As I was browsing through the blog last night and reading some of the old blog entries, it confirmed my recollection that Matty actually started to talk (as in like say a few words) when he was about 9 months old. In fact he was able to mouth a few words even earlier than that... at about 8.5 months old. To name a few, he was able to express words like "mum-mum", "up", "down", "go", "on", "off", "clock", "bird", "car" and "flower"... and it wasn't random sounds that he was making. He points to the item and says it clearly.
I was proud that the boy was steadily increasing his vocabulary back then. I have always attributed Matty's strong verbal skills to the amount of talking that we constantly do with him. It wasn't intentional... it was never in our agenda to "groom" him in this aspect. Maybe because he doesn't really sleep a lot back then and we ended up distracting him and entertaining him with constant chattering. We carried him and walked him around the house, the garden, the neighbourhood and gave him all the exposure that a child needs - the sight, the sound, the smell.
Flip side of knowing that Matty was doing well in this area is that now I feel we haven't done enough for Elaina and the guilt of neglecting her seems to have crept back quietly. At 10 months old today, Elaina has not been able to mouth any recognisable word... probably just "mum-mum" when she sees food, which we are not even sure if she is pronouncing the word itself or just random baby sounds made. The excuse of "time is so stretched" is often cited to get ourselves off the hook when we cannot get something done for someone. To say that I have failed as a parent may sound a little too strong, but I hate to think that I may not be doing enough for the girl. I have always tried not to compare Elaina with Matty and stay away from being uptight about a lot of things.... but with that, I seemed to have slacked in making the effort when it comes to Elaina.
Probably in a few months time or in a few years when Elaina has learned what she needs to know and able to do what she needs to do... the guilt will stop haunting me. Until then...
I was proud that the boy was steadily increasing his vocabulary back then. I have always attributed Matty's strong verbal skills to the amount of talking that we constantly do with him. It wasn't intentional... it was never in our agenda to "groom" him in this aspect. Maybe because he doesn't really sleep a lot back then and we ended up distracting him and entertaining him with constant chattering. We carried him and walked him around the house, the garden, the neighbourhood and gave him all the exposure that a child needs - the sight, the sound, the smell.
Flip side of knowing that Matty was doing well in this area is that now I feel we haven't done enough for Elaina and the guilt of neglecting her seems to have crept back quietly. At 10 months old today, Elaina has not been able to mouth any recognisable word... probably just "mum-mum" when she sees food, which we are not even sure if she is pronouncing the word itself or just random baby sounds made. The excuse of "time is so stretched" is often cited to get ourselves off the hook when we cannot get something done for someone. To say that I have failed as a parent may sound a little too strong, but I hate to think that I may not be doing enough for the girl. I have always tried not to compare Elaina with Matty and stay away from being uptight about a lot of things.... but with that, I seemed to have slacked in making the effort when it comes to Elaina.
Probably in a few months time or in a few years when Elaina has learned what she needs to know and able to do what she needs to do... the guilt will stop haunting me. Until then...
