Stuff Alex doesn’t do.

Hi There!

My Son Alex is 2 and a bit now. His speech (Like everything else) has been slow to start and then went ahead pretty quickly, but for some reason he won't say his own name. He doesn't even try. Kids his same age will call out to him, and he know's who "Alex" is because he will point to himself and if we show him pictures of him, he will say "baby". We have another on the way, due March and whilst we haven't explained what's happening yet we aren't sure when to get him to stop calling himself baby.

Also he isn't really into books etc, he won't sit still long enough normally. We aren't really sure how hard to push for this to happen.

He went "ruggy" crazy over the RWC, and often would meet me at the door when I got home, with the remote, drag me to the couch and point at the screen and say "ruggy daddy". At one point he wouldn't sleep without a rugby ball, quite cute. One game after about 2 minutes of watching, ran to another part of the house and came back with a ball, put it on the ground, looked at it, went away, came back with a shoe, and used it to prop up the ball and kick it! Daddy was very happy with Alex for that :) (We seem to need a few extra number 10's right now)

Anyways how can I teach him, to say his name?

Aww thats so cute about him putting the ball in the shoe and kicking it.

My daughter had difficulty saying her own name - for ages and ages she called herself "bab-y on" because she couldn't say Gabrielle. I used her name heaps and heaps, talking about her in the third person (if that makes sense). So instead of asking "Do you want a drink" I would say "Does Gabrielle want a drink" or "Would Gabrielle like a bath or a shower" or "Gabrielle can you see the plane in the sky" etc etc. I tried to use her name as much as possible. I never commented on whether she said her name or how she pronounced it, I just said it as much as possible so she got the idea it was her name and heard how it was pronounced.

The other thing I did (and this may help him stop calling himself baby) was start referring to her by a nickname or as a big girl. I call Gabrielle "Boss" so occasionally I would say "how ya going Boss" or "whatcha doing Boss" etc, or "how's my big girl", or "you can do (whatever it was) because you are mummy's big girl now". I also refer to us as Bob and Harry (weird I know but my dad called me Harry as a kid even though my name is Michelle and Boss sounds a bit like Bob for her) and she finds that hilarious.

Re the books thing, I wouldn't push too hard. Just work a few minutes for reading into your day and he will get better at sitting still. I read a story to my daughter first thing in the morning. Its 5 minutes and it gives her some undivided attention before we start the day. It can be quite relaxing. The more you do it the longer their attention span gets. To start off you could just pick a book you think he might like (maybe one about kids playing rugby) and just read it whether he is sitting there or not. If you do that every day he should get curious and come a sit for a few minutes. Plus you could try doing silly voices or making the sound effects to get his interest. Also, don't forget its really hard for 2 year olds to sit still, especially boys. Just make it as interesting as possible and don't put any pressure on coz contrary 2 year olds will often not do something just because you have asked them to do it!

Sorry bout the novel but I hope some of that helps.

It's common for kids to not say their own name, so don't worry about it too much. He's sounds like an onto it little boy who's just focusing on different things in his development.

Instead of thinking about stuff Alex doesn't do, just think about stuff Alex can do

Edited by arohanui