Oliver is 22 months old, or will be on Wednesday. He was starting to concern me, throwing tantrums for no reason, not sleeping, and just making my life a living hell. He still hasn't said more than a few words I finally made a decision to do something that I have been thinking about for a while.The state offers an early intervention program where a worker comes to your house and looks into why your kid is behind on talking, or motor skills or whatever. In our case, they are sending a case worker who specializes in speech therapy. They assess his nutrition, his environment ("I swear, we don't even OWN belts!!"), his hearing and vision, etc. It is a free program so I was shocked at how fast they could see us. I made an appointment for Wednesday, the 18th (Oliver's 22nd month birthday if you are paying attention).
I was even MORE shocked when he started talking the next day. Since making the appointment, mind you, not HAVING the appointment, just scheduling it was enough, Oliver has added the following words and phrases:
Hat
Grandmama
banana
I don't like ants
I don't know
Kick
More
Granddad (sorta sounds like dada, but the inflection is different)
Please
Sigh. If I had known he just simply had to hear me make an appointment for him, I would have done it months ago. Truth be told, and since hindsight is 20/20, I think the tantrums and the lack of sleeping, and the acting out were all his way of telling me, "hey big huge pregnant mom who is distracted by cute kicks, watch what I am about to do!!!" Personally, using words or sending an email would have been more effective, but it did push me to research some toddler behavior books I wouldn't have otherwise looked into. While trying to get Oliver to quit with the tantrums I started talking to him more, letting him know about plans before, during and after they happened, trying to reduce the frustration levels. In retrospect, I wonder if that had anything to do with his sudden interest in language as well.
That, or the huge whoopin' finally knocked some sense into him. I assure you I jest.
4 comments:
I wish we had a recording of him with his Granddad this morning. It's nearly impossible to type what he says with the inflection he uses. Something like Daan-Da, with a tone that indicates his Granddad is being silly but Oliver loves him just the same. (Whereas Da-da is more staccato and forceful?)
And when my mother hears he called me Grandmama (think Endora on Bewitched)I'll be in trouble - you see, Alyssa was supposed to call HER that - but it came out Mama, and now all her grandkids call her that.
This is fun!
I like the "one-more time" routine. He puts out his little "one" finger to indicate he understands...then after one more time, puts out his finger again to indicate his pleasure with the last "one-time" and his interest in one-more timing again. What a super smartie!
Still no "Aunt Britty", huh? Sigh...
On a side note...my Word Verification below is "hella", which I find very funny. Maybe that should be Oliver's next word? :)
I totally loved this story.
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