Four point

Estrella

We woke Patrick up just before midnight on Tuesday and took him outside to watch the Perseid meteor shower with us. It would have been better a few hours later and many many miles further away from shopping center light pollution but it was still pretty and cool.

Patrick was pleased.

Pipistrelle

The people who built this house put a double-sided gas fireplace between the living room and the entryway. When we moved in six years ago we made the dual discovery that: 1) the glass panels get so hot they could sear tuna; and 2) the ignition for the pilot light is wired to a wall switch that even a very short child can reach on his or her tippytoes. So we disconnected it. A few years later we had a guy out to see whether it might be possible to convert the gas fireplace to a woodburning one; partly because I prefer a nice wood fire and partly because we are completely surrounded by trees here; trees that fall over. So the guy looked at the chimney and the hearth and the floor and gave us two quotes, one was for what it would cost to convert the fireplace from gas to wood; the other was for what it might cost to tear the house down and rebuild. They were comparable.

So we have this (temporarily; say another five years until we can be mostly sure the children will not get first degree burns from the glass) useless fireplace in the living room. Recently Patrick noticed its resemblance to a fish tank and suggested that we could fill it with water and aquatic life. Because it would be so educational for the babies, he said. Patrick has twigged to the fact that I have a weak spot for him when he is all brotherly so he tends to frame outrageous requests under the broad mantle of philos adelphos. Regardless, I said no. He asked why not. I said because the fireplace is not remotely watertight and aquariums require a lot of special equipment and even if neither of these things were true it is impossible to actually get inside the glass space without prying off the metal surround so there would be no way to get fish in and out. Finally, I said, nobody wants to squat in front of our fireplace and watch things flit around in there.

It is almost like Fate and Patrick have worked out an arrangement so that a week never goes by without my being forced, grudgingly, to admit that I was wrong about something.

Yesterday a bat - a very very cute chocolate brown bat with bright button eyes and weird webbed wing hands - got trapped in the fireplace and the children and I spent the entire day sitting on our sit-us-down-upons watching the bat flit around in there. He hung upside-down. He crawled on the fake logs. He ate a mosquito. We were all entranced. Well, almost all of  us. Edward came over during the initial excitement, peered at the bat, then retreated to the far corner of the living room and started reading a book. Every time someone would mention the bat he would smile and say "Bah" and point to the fireplace but he was not going back over there. I could read his thoughts as clearly as if he had written a treatise on the subject: maybe this bat was friendly, maybe it wasn't; seemed to him the prudent course was one of caution. Caroline, having not a single thread of wariness in her entire body, was beside herself with glee and served as a one woman bat welcoming committee. "Hi Bat! Hiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaeeee!" she waved and cooed. She tried to give it raisins by smashing them into the glass. She kept bringing her music over to share until I confiscated the player (I assumed that bats need sleep. also that bats have very sensitive oversized bat ears.) When she started to cry I hauled her into Steve's office.

Steve looked at the screaming Caroline and then at me, like why I was I bringing him a crying child when he was trying to work?

"She was bothering the bat," I explained.    

"Oh," he said.

Overnight the bat escaped up the chimney again - which is good, although I miss him - and Patrick this morning suggested we could keep hamsters in there. I actually hesitated for a fraction of a second.

Dah!

I always wonder when I read about other people's toddlers and their cutey-cute expressions (that sounded snarky but it is sincere. I really do love reading about other people's kids and their SCOOZmepeaz's and whatnot) whether they actually say excuse me please or, you know, scoozmepeaz.

Patrick had a speech delay of epic proportions. When we finally took him to be evaluated at two and a half he was below the fifth percentile for expressive language. The speech pathologist warned us ahead of time that kids often under-perform during evaluations and that it was better to skew a little low and qualify for services etc. I think she was used to parents freaking out when their child was deemed to be subnormal. During the eval Steve and I sat there while she had Patrick identify things on cards: "dog?" "DA" "rabbit" "DADA" "strawberry" "DUHDA."

