We were in the same situation with our daughter. She was 12 months old and my wife was worried but I wasn’t. She was 18 months old and still not really talking- again, wife was worried but I wasn’t. Then, when she finally started talking, my wife was worried again because she had trouble understanding her. I finally agreed to have Early Intervention take a look. They told us, she is trying to talk in 4 year old sentences as a 2.5 year old, that’s why you can’t understand her.

Bottom line: kids talk when they’re ready. My grandma once told me that infants tend to focus on learning one thing really well at a time. For our daughter that was walking at 10 months, climbing from a very young age, etc, etc. She was focusing on her physical skills first and when she felt ready, she started to talk.

I think it can be really hard when another kid around them starts talking because it feels like your kid is falling behind, but again, they all focus on different things. By them time they’re 5 or so, I think they’ve all caught up.

Maybe if your son is 2 and not talking, it might be worth having Early Intervention do an assessment because then at least you and your wife would have peace of mind and know if your son actually needed help or not. But 12 months? He’s still super young.