Speech

I keep thinking I can stop talking for the day....but let's be real, I've got all this information bottled up in my head. I feel like I need to memorize every detail about Mr N, everything is so vitally important.

When Mr N had his speech evaluation in February they had us keep track of every word he said for about a month. He didn't have 20 words. I was shocked, I hadn't realized how much his speech had regressed. I'm thinking he had at least 50 at 15 months. What is wrong with me? How, as his mother, hadn't I realized how much he was regressing? Was it denial? Was I too consumed with all the other stress in my life that I just didn't notice? We just bought a house and the first 6 weeks we had contractors here every day. Was that too distracting? As soon as we got the diagnosis I regretted buying the house, how on earth were we supposed to make this house a home when we needed to make Mr N whole?

When the infant teacher was coming once a week is when Mr N had his first speech break through. She was teaching him "put in", he started saying "put in" a couple of days later. When she first started I would spend hours each day imitating what she had done with him, so set to expedite his recovery, to help him more. It seemed to help.

One Saturday about a week before the contractors were done working on the house, I had gone out to the garage to put the flooring in the bathroom, as it was required for the inspection in 6 days. I worked out there for a couple of hours while Mike kept the kids busy in the house. When I was finished I walked in the front door and Mr N said "mama". I cried and cried. My little man said "mama". It'd probably been more than a year since he'd lost that most precious word. My baby boy said "mama". My heart welled up with joy.

Every word he says is a beautiful miracle, I still rejoice and dance and praise him. He said at least 7 new words last week. Today he has said two new words. Each word is worthy of praise and celebration.