She then looked at us.

"Is this about what you get at home?" she asked, delicately.

Steve and I were beaming, like, "Yes! Isn't he great! We are so sorry to be wasting your time!"

She looked at us with pity and then booked Patrick into speech therapy, twice a week. She told us that it might take a few years... .

As it so happens it was a terrific experience, our health insurance covered it, Patrick loved his pathologist and he was out in six months speaking mellifluously of dogs, rabbits, strawberries and the joys of selling seashells by the seashore.

And then I never thought about it again until I made a discovery during Patrick's weeks of fever and swollen glands. Why I had never before asked him to stick out his tongue I have no idea but it was only a couple of months ago that I did so and I suddenly realized that Patrick has a tongue like a lily pad. It is very blunt and the frenulum is connected so far in the front that the moment his tongue pokes in front of his teeth it gets pulled back in the middle. I looked at it and thought AH HA! No wonder he sounded like he was speaking with a mouth full of gumballs. My second thought was that I wanted to go back and STRANGLE that lactation consultant from seven years ago. I TOLD HER it was the baby's fault that breastfeeding was a neverending ordeal of incredible suffering and that he was always hungry and I never got to sleep more than an hour and I hated it. How we did it for a year I will never know but we did. Oh right, because it all got much better after eight weeks. Anyway. I still think a little clipping of the ol' tongue-tie might've gone a long way. But that is all wa-wa-water and buh-buh-bubbles under the buh-buh-bridge. I forgive. Mistakes on both sides (hers and Patrick's, with me as the innocent victim) no doubt.

The reason I bring this up is because Edward sounds just like Patrick did. Caroline says "Baaaa-tuh" for bat. She says, "Teeeeeef" for teeth. She says, "Gooooo nonnah buhleeduhnow fuh dassen?" for something; we have no idea what but she sure is a chatty little thing. And she has this poky pointy agile little tongue with which you could slice cheese. Edward's tongue is like an Oreo cookie and his words all begin and end at the back of his throat. "Cah" (car) "Crah-cah" (cracker) "dah" (dog) "dah!" (star) "kwah" (square) "cahcah" (circle)... huh. Edward is really into shapes. Shapes and cars. First he walked. Then he started running everywhere. Now he has his riding trike push car thing he rides. He rides from the living room to the bedroom, the bedroom to the kitchen... he's such a suburbanite. Why walk when you can drive?

Where was I?

Oh right. I cannot decide if this is just normal (or normal for him) speech development or if I should be more proactive this time and have someone listen to him before he develops his own vowel-based language like Patrick did: Oh mama nah ah duh ahn! (Look, Mother! The light is on!)  

Nineteen months: are they supposed to sound like Edward or like Caroline? Please advise.

I requested a book on seven year olds ("Your Seven Year Old: Life in a Minor Key") that Angela recommended in the comments on the last post. Today I took the children to the library and I picked up my reserved copy and Patrick got a stack of things that looked good to him (Asterix ho! some odd looking mouse-based comic book - not Maus, I checked lest I accidentally find myself trying to explain the Holocaust at 11:30 one night; The physics of compact objects - my mother firmly believed that it did not matter what children read as long as they were reading; Captain Underpants kills me, you know, but Patrick thinks it is funny.) I let him use the self-checkout machine because it is fun but as he got to the book on seven year olds his hand froze.

"What is this?" he asked.

I blushed. I actually blushed.

"Is this a book to help you figure out how to get me to do what you say all the time?"

"Yes," I said. And I narrowed my eyes at him. He opened his mouth. Shut it. Then scanned the book and I put it in the library bag.

I CANNOT BELIEVE I actually blushed.

Starred

Books. I saw a friend at the library and asked how she was. She said she was struggling to find a good book to take camping. I asked what she wanted. She said, fluffy? Light?

I thought for a minute and said, "Ohhh! What you want is 'To Say Nothing of the Dog'. Not fluffy exactly but very charming and delightful. And, incidentally, the library has a slim and campable paperback copy."

