Thursday, April 26, 2012

Talking To A Toddler Nonstop Is Exhausting

I almost thought this was a pattern and that he was a genius....

I am soooo proud of my 2 year old son! He "graduated" from speech therapy. There was no graduation, just an evaluation of how he solved puzzles, played with blocks and found pictures in a "Where's Waldo?" kind of way.
His scores were off the charts and ahead of his age for cognitive skills, gross motor and fine motor skills, but in speech, his scores put him at an age-level of 27.5 months. He turned 28 months yesterday....so for the most part he's right where he should be with his speech.
YAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!.
 
::whispers:: 
except pronunciation

 **Sidenote-- I always found it weird to count in ages, but doctors and therapists do because toddlers pick up new physical, verbal and mental skills and abilities by the month, literally.

Anyway, he has made 18 months worth of progress in a 12-month period. Of course, I knew my boy was a genius/smarty-pants, but I also knew he was behind on his speech. Being a new mom and a stay at home mom, I would always do things for him and give him whatever he needed without really making him ask for it. He was such an EASY baby though. I mean he was the most laid-back baby ever. He never whined or screamed, so I just kept him on a schedule, not really "talking" to him about the schedule though (like what he's going to eat and drink or where we're going to go). I just was not one to talk to babies like they're my friends ---> I was still in a working woman's mindframe.....like basically, 'Where are the adults?'

Needless to say, I am proud of myself too. ::blows on nails::

My 1 year old on the other hand is NOT easy. As a baby, he would whine and yell and always want to be held or in the same room with you after 3 months! I would have to take him to the bathroom, shower or just listen to him yell until I was available. Now, he's still a yeller, lol. When he wants milk or juice, he'll come under you whining and pushing, so my natural response is to sharply say, "Say milk or juice." He has about 50+ words already, but would still rather whine sometimes. Since I don't like to be yelled at, I make him say the words, unlike when my oldest never yelled and I never said any words. Buuuttttt he also has his brother to mimic and is his most favorite teacher of everything.

Speech delays are not just for kids who watch too much tv. Too many people make that assumption. I think it has more to do with how much they are around other kids, like daycare, or how much their parents talk nonstop to them if they stay at home. After awhile, I realized my son's speech therapy was for me. It helped teach me how to talk to my toddler nonstop. And talking to a toddler nonstop is exhausting.

3 comments:

  1. Ha. I have a post for tomorrow about my and Z's conversation in the car over the weekend. And you're right; tv doesn't have to play that predominant a role in a child's speech development. I did talk to my oldest daughter a lot and at 10 months she had plenty of words so that by 1 she had sentences. With our second daughter I went back to work earlier and I don't recall talking to her as much (both of them were laid back, but now I was the harried mom of two). She had the benefit of that verbose older sister, though, and she talked around the same time (it used to be so eerie, having an actual conversation with a toddler). The boy? He's not as laid back as the girls but he talked just as early and hasn't looked back.

    I do think there can sometimes be a trade-off development wise, though. None of mine walked unassisted until 15 months.

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  2. Congrats to the little guy...that's so exciting. i am sure it can be exhausting...i am always like should i say something every time my baby moves just so he knows i am not ignoring him....does he even know? does it make a difference? i can't even imagine when the baby is actually here!

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  3. Great to see that your little one is up to speed! I personally know all this speech stuff can be so nerve-racking! And I agree, it is so exhausting. lol

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