Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/5/84; site ssc-bee.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!mit-eddie!genrad!decvax!tektronix!uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ssc-bee!eve
From: eve@ssc-bee.UUCP (Michael Eve)
Newsgroups: net.kids
Subject: When do babies say "What's that"?
Message-ID: <263@ssc-bee.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 5-Nov-84 13:07:03 EST
Article-I.D.: ssc-bee.263
Posted: Mon Nov  5 13:07:03 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Nov-84 00:21:47 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 35


	Perhaps some of you more experienced parents out there
	can better interpret what is happening with my first-born,
	9 1/2 month old son, Andrew.  Others may find this worth
	a chuckle or two.
 	
	Now I know it is normal for parents to exaggerate the 
	accomplishments of their children, but my wife and I
	swear (with some embarrassment) that Andrew has learned
	what words are for and is actively seeking the names of new
	objects.

	Within the past week or two, he has begun pointing at almost
	everything and saying "Whoz-at".  At first, we thought it was only
	another one of the random sounds babies make, but the pattern
	has become so clear --- pointing and "Whoz-at" --- that we
	really believe he is asking for the names of things.  Another
	confirmation is he doesn't ask for the names of us or his bottle
	("bah-bah"  also generic for food).  We don't know where he picked
	up saying "What's that" unless it is from the 2-year old he
	stays with 3 days a week.  In any case, we are not taking any 
	chances of wasting his development and we are acting as if he
	is indeed asking us for names.  We tell him the name and describe
	the object.  He does seem quite interested.

	Now perhaps Andrew is a language genius, but we wonder if this
	is just another instance where normal babies are really far more
	aware of their world than normally given credit for.  They are
	denied credit simply because their motor control can't keep
	up with their thought processes.

	Comments are invited, and snide remarks will be tolerated.
-- 
	Mike Eve     Boeing Aerospace, Seattle
	...uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ssc-bee!eve