it seems like i've mostly been hanging out with mammas who have babes at least a couple months younger than Leona (17m) so i haven't put much thought on this until the last few days. i recently had a playdate with a mom with a 15.5 mo boy who has amazing laguage skills (IMO) in comparison to my dd. he knows at least 50 words and can pick them up very quickly, like i'll say a word a couple times and he repeats it back. i was blown away by how well he spoke! now my dd knows about 10 words *maybe* and she does not repeat or try to, barely. everything is "dada" to her lately and has been since she was about 12m. dada in a high pitched voice is mostly her word for baby. if i really stress it she will eventually give in and say "baba" but not baby. she says a lot of animal sounds (she is excellent at cat, duck, dog, cow sounds!) but refuses to call them by their names no matter how many times i say them. she is so funny because when i mention certain words she will make sounds or signs that remind her of the word. for example when i say flower she scrunches up her nose and makes a sniffing sound. or when i say bird she makes a tweeting noise and puts her index and middle fingers together and opens and closes it like a beak. is this normal or should she be talking more?
another thing i kind of wonder about is her motor skills. she walks and runs like a champ but when it comes to simple puzzles, stacking blocks, or drawing or just age appropriate toys/ games/ activities she just won't do it! i guess the drawing i'm not too freaked about but i was looking on babycenter (i barely ever do because i get myself worked into a tizzy like i am now!) and they said :"remember a few months ago when you gave your child a pencil and paper and she made a bunch of scribbles? well now she should be able to draw circles and control her hand eye coodination better" and Leona doesn't seem to demonstrate any fine control of it. mostly scribbles.
am i just a total hormonal freak who's making a big deal over nothing or are these valid concerns? reading over my post, it sounds pretty anal, uptight and overly worried but it still freaked me out for some reason so i gotta ask!

pah on the pencil and circle thing..that's a load at 17 months!! She is lucky if she can hold a pencil and make a mark on paper at this age!!

Look for better resources cuz that is just nuts. She sounds perfectly fine to me. It's always good to remember that children develop at their OWN rates, and as long as they meet the bare minimum developmental milestones they are fine. Seriously, try Dr. Sears' site or something because that's just silly. Also, language develops differently in every child..she sounds like she prefers some gesturing right now to making sounds, and that's totally ok..it's like baby sign language of her own and actually helps her develop BETTER language skills in the end.

Anyway, stop worrying...:D

yeah, after sitting on it for a night i realized that it probably is silly to be worried! thanks for the suggestions and reassurance!

That sounds about like where dd is at. She's 17m old too. Ditto for the animal sounds vs. their actual names. Codi knows about 10 words, too, and is starting to use hand signals. She'll touch her index finger to her other finger's palm for more. And she just started touching her index finger to her leg for down. We started teaching her some because otherwise she would just skreetch (sp?) at us until we figured out what she wanted.
Anyways, go find another site to look at! I don't think that one's very accurate or realistic! Drawing circles at 17m! I've seen 3 year olds that can't draw circles!
Every child learns at their own pace. Don't worry, it sounds like she's doing fine!
Jessika

I'd say she's on par for age. BUTTTTTT, if you are worried, it is FREE to get an early intervention evaluation- it is paid for by state/federal funds. Anyway, they will test all skills, and give you a range of where she is for everything. It can ease your mind that she is on track, or get you help if she needs it. The next 6 months are an explosion of EVERYTHING!! Really, I think the second half of the second year is realyl when they go from baby to true toddler. Before that they really are babies.

I agree on the timing of the development explosion, though my own son waited another six months for his. He didn't say anything but "mama", "all done" and "da" (which meant everything else) till he was 2-1/2! My pediatrician and father drove me crazy with the "he needs speech therapy" thing, and in fact my father found a bunch of web sites, like yours, that thought he should have written a piano concerto by the age of two. :rolleyes: I, however, found just as many sites that said not to worry!

The other thing I've read and observed--kids seem to develop in just one area at a time. My son was like your daughter in that he was just terrific at gross motor skills at a very early age, but he didn't draw or talk. Heck, he's three now and he still doesn't particularly like to draw.

I'm glad you feel better, and you should! It sounds like your daughter is doing just fine--she's just doing it her own way!

as an SLP, just the little bit that you described of her sounds like she has great receptive language skills. like you say flower and she scrunches up her nose...that means that not only does she know what a flower is, but she knows that you smell it...with your nose. it's totally okay to be later developing the expressive language. good receptive language at 17 months, and noone is worried about only having 10 words. they'll come all at once, i bet.

now...the motor skills, i know little about. i actually felt a little worried that ds hasn't even ever held a crayon...LOL!

let's just say I have an almost 15 month old who is not walking but can say about 20-something words and repeats new words everyday now.

My oldest dd didn't say much other than a few words until 20 months but was walking a few days after her first birthday.

They all develop in their own times....but follow your instincts! ;)