The toddler does not say her own name. She is 21 months. She says the names of her friends, and of her sister, but not her own name. Mieka is not a difficult name to say.
She copycats us when we tell her to say something. She does not always get it right but she usually tries. That’s why it is strange that she doesn’t want to say her own name yet... A friend with a boy just three weeks younger than Mieka also says that her boy does not say his own name. He is also more verbal than Mieka.
Mieka is pointing to us and our faces. She says “Mama”, and “Papa”. She point to her own face, and we repeat with “Mieka’s nose, Mieka’s eyes, Mieka’s ears, Mieka’s cheeks” etc. She knows and points correctly. Maybe she still thinks we are extensions of her, and that’s why she does not verbalize her own name. (?) She gets it perfectly right to say “Arnia”, the name of her sister! Arnia is very difficult to say with that “r”!
Waiting for another milestone to cross...
When did your young ones say their own names? Can you even remember? I can’t remember when the teen said her name, 15 years back...
(Photo: Mieka with her sister, Arnia, reading in the background)