This was a book that you recommended to me on bed rest and it was such a perfect book for the occasion that I take great pleasure in passing it on (the recommendation; not the book. I never get books back so I am never loaning that one out.) I have an ad up for two books right now. The, um, Buttafucco story? Did I even spell that right? I saw that and had to think for a minute before I realized that she must be that poor woman who was shot in the face by her idiot husband's idiot underaged girlfriend. Did she stay with him after that or something equally horrible, do you know? I did get the other book, The Eight, out of the library because I liked the cover. I have read the first ten chapters and it's fun so far. I'll let you know what I think when I am done.

So I am reading that and a manuscript that one of Steve's business partners has written. I am taking a really long time with the latter because it's so far from what I would usually read (like oh my god soooooooo faaaaaaaaar - think serial killings) and I keep trying to decide if I should make helpful notes as I go or just get through the whole thing and then go back and be helpful. He asked for it, by the way. The help I mean. I'm not just taking a pen to his life's work at random. But a serial killer. Slow going.

What are you reading? Is it good?      

PS Good GRIEF. I cannot believe I forgot the Ranger's Apprentice series by John Flanagan. I just finished the first five books (written for young adults but who cares?) and gave them to Steve to read and we both enjoyed them so much we adjusted our austerity budget to enable us to order the next three books in the series from the only place they are available... Australia. Adventure books, well written and well told. Also, my dear friends down under, you probably know this already but DAMN do you pay a lot for your reading material.

PPS I have gotten into my food blog a bit and I am really enjoying it. I appreciate the comments from those of you who have taken a look, so thank you. Tonight's recipe: mint lime and vodka cocktails.

Comments

[arubagirl.typepad.com]

I''m reading an unknown author (for me) about Surinam. It's actually pretty good. It's in Dutch, though.

[Aunt Becky]

My middle child has a tongue tie that makes him appear to have a heart for a tongue. Not a REAL, like HEART, heart, but like a nice pink Valentine's day one.

I knew I should have had it clipped after birth.

But, *shudder*.

[Ruth]

Even with his back-of-the-throat speech patterns, what you are relating of Edward's speech is far, far, FAR ahead of what WB was doing at 19 months ... heck, it's more than she's doing NOW, and she'll be two next month. Of course, she is in Early Intervention, having been officially diagnosed as Speech Delayed, and has been referred for a full speech-language eval, so there you have it. You can't really go by her, except, I guess, to know that it could be worse.

I'd go get him checked out, for peace of mind, if nothing else. It doesn't hurt, and it might help.

I'm so glad you mentioned that book ... I'm burning through my vacation books (time to read! I'm so happy!!), and will need something new before we head out on the major driving portion of our journey this weekend.

[Becky]

Edward is within the realm of normal but with his nursing problems, I would probably ask your pedi to check his tounge the next time you see him. They don't generally do a ton with speech until they are 2 unless they are really not talking at all- as in, no syllables, no pretend words, etc- so, delaying until the 2 year check up isn't a huge deal. That said, if you google speech milestones you should get some good guidance. I think I remember the american speech assn (or something along those lines) has a good one as does the american pediatrics assn.

On The 8- I adored it but her future books are not nearly as well done.

[Stephanie M]

A lurker de-lurking at the mention of books...

Have you read Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series? Or "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger (before they make it into a movie and probably ruin it)? Those are at the top of my list, the others at the top are mostly fantasy and I don't know how you feel about that...

[Kristin]

Time Traveler's Wife is amazing. I highly, highly recommend The Art of Racing in the Rain. And in between forays into respectable books, I read a lot so scifi/fantasy/paranormal romance types of books.

[margot]

Ohhhhh Julia! I hope you can find something interesting at www.featherproof.com. It's a small indie publisher out of Chicago, they represent a fresh, very curated batch of authors, and all the books are locally designed, published, & produced. Most of their offerings are available on amazon too, but I think it's better to buy right from the source if you can. Hooray for small businesses! Also a lot of their books are on sale right now, same price as a usual paperback.

