I know one of the cardinal sins of parenting is to look up “milestones” on the interwebs to see if your kid is checking all the proper boxes.  And I also know that every other parent since the days of AOL offering us “1000 Free Hours!” on CD has done the same thing…and come away unnerved.

Daphne is rapidly approaching the 15-month mark, and has yet to utter any real words.  She babbles various vowel and consonant sounds, and sometimes mimics sounds that you say to her.  Like “da-da-da-da.”  (She’ll also often whisper too, if I’m doing it.)

Now “concerned” is too strong a word for what I’m feeling about this; “curiously monitoring” is really where I am right now.

I mean, I’ve mentioned before how much she loves books.  And her favorite game right now is to point to letters in her “A is for Art Museum” book and have us say them aloud to her.

First she points at a letter on the left page, and her mom or I will say it aloud.  Then she’ll point at whatever image is on the right, and we’ll say what that is.

In this case, it would be “E!  Horrifyingly disembodied eyeballs converted into jewelry.“

I say this because I don’t think there are any kind of developmental issues with Daph.  I mean, holding a book right-side-up and pointing at letters are milestones for a 3-year-old.

But for some reason, we’re still waiting on that first real “word.”

Rather impatiently, I guess.

“Seriously.  I’m 1!   What else do you want from me?”

j.s.