Doing What Your Mama Tells You

I wrote about a month ago about my occasional and admittedly irrational anxiety about Zeke's speech. What I learned after posting that is that a few friends were late talkers like me. I was also reminded gently that the human race is not a competition, and a friend told me this weekend to quit analyzing my son. (And, as the mother of three young sons, she is an expert at these things, even if she is forgets about my true nature.)

To explain myself a little bit: 1) I was a late talker with a few late talking relatives and I spent a few years in speech therapy as a result, and 2) I have little learning in early childhood education. So, on one hand, I know from personal and (ahem) professional experience that late talking is not a terrible thing. Speech therapy was even fun and involved a decent amount of Starburst candies if I got my "ch" sounds right. However, on the other hand, I know how important it is children to build both receptive and expressive vocabulary prior to school entry for school success. I read books with titles like At a Loss for Words. I am going to admit that I usually get a giggle when I confide that I remember riding the short bus to speech camp. I hope that this very briefly explains my dual perspectives. Also, remember I am a creature of worry.

To continue to ward off Mommy Craziest, I set a limit. I told Aaron that if we did not hear Zeke say a certain number of words before his upcoming second birthday I would set up an evaluation. Typically, you can find these evaluations for free and children can receive speech therapy for free if there is a need. The younger you start with some therapies, the more positive an outcome and less stigma. And, it can involve candy.

So, I think Zeke overheard this and took it as a charge.

The next day, Zeke spontaneously said or repeated: apple, tall, milk, juice. He has also added words that mean egg, "I'm ready", "alright" and Maggie (sounds like "Amy"). He can also say: arm, toe, and (of course) Elmo. There may be some other words that I'm forgetting or not interpreting right.

That's pretty close to the number of words that I wanted him to get. We have also found that he seems to be able to identify colors on more than a couple of opportunities. We also wonder whether he is trying to say some foreign words he hears in his music collection. It is great to hear his voice forming words and it is great to believe he is listening to my requests! Plus, it couldn't come at a better time as he seems to be in the midst of this terribly grumpy phase and I think more words might help him get through it.

What do you think I should tell him to do next?