[Christiana]

I have an almost 18 month old and I've been concerned about her language for awhile, especially after reading your archives on Patrick's speech issues. Anyhow, one of my oldest friends is a speech pathologist who works in the school system and she says there is a "burst of vocabulary" at 18 months and that they should have about 150 around then. Understandable, but not necessarily perfectly clear. I'd bring it up w/ your pediatrician, and mention the tongue-tiedness. He's doing a lot better than my kid - who has 8 words, max. I'll be discussing it w/ her pediatrician at her 18 month appt next week. I think we'll get an evaluation out of it.

[lynn]

Terry Pratchett is my favorite author. I just finished a re-read of his latest, Nation, and I highly recommend it. It's a stand-alone, no relation to his other books, so you can just pick it up and read it. (Do so!)

[Lisa]

I'm all about Kristin Hannah right now, more her later stuff like True Colors and Firefly Lane than her earlier books which are mostly bodice rippers (not that there's anything wrong with that, I enjoy a good trashy book as much as the next person).

[Joy]

I just read The Selected Works of TS Spivet, by Reif Larsen and so enjoyed it. Patrick would probably love it in a few years, too!

[Nony Mouse]

I just finished Slash's autobiography. They must have thrown a lot of money at him for him to agree to be portrayed as such an asshole, especially when he seems to think he's coming across as a good guy. But as a longtime GnR fan, it was an interesting read.

[melissa]

I really liked Steve Martin's The Pleasure Of My Company (a novel), recently. And World Without End by Ken Follett; it's kind of a sequel to Pillars of the Earth but definitely stands alone. I love it when you ask your readers for suggestions; I stalk the comments and flesh out my Amazon list from them -- got To Say Nothing of the Dog myself that way, last time.

[Lisa]

I'd get him checked, and here's why: My nephew sounded JUST like Patrick (and Edward) when he was a toddler. My meek little SIL kept telling me -- and anyone else who would listen -- that she "thinks something is wrong." She had an older son who spoke normally, my boys both spoke normally, Mason didn't.

The problem was that my BIL and my MIL REFUSED to believe her. My BIL was all "nothing's wrong with my kid" and my MIL was all "he's fine because *we* understand him." They poo-pooed her all every turn (even going so far as to accompany her to all ped appointments so that she wouldn't "bring it up.")

By the time Mason was three, NO ONE outside our immediate family could understand a word he said. It was like his tongue was too thick to close his mouth all the way so there were no beginning or ending consonants. Finally (and only after the daycare sent home a letter saying they were SERIOUSLY CONCERNED about his lack of communication skills) my BIL consented to having him evaluated.

It was horrific. The speech pathologist cried at how bad it was and how long it had gone untreated, she told my SIL later. They put him in an intensive program of speech therapy, which he's still in.

What's worse is that even now, at age 11, you can only understand about half of what he's saying. He's always going to have some sort of speech problem, always. And it infuriates me that it was so preventable.

So yeah, get Eddie Bear checked. If he's fine, great; if not, well, you can fix it.

[Leslie]

My son was tongue-tied at birth and was clipped a day later. He still has a very short, forked tongue (it pulls in at the center when he stick it out). He's also in speech therapy for a speech delay. (He just turned two). However, both our pediatrician and our speech therapist have said that his delay is not related to his short tongue. As long as the tongue is long enough to extend past the bottom lip, it's not a problem.

[TeacherMommy]

I loved "To Say Nothing of the Dog." I even decided to keep it in my latest very strict stripping-down of my overwhelming piles of books, books everywhere.

I'm currently going back and forth between my lovely huge "Essential P.G. Wodehouse Collection (96 works)" that I got for a ridiculous $4.29 on my Kindle (my one true love these days) and something called "Paranoia" that was free and seems to be a modern spy thriller. We shall see. I am also revisiting a few Discworld favorites by Terry Pratchett. Just finished "Monstrous Regiment," which is delightfully snarky about gender issues. As in the stupid "weak little women" ones.

