Speech

Yea. About 4-6 weeks ago, I was really worried about Ché's speech. Mike was not. Well, he was right.

I contacted Indiana's Early Intervention Program: First Steps. They come out to your home, do an evaluation, and provide services if necessary. You don't pay anything until services are provided, so the first meeting and the eval are free. I just didn't see a reason not to do it. #1 it was free, #2 if there was a problem, it would be caught early, and #3 if there wasn't a problem it would provide piece of mind.

I was really worried about Ché not saying parts of words. Particularly s's. He doesn't seem able to add an "s" to the end or middle of words. The speech pathologist kindly pointed out that this is not a common pattern in Spanish and so his ear and tongue aren't trained to do the sounds of "s" in different places. duh. I felt kinda dumb at that point.
So, the two very nice ladies arrived. The speech pathologist, and the physical therapist. (Ché's broken leg that was never set.)

Here's what came from the eval:

Ché got to play and impress some people with his fine motor skills. He got to run around pantsless, which in the toddler world is awesome. He babbled, he played. It was great having 2 extra play things in the house.
The speech pathologist, and the PT sat at our table to go over their observations. The whole time they sat there, Ché brought them toys, the church bulletin, anything he could find. He really liked them.

And then they said, "He's normal. Congratulations."

There was mention that he's bow-legged, and that at some point we may need to see an orthopedist. But it hasn't hindered his gross motor skills, and he's talking just fine.

Now, because he's my kid, and he likes to make me look bad, his speech has just exploded since the 1st Steps people came. He is now talking in 2-3 word sentences, repeating everything we say, and just generally holding conversations with you.

The other day on the way home from school (daycare) I asked him what he did. In the past I've had to ask him yes or no questions to figure out his day, but not Monday. He started talking:

Throw ball Hannah. Poop potty. Eat lunch.

Now, this took some time to come out, about 10 minutes, with the thinking, the scrambling of words, me asking more questions, etc. But he was able to tell me about his day, without simply saying yes (aye) or no.

It's simply amazing, how a few weeks can totally change everything.