I keep trying to type this up and then I end up deleting it because no matter how hard I try, it always sounds (to me at least) like I'm bragging on my kid, which is not the issue at hand. However, my kid is pretty smart for her age and that is contributing to the problem that I'm having.
I also want to clarify before getting into the details that although I do have this problem with complete strangers, and some acquaintances (I don't have the problem with friends), the BIGGEST part of the problem is with my family. My siblings and parents. Mr. Knitterly's parents are fine, as they are used to this behaviour from Mr. Knitterly as a child.
Little Knit is learning to walk and talk. She's 11months old and is right on track for the walking. She's a little advanced on the talking and has a vocabulary of about 15ish words, which is almost triple the norm for her age. She also strings two words together (like "mum up" to be picked up).
Here's the problem: My family does not believe she can do this or does do this and they are starting to act as though I am lying about her abilities. It's getting extremely frustrating. I took a video of her using one of her new words and posted it to facebook. My friends loved it. My family completely ignored it. I sent a picture to my mom of LK learning to walk (my mom frequently complains about not getting pictures) and got no response. Instead, the next time I saw her, she gushed at length about the pictures my little sis sent of her kid. I tried to ignore it, but it's getting really hard to.
I went to visit my mother and encouraged LK to say "Hi". LK chose to play shy (as she very often does around my parents) and wouldn't use any of her words. As far as I am concerned, LK *can* say "hi" and "bye" and should therefore be encouraged to use those words in the appropriate setting. Greeting people is an important thing, and I encourage her to do it as much as possible. My mother literally rolled her eyes and said in a high-pitched pretend baby voice "Yeah right mom, I don't talk yet," and then turned to me and said "Don't push her. She'll learn to talk when she's ready."
It was beyond maddening as LK can and DOES talk. She has a lot of words that she uses in context.
I really need some help in dealing with this.
Like I said, although the problem exists with strangers to a small degree, the biggest problem is with my mom and my sisters. They really don't think LK can do any of the things she does, just because they haven't seen it. There are many other things beyond just the talking, but the talking is probably the best example.
Can I get some thoughts?
Edited to clarify:
This isn't just about her vocabulary. The vocabulary is just the easiest example to use. The talking is the high end of normal. It's the easiest example because none of my sisters kids were talking before 18months, which is also completely normal.