So I'm into the light areas of literature myself these days, but I like some quality. What is it about the Brits that seems to produce exactly that?

[Owlfan]

If you're concerned about Edward's speech, get it checked out. And I wouldn't necessarily rely on the pediatrician. When my younger son was little, even the family couldn't necessarily understand him more than about half the time. The preschool said no problem (though I later found out that was because he basically didn't talk to them). 2 days after the pediatrician said it was all fine, I had a consult with early intervention (that I set up) and the speech therapist said that he needed help - he got free speech therapy through the schools from age 4 til 7 or 8.

[ellbee]

Ooooh, Connie Willis! Not only do I *heart* her because she lives in the town where I went to college, I also just love her writing. "To Say Nothing of The Dog" is my favorite book of hers, followed closely by "the Doomsday Book", which is set in the same fictional London, but is not at all light or fluffy. It's time travel and the Back Plague and it's awesome. And I second, third and fourth the comments regarding Terry Pratchett. Love. Him.

[Carrie]

My book club just read Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore. I was very skeptical as religion usually makes me uncomfortable and I had never read anything by Christopher Moore but it was fantastically funny. Seriously. Laugh out loud funny.

If you are looking for something more serious and haunting, Carry Me Down by M. J. Hyland stayed with me a long time as my thoughts lingered over the characters and their plight.

[jen]

The Elegance of the Hedgehog is superb. Favorite book I've read in a very long time.

[Kathleen]

Some of my reads this summer: The Wettest County in the World (fact-based fictional story of bootlegging in Virginia); The Late, Lamented Molly Marx (The Lovely Bones meets chick lit - very entertaining); The Pretend Wife; The Glass Castle (non-fiction from a few years ago that I just got around to and loved,loved, loved); Outliers (also loved, loved, loved).

I also have a tongue-tied 19-monther; I should have had it clipped when she was a teeny-tiny, but took the doctor's advice to wait and see. Her tongue practically forks, and now I will ask what the options are at her next appointment on Tuesday.

[Toni]

The Spellman Files (and sequels) by Lisa Lutz. Super easy, fun read that makes you feel so much better about your own family. Very enjoyable.

[Toni]

Oh, and I'll second Kathleen on The Late, Lamented Molly Marx...really enjoyed that one too.

[Jeannie]

I recently read "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and loved it. So much so that I read it all in one day, and I have a preschooler who needs lots of attention. It made me laugh out loud AND cry, which is my definition of a good book. :)

[Heather]

Honestly, Shopaholic and Sister by Sophie Kinsella. I just finished Shopaholic Ties the Knot...I started it before I gave birth, my daughter is 18 months old. Love your writing.

[Laura]

My 18 month old is a blend between the twins in the language department, so I don’t think I’d worry just yet.
Warning: Probably more than you need on the tongue tie front...I was born tongue tied - severely so, as a matter of fact. The conventional wisdom at the time seemed to be, leave it alone and see how language goes. It apparently went just fine. It wasn't until I spent a semester majoring in speech pathology in college that I realized that I form half of my sounds differently from the "normally" tongued public. By senior year of college my dentist was convinced that that frenulum was pulling down the gums behind my lower front teeth, and that consequently I might lose those teeth in the future when the gums receded too far. So, at 22 I got my tongue clipped. My speech adapted within a week and my boyfriend (now husband) had no complaints (ahem). Now ten years later I have an open bite the dentist thinks is caused by tongue thrusting at night - which the tongue tie apparently prevented, and could now only be fixed by jaw surgery (but it’s purely cosmetic, so I’m fine as is). SO - my vote is leave well enough alone if speech development is working. But who knows? See what your docs think.
As for books – I’m not a religious person, but I just finished and absolutely LOVED Peace Like a River. It is beautifully written and grabbed my interest like nothing has for quite some time. My guilty admission is that I also devoured the Twilight series (please, please don’t laugh). My favorite book as a teen was Jane Eyre, and (I’m sure this will irk some people) I thought the first book was a very tween modern day version in some ways. Plain-naïve-yet-independent-young-girl meets surly-seemingly-bad-but-not-really-bad-boy and fabulous sexual tension ensues. I know the comparison is a stretch – but they were fun escapist books. I also recently reread and reloved Anna Karenina and Ethan Frome (neither one very uplifting, but still – good reads). If you don’t mind “kid” books, Life of Pi is very good – and really not just a kids book. A variety of other favorites: Pillars of the Earth, Mists of Avalon, Poisonwood Bible, and Mama Day.

