hardest for me to figure out was "deerio". He kept saying it over & over in the car & I couldn't figure out what it was. "Deerio, Mommy. Right dere. Deerio!" Turns out it was cereal, and I had a baggie of it in the console.

My nephew gave us words that we still use. He's almost 13 now:
"breakas" (breakfast); "Da-doo" (Thank you); "kepitch" (ketchup); "yogrit" (yogurt), and my favorites: "dissingappear" and "beinghave" ("Why aren't you behaving?" "But Mommy, I am beinghave!")

[jodyk]

it's interesting to watch how toddlers' language develops, evolves and grows. Words my 2yo struggled with a month or so ago now come easily to him. He's always watched my mouth when I talk, so if he's having problems saying something, I break it down for him, but I also have him watch me say it while putting his hands on my face (Helen Keller-style, like they portrayed in the movies & on stage). Almost always works, too!

[stacyone]

My husband and I have a debate about what our daughter's first word was... I say it was 'dog', but he says it was 'dada', a few weeks later.

echaos, the next few months are going to AMAZE you! I swear, every two weeks she's got ten new words. Naturally, her favorites are "no" and "mine", but I cracked up last week when I mentioned an airplane trip she and I were taking (her Daddy was on a business trip). She said, "Pane? Daddy?" I said, "Yes, sweetie, that's right, Daddy went on an airplane. Do you remember where he went?" Long pause. Then she asks, "Cago?" He had gone to Chicago! I hadn't mentioned it to her in, like, four days because I didn't want to upset her!

Just you wait!!!!!

[mckenna]

my son's first word after mama was ball. my daughters first word was dog (we don't have a dog but that was her first word). my son started saying words for certain objects by the time he was 14 or 15 months. when his sister came to live with us and reached that age she would only say about 2-3 words (of course i made mistake #1000000 and started to worry about her lang. dev. since my son was saying a lot of words by that time) any way about a month ago (age 16months) she still only had about 6 words, then one night at the table my son said i want down and then i hear i want down, it was the baby. she went from 6 words to 3-4 word sentences over night. they just surprise you. her daycare teacher was laughing one day cuz the kids were all asleep and she and the other teacher were eating some cookies the baby woke up walked up behind her and said "i want some" she said all she could do was laugh because she did not know she was awake or could talk in sentences.

[echaos]

I know!! It's so exciting. last night he decided to "talk" with his teeth gritted!! I guess he liked who it sounded. Mostly he is still at the grunting/pointing stage.

Every day brings something different!!

[Sarah'smommy]

My daughter has been babbling since about 9 months old. At about 1 she was babbling like she was really carring on a conversation with you. Now at 16 months she says: Mommy, daddy, doggie, kitty, MOO, poo-poo, all done, baby, bye-bye, NO, nose(She points at it), Eye.

[kiwi]

When I was an infant my dad had been going through nursing school. It was in my very first talking experience... less than 12 mos (I think )he taught me to point at the appropriate feature while saying "eye, ear, nose, trachea... in there" and run my finger up and down my neck.

The biggest mistake phrase I ever learned was at the age of 2 when I put my hand on my hip and told my mom "ya wanna try and make me?" then realized my folley when as it turns out, she did.

My cousin had the most favorite wrong words that we adapted into everyday language. We were at the park when she started yelling "fee-oh, fee-oh!!" and it was several days later that we realized she meant squirrel. She is now in her 20's and has a kitten named Feo. Another great moment for her was at about age 2 she got really loud (usually yelling) whenever she'd say the word "wire"... it would come out as more of "W-EYE-UH." We didn't realize that the special pronunciation and emphasis had SO ingrained itself into our family until her dad was in his shop doing some kind of manly thing with his manly man friends and he said to one of them "hey, hand me that W-EYE-UH" at which point the power tools stopped, the beer mugs froze in mid air and even the trophie deer head on the wall blinked a couple times to make sure they heard right. They never let him live it down.

[echaos]

Kiwi,

what a great story!!! I always wonder about unusual words/phrases that families use and how they came to be.

[HappyMomAnna]

Little J is being declaried speech delayed At two we have fewer then five words! Lots of babble and sounds. Dogs are ruff-ruff and most things he makes a sound for not a word--It is funny because we still give him a bedtime bottle and he asks for it by wiggling his fingers and making a bunch of beeping noises--apparently it is the micro-wave and my hand setting the time and the sound it makes when his 'naa-naa' is ready!

He continues to use hand signs with expert ease! And while he has no real words he is saying "I oh oh" for "I don't know" Ask him where something is both arms go to the side palms up and he says "I oh oh" it is darling!

My oldest son had the worst first word any child could ever have! I took in my firends PAROT for a long period of time and regretted it terribly...that dang bird drove me crazy! Anyway my friend named the stupid bird, "Killer" and after hearing me say , "Be quiet Killer" for weeks my son started saying, "gaucker" wich was "killer" can you imagine your babies first word being Killer? I was so mad i told my friend to get her bird or he was going to the pet store!

[kiwi]

Anna, Just a possibility, but a friends child was about 2 and just making vowel sounds. "I love you" was "ya yu ooo" and not much else could be distinguished..... they realized he still had fluid in his ears! Apparently it was very deep and to him the world sounded the same as being underwater!
The fluid was drained and he was very shy for about 3 days... the sounds of the world were suddenly SO different. He became a regular chatter box after that and caught right back up within only a few weeks!!

[HappyMomAnna]

kiwi--thanks I will ask for a better check on his ears! That makes sense to me!