We wait patiently as the months go by listening for the sounds of first words. We hear things we turn into words "did you hear that? he said mama!" even when they were probably just gurgling waiting for a diaper change.
When our babies start to say their first words, we are overjoyed. We record their first words in baby books (or if you are like me by the 3rd kid there is no baby book so we try to memorize it all) and we try to catch them on video so we can share with the world how smart out little ones are as they begin to talk.
But what if those first words don't progress? What if your baby isn't talking like the other kids his age? You go for your milestone appointments and the doctors do their checklists to see if the little ones are progressing on track, and he is excelling in all area of growth except for when it comes to words, your little one just isnt where they should be.
My youngest was always a great communicator, he cried when he was hungry and when he was tired and what he was just unhappy. He chattered but not as much as my girls. As the months went by my concern started to grow for my little guy, he started to say mama and nana and bad (go figure!) and car (without the r sound) and very little else.
He is so smart and so clever about so many things, but words just don't come easy for him, but he is very creative in how he communicated with us, finding hand gestures or doing other smart things to show us what he wanted to tell us.
Before he was 1, I taught him to sign "more" so that he could at least communicate that. At first I wasn't too worried, everyone said boys are slower, he has older sisters to talk for him, he might just be lazy, and so on and so on... by as a mom my concern grew.
After talking with the doctor we off for some hearing tests. Sure enough the little guy had lots of pressure in his ears and there was a concern, although he could hear us well, that the clarity of what he was hearing was just not there. We also discovered the poor kid had large tonsils and large adenoids. So the appointment was made for him to have tubes put in his ears to help with the pressure and have his adenoids removed.
In the meantime, I got him on the list for speech assessment. Within no time were in for some testing and they agreed there were some definite issues. SO i left with an arsenal of tips on how to help him.
As the months have passed and his vocabulary has grown slightly since his surgery. While I spend a lot of time worrying about him, he doesn't seem as flustered by his lack of communication as I do. He is happy and boisterous. He is a boy through and through.
So while I try to put my worries aside and embrace all of his little quirks, his success and his loving nature, I celebrate every new word and maintain my dedication to helping him to talk more.
I spend lots of time repeating words to him, and encouraging him to say them. I try to show him how to make his mouth go to make certain words and he laughs at me.
I know in time it will come. I know that his lack of words does not change the loveable little boy that he his. While I want so badly for him to talk more, I will cherish all of the time we spend together now mater how little we talk, we have our own ways of communicating: lots of hugs and kisses, lots of giggles and lots playing.