[julie]

Small Island, by Andrea Levy is fantastic. And since I'm de-lurking, I might as well tell you I just love this blog.

[janonymous]

I am a speech pathologist, and I think both kids seem (from your examples) within the normal range for 19 months. If he doesn't gain additional speech sounds at a steady rate or shows oral-motor problems, or doesn't use 2 words together ("mama bye," "more milk") by 24 months, or if you just really feel he should be checked, get him screened. (Keep in mind that r, l, s, and clusters such as st/sl/tr/etc. develop later.)

You can find specific milestones at the American Speech Language Hearing site: www.asha.org.

[scantee]

My 21-month old son sounded just like Edward does now, when he was 18 months. Everything was ba and da and ca. He was expressive with his ba's and ca's and da's but his articulation (or lack thereof) had me a bit concerned. Over the past month or so it has all righted itself and his pronunciation is now almost surprisingly good.

Speech improves drastically for kids between the ages of 18 and 24 months so my advice is to watch him until he's two and reevaluate at that time. It is incredibly common for kids, especially boys, to hit 18 months saying almost nothing and have their communication explode over the next few months. I'm not sure there is much speech therapy to be done prior to two years anyway, especially for an articulation delay, so there might not be much for you to do at this point even if you wanted to.

[cindy w]

My understanding is there is a wiiiiide range of normal as far as speech development goes. (Also, girls typically talk sooner than boys.) I think you can safely wait until Edward's 2 year-old checkup to decide what you need to do. A lot of babies have the "language burst" somewhere in the 18-24 month range. It could be that Edward is going to wait until he's closer to 24 months to start enunciating more clearly.

So, yeah. I get that your experience with Patrick freaked you out, but if it was me, I wouldn't worry. Yet.

P.S. I'm also slightly disappointed there are no pics of them in this entry because they're both so gorgeous. Not to guilt you about it or anything. Just sayin'. :-)

[Kathy]

*The Shadow of the Wind* by Carlos Ruiz Zafon. It's beautifully written (or beautifully translated) and a fabulous story about the miracle of books.

[Stephanie]

As an American living in New Zealand, yes books are expensive. Well, magazines are too. A nice paperback (not mass market) runs from 40-60 NZD. National Geographic $10. It sucks. I love buying and having my own books. Since I am not planning on staying here indefinately, I only bought one book new, and several secondhand books. I mostly stick to the library - something I never did in the US. But, I am not buying books here to just sell them (and get a pitily amount back) or ship them back to the US (expensive!!). So, I get a library card if I am anywhere longer than a couple weeks. I have a restricted library card where I can only take two items out on loan, but it's okay because it is a two minute walk to where I am living. And the library has free internet access now. So, love for the libraries! Because my income is not that diposable.

[Wendy]

"In the Woods" by Tana French. Loved it, loved it, loved it. It's a beautifully written suspense novel. One of those books that you can't put down, and then suddenly you realize it's 2:00 a.m. and you have to put it down. Also one of those books where you keep stopping and rereading because her prose is so spot on.

[Helen]

Caroline's "Gooooo nonnah buhleeduhnow fuh dassen?" is like a puzzle for me to figure out. How about... "Good night, but leaving for now, for that thing?" Then again, maybe not. As for Edward, he seems more interested in reading and observing. Like others mentioned, there is a big range of when kids start talking clearly. It's quite a skill to talk, and maybe the quiet ones practice later. But anyway, it doesn't hurt to ask during a check up visit. Patrick is very entertaining with his ideas. I'm glad the fireplace was somewhat sealed, if not totally. I'd freak out if there was a bat in front of me.

