Mekonen really only says about 3 words unprompted. He says "Daddy," "Mama," and "ball." However, we are not sure how much he really uses them correctly. Many times he will use Daddy and it looks like he is referring to Jon and other times he is not. Mama is not so consistent and I don't think he really knows it's me! The only word I know he knows what it means and consistently uses it correctly (even for a non-round ball like a football) is the word "ball." It seemed odd to me that he was only saying 3 words and not seeming to use two of them correctly all the time. The doctor said 3-5 words at this age is normal.
Then the doctor asked me what my next question to him was! He asked how well does he follow directions, such as "Go get your drink." or "Hand it to Daddy." I actually posted about this question on our adoption forum several weeks ago because I have been noticing that he doesn't seem to understand simple directions like that. The directions he does understand took A LOT of repetition and so it seems like he knows them just b/c he's been drilled on them and not b/c he is really understanding.
But then again, the doctor reminded me of language development. It's been 7 months since Mekonen has been home and he has progressed so much that I forget sometimes how things were before he came to us. He was talking about how in order to learn language you hear and understand first, and then you speak. Mekonen spent the first 8 months of his life hearing Amharic, not English. Then he was thrust into a different environment where he was hearing a completely different language. So really, he still hasn't even been hearing English as long as he did Amharic. The doctor said this is more than likely the reason he doesn't say too many words and why he might not be understanding things super well. But still, as I'm sure most moms do, I worry that I'm not doing something right or well enough to help him along.
5 comments:
Oh my goodness, we'll have to talk you worried, mamma, you! :) You're doing everything right! Sosi finally started saying mamma last week, so no worries. Honestly, the second-language thing is HUGE (and /m/ is not a beginning sound in Amharic like it is in English). By the time babies are 4 months old their brains are already wired for the sounds of their native language. So...our babies had a lot of re-wiring to do! It certainly is helpful to his get hearing checked--especially since he had all of those ear infections like Sosi. Let's set up an ichat date so the babies can talk--I think they understand each other better than we do!
xoxo to you!
Rachael - your fears are pretty normal across the board. :) I know there are so many times I worry that I am not doing enough for Natalie. I think it's just a mom thing. I chuckled when you said Mekonen's growing - he's already surpassed Natalie in weight AND height, and she's 13 months older than he is! (She only weighs 23 lbs at 28 months). I worry myself crazy that I'm not feeding her enough or giving her the right foods. But...try hard to take it in stride. Every single kid is different and they'll all grow differently. Just do the best you know you can do and leave the rest in God's hands...(after all, He was the One who gave us our kids anyway)
Myles is the same, Rachael. He only says 3 or 4 words and doesn't seem to understand stimple instructions. Sometimes he does, and other times, he'll just look at you with a blank expression. I have to agree, I think it has a lot to do with language development and the fact that they started out hearing an entirely different language and we just need to chill out and they'll eventually come along. But I know it can be frustrating. Myles will NOT say "mama". When Craig asks him, "Where's Mama?", he'll look right at me every time, but he won't say it to me. And my soul SO NEEDS him to say it sometimes. It would be really nice, but I know he'll say it someday. It's especially frustrating when I hear people talk about how much their kids from ET are saying. Like Macie Urrutia is SUPER verbal! But again, it's just an example of how all kids are different and they develop at different rates.
So there with you, Mama! :-)
Elizabeth
Cale was ALWAYS loud. Still is loud. He has 2 volumes. Loud and Off. I think it's a boy thing. We are just now telling him to turn his voice on "low" and he will attempt to correct it.
Don't worry so much about him!! He's doing great!! :)
Don't be surprised if his hearing is just fine. Its seems like there are many Ethiopian kiddos out there who are just really really loud all the time (and yes, our son is one of them and his hearing is fine)!
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