He Made My Day

Monte was a late talker. At 18 months he still wasn't saying anything, and even though I knew he should be talking, I didn't know enough to do anything about it. Of course everyone, including doctors, tell you that he is fine and that all kids do things at different times. At his 2 year check up when he still hadn't said anything, his doctor put me in contact with a speech therapist. We did speech therapy for a year, and by his 3rd birthday he was completely caught up.

Then I had Hunter. And holy moly is this how babies are supposed to talk? Several words by his first birthday? He was a little parrot at 18 months and by 2 was talking in complete sentences. It was like talking to a 4 year old. I loved just sitting with him on my lap and listening to him ramble on about nothing. About everything.

I say all this because by the time Carter's 1st birthday rolled around I was beginning to wonder. Is he like Monte? He's not even babbling the same way Hunter was. I even broke out the home movies to see Monte and Hunter at that age and I was very alarmed by how much he reminded me of Monte. Of course everyone told me I was paranoid, and looking for something that wasn't there. But I knew. I just knew.

When we went for Carter's 15 month check up he still wasn't saying anything so I told his doctor my concerns. He is ether more educated now, or maybe because I reminded him of Monte, he right away agreed that getting Carter tested was a good idea. Even if they said he was just fine, at least we had ruled it out, and we would know.

The therapist that came to our house said right away that yes, he would qualify. That it wasn't even so much that he didn't have any words yet, (Carter was 16 months at the time) as much as it was the fact that he didn't really even move his mouth correctly to form words. He didn't babble, he just kind of held his mouth open and made the same sound over and over.

Since the end of November we have had a speech therapist that comes to our house once a week. She is the sweetest thing and Carter just loves her. But he hasn't progressed by leaps and bounds like I had hoped. I guess I just thought that since he started speech earlier then his brother he would talk earlier too. But that just hasn't been the case.

We have made progress though. For one this little boy tries SO hard. And beginning sounds are coming along. He also makes a lot of animal sounds, which is absolutely adorable. He says hot, hat, bubble, uh-oh, and no. Or at least his version of these words. And he has about 30 signs that we all use and he knows well that help to communicate and lessen his frustration level.

Well, this morning I needed to run downstairs to grab something real quick. He was busy, so I didn't say anything first or he would want to come. As I was downstairs I could hear him walking around yelling "Da", which is what he says anytime he's looking for someone that has walked away. He wasn't upset, so I didn't yell back because I was on my way back upstairs anyway. But what I heard next brought me to tears. His "Da" had turned to "Mama". He was walking around saying "Mama"? "Mama"? He was calling me. Me! Mama!

I know he will talk. Even though at times I feel like he won't. But I am his mama and I can't help but worry. I can't even begin to tell you what his little mama did to me today. We all can't wait to hear our little ones say that first Mama. We look into their eyes and repeat it over and over when they are only 3 months old hoping that they will acknowledge us before their Daddy's. And it was well worth the almost 23 months I had to wait to hear it.