[Amy F]

My married name is the same as Joey Buttafuoco's underage girlfriend. As a joke, my sister got me the book that the other Amy F wrote after she got out of jail. I sort of feel sorry for her now, which disturbs me. She did her time and then married a guy who looked an awful lot like Joey -- about his age, too. She had three kids and I think has since gotten divorced. Joey got divorced and remarried. The longer they're both out of the media, the less often people ask me if I'm her.

[winecat]

I agree with Carrie, Lambs by Christopher Moore is a delight as are all his other books, very funny but very saterical.

Our book club just finished 3 GREAT books, Cutting for Stone (can't remember the author) Lizard Cage by Karen Connolly and The Forever War (again can't remember the author).

[Mer]

My now 4-yr old had 5 total words at his 18 month appt. 5. By 2 they are supposed to have 50 words, so I was concerned. Dr said to wait til about 20-22 months- if I didn't see a lot of improvement, go ahead and make an appt for the speech eval. Thankfully he started the 'explosion' at about 20 months. I really didn't think it would happen but was pleasantly surprised when it did! I would give it a few months, but not much more. If you can help with early intervention, why wouldn't you? My girlfriend's son is 2.5 and has about 20 words (at BEST) and she hasn't had him evaluated..mostly b/c she doesn't want to deal with the results and likely do therapy. I don't think that's fair to her son. So my suggestion is give it a few months, then take him in if you don't see much improvement. Just my 2 cents, of course...

[jana]

I can never remember what's normal for kids, but my daughter was described by a friend of ours who is a school speech therapist as being advanced with regards to language acquisition. Here's a video I shot when she was exactly 19 months: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx7095snIao

Despite the fact that she's "advanced" I still think much of what she said was only discernable by me or her dad. There's a pretty wide range of normal at this age. But I agree with the other commenters that if you're worried it'd be best to just get him evaluated.

[jana]

Um, I just realized this video features Charlotte farting in the tub, as well. Sorry if that's offensive to you.

[nrbp]

Wow! I can't believe you are going to keep hamsters in the glassed-in fireplace--that's the perfect way to put it to use. Lucky Patrick.

Oh...You mean you hesitated before you said "no".

[Aimee]

I completely agree with Kristin, above. The Time Traveler's Wife was incredible. I am sorely disappointed that it was made into a film.

[Lauren]

I read 'Gang Leader for a Day' by Sudhir Venkatesh. Fascinating account by a sociologist who regularly hung out with a Chicago gang in the projects.

[mommymel]

I just finished 'Peter and the Starcatchers' and 'Peter and the Shadowthieves' and I am reading the last of the trilogy now. Young Adult reading, but easy and entertaining and fun. They are by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson. I also happened to find 'The Secrets of Jin-Shei' by Alma Alexander a few months ago and it was an intriguing read. Think ancient China in fantasy. I really liked it because it was long enough to keep my attention for more than a few days. Oh, and another guilty pleasure I found at the library - Girl's Guide to Witchcraft, Sorcery and the Single Girl and Magic and the Modern Girl, all by Mindy Klasky. Cute and fun to read. Also highly recommend The Time Traveler's Wife. Excellent.

[wavybrains]

This summer my favorite discovery is The Thief series by Megan Whalen Turner. It's also classified as a YA, but it's far deeper than most YA. The series only gets better and better, and the third book, King of Attolia makes it on my all-time favorite books list. Fans of Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings will love it. Amazing. I also treated myself to re-reading Megan McCafferty's Sloppy Firsts/Jessica Darling series. High School/College angst at its snarkiest. Think Meg Cabot with a darker edge. Right now, I'm reading Elisabeth Naughton's second book in her Stolen Triology, Stolen Heat. Stolen Fury is the first book, and if you like Romancing the Stone/Indiana Jones, you will enjoy the series. I've also got the latest Suzanne Brockmann on standby. For the fall, I can't wait for Julia Spencer-Fleming's next release. Even if you don't read a lot of mysteries, these are a treat. I devoured her entire series in a two week stint last summer. She is one of the most gifted plotters I have had the pleasure of reading. The first book in the series is "In the Bleak Midwinter" Fabulous.

