Gud, your son will probably get it all out of his system before he turns 10. It's the quiet ones Em's parents have to worry about.

unless occasionally pointing out that saying "done!" would be a simpler way of getting us to take her out of her highchair than dramatically ripping off her bib and tossing her utensils and uneaten food to the floor counts.

Good luck there. After many months of us encouraging Franny to do the same, we now get messy food displays, squished banana entrails on the floor, thrown utensils, and a follow up, "down please, down please, Mama." We can't win.

Do they spell it like boy-Francis?

Yep. I thought the gendered spellings were well known, but I guess not.

WOO! We have napdom! I repeat, we have napdom!

I was getting a little worried that she wouldn't drop off, and then I'd have a Crankaboo on my hands tonight.

WOO! We have napdom! I repeat, we have napdom!

I hope you didn't just wake her up with your triumphant yelps.

lisah and juilana, when getting worked on have you ever experienced shaking and/or extremely intense heat/"electricity"? I do massage, but with one particular client we get an interesting response happening and he's agreed to explore it with me. Probably those who do intentional energy stuff will cringe at that, but we're doing the best we can. Anyway, yesterday I managed to make the situation very intense, and I'm trying to understand what is happening, in a way that makes sense to me. I'm so sceptical about a lot of this stuff because it's just too intangible for me to grasp, and goes against my religious upbringing, that I feel a little overwhelmed and lost.

I ask this because I know how important words are to you, and how much you value speech; Annabel's development in that area seems slow to you because it's the thing you find most important. If she were doing the things you long for her to do so much, but not doing others, I'm willing to bet that you'd be far less worried about it.

It's entirely possible--especially since I actually have in real life witnessed a child who walked late (my niece Rachel) grow up just fine, and if anything be among the more athletic members of the family. I haven't ever personally witnessed a late talker who proceeded to grow up all verbal and articulate. I know they exist, and my own husband was among them, but it's harder for me to understand and picture, and I always kinda wonder if their mothers just perceived them as not talking when they actually were because they were just a bit behind an older sibling or a neighbor kid or something.

unless occasionally pointing out that saying "done!" would be a simpler way of getting us to take her out of her highchair than dramatically ripping off her bib and tossing her utensils and uneaten food to the floor counts.

But her way is so much more fun. I know I'd like to do that sometimes....

What a wonderful idea for a restaurant. Leave the cleanup to someone else. The customers can even bring in their own dishes and drinkware and toss those to the ground too. Grade A stress-relief.

My daughter was a late talker and now she's doing just great.

haven't ever personally witnessed a late talker who proceeded to grow up all verbal and articulate. I know they exist, and my own husband was among them

I am smiling. You have witnessed one, your husband.

All of the babies here are cute, but none are as cute as my friend's baby who was born a week ago. (No, I'm not biased at all.) Such a little peanut! I was priviledged enough to lose a lot of sleep while assisting his mama with late night diaper changes and breast feedings. Sadly I had to come back to my own life and now her husband gets to take that job. At least he got a couple of good night rests!

I hope all the parental fears end up being nothing at all, and I enjoy seeing all of the baby pics, even though I don't usually reply about them.