So Eddie is still not talking. He is almost 17 months and although he is quite talkative, none of it is comprehensible. He will carry on a conversation of nonsense words for hours, and I can't make any sense of it. With the eighteen month mark coming up, I'm starting to get a little worried.
I have several theories for why he's not speaking real words yet. The first is that he has "cute baby syndrome." This is when babies get what they want because they are so cute. There is no reason to put in the effort to talk because as soon as he points to something, someone gets it for him.
Theory # 2 is that he already communicates so well without words that he doesn't really need them. In addition to pointing at things he wants, he will bring something to me to get his message across. When he is wet, he will go and get a new diaper. When he wants a bath he will find his book and point to a duck. When he wants to eat he will go to the Cheerio cupboard and help himself. Yes, we have a Cheerio cupboard.
Theory #3 is one I don't really want to think about; he has a speech delay. I can't reconcile this with the fact that he's so smart otherwise. He puts together peg puzzles easily, he can recognize several animals, he sweeps the floor, he picks up stuff off the floor and puts it in the garbage, he tries to fold laundry, he can stack a huge tower of blocks, and on and on. There isn't anything wrong with his learning, so why is his talking so slow?
No parent wants to think that there may be something wrong with their child, and of course I wouldn't label it that way. But I can't help but think of the worst case scenario either. What if he starts school and he's the only one that can't be understood? What if he is labelled because eh has a speech impediment? What if he has to go to speech therapy and I find out I've done something wrong to cause this?
There are a million things I could doubt about my parenting, and I do regularly. People tell me all sorts of things to make me feel better, like the second child always takes longer to talk. I don't feel much better though, especially when I see nine and ten month old babies stringing two and three words together clearly and Eddie can't even say one clearly.
I am going to talk to a speech therapist about it. The resource centre has one in every few weeks, so I'm going to make sure we are there to meet with her. Until then there's not much I can do but wait and try to encourage the talking. I will know more in a couple of weeks.
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