[noela]

LOL!

I just had to copy and paste this above comment:

"A lurker de-lurking at the mention of books...

Have you read Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series? Or "The Time Traveler's Wife" by Audrey Niffenegger (before they make it into a movie and probably ruin it)? Those are at the top of my list, the others at the top are mostly fantasy and I don't know how you feel about that...

Posted by: Stephanie M "

Totally agree, Time Traveler's Wife is a great book -- it was actually on the Barren Bitch Brigade book tour a couple of years ago (you know Mel of Stirrup Queens fame, yes?)

But dear Stephanie, I regret to inform you that The Time Traveler's Wife has not only already been made into a movie, it was released today! (Friday, August 14) LOL

I fear by the Rotten Tomatoes score that it will not at all live up to the book, but I likely will still see it in theatres.

It was actually supposed to be released last year, but it was held up in final productions for a couple of different reasons.

As for books.....I nearly always read light and fluffy books as I feel I've had enough trauma in my own life, I don't need to read it on paper.

Sooo....for fun books I've read all of Sophie Kinsella's books. They're cute.

All of the Harry Potter books of course.

The Twilight Saga (terrible writing, {and editing!}, but such a diversion! lol)

I'd like to read The Host by Stephenie Meyer next... apparently her writing improved somewhat for this book, and/or/also she had a more competent editor...

Oh, and anything by Jane Austen is always highly enjoyable, of course.

P.S. I did enjoy very much Diana Gabaldon's first Outlander book -- but I never got past the first few chapters of the sequel, nor did I ever read the rest of the series. The first book IS fabulous though.

[Lisa O.]

Haha ... I also have "Your Seven Year Old: Life in a Minor Key" - and I had the Six and Five Year Old versions, too and I've always kept them in the basket in the bathroom where I could peruse them while on the john. BUT! Just the other day I felt sheepish about "Your Seven Year Old" and removed it from the bathroom (which we share with our 7-Y-O) becuase I didn't want her to see it. ;-) The thing about that book though, I realize, is that yes it does confirm that my DD saying she has no friends, blah, blah is *normal*, it doesn't say really what to do. I've never really had luck with the Faber / Mazlish method ("so, you feel like you have no friends, huh?" - she just responds, "duh mom, I just said that" ... ).

Anyway. Someone above commented re: the Outlander series. I got the idea to try it by a comment on this very blog, back when you were on bedrest and asking for suggestions. I read every single one in record time.

[Lisa O.]

Noela and I must have been typing at the same time ... someone FURTHER UP mentioned Outlander, I meant ;-) BTW @ Noela, if you like Sophie Kinsella, you might also like Marian Keyes and Jennifer Crusie :-)

[Ashley]

I'm really surprised your Ped or Dentist didn't say something about Patrick's tongue. I too was tongue tied, and although it didn't cause any speech problems, I realized at the age of 12, I would not be doing any French kissing if it didn't get clipped...so off to the dentist I went.

[Anja]

I'm in love with your comment(er)s, Julia. So good to hear people's responses to this. My son is 18 months and doesn't have many words at all - often he learns a word, uses it for a day or two and then nothing. Sometimes I worry, sometimes I think it'll right itself in the next couple of months, with an "explosion" like other commenters have said. He's babbling a lot but it's mostly incomprehensible. He understands a lot of words, which is great. Oh well. We'll still wait and see, I think, after reading the advice above. Thank you, everyone!

[Terrill]

You may already know this, but the ads you mention are never visible on my computer (Mac, Firefox browser).

Have you read The Book Thief? Also aimed at young adults, but fantastic nevertheless.