Verbal Extravaganza

 Dearest Liam,

It seems that in the time that it took me to blink, you went from a little 11 month old with huge verbal delays to a 16 month old who talks nonstop.  When I look at you, I see God's mercy and kindness, both on you and on our family.  I often have to fight back tears as you run around talking with such excellent articulation.  Your words are beautiful, my son. I never fully appreciated your oldest brother's gift with speech, but with you, I take nothing for granted.  Every new word that you say is a reason to rejoice.  Every two word phrase you speak is a moment for me to pause and thank God.

Your struggles are not over, and I am very aware of how sensory and motor planning issues may affect you for the rest of your life.  But for now, I am rejoicing in how God has used your wonderful therapists to give your little body the kick start it needed.

As I sat down to write, I thought I'd do a quick tally to see how many words you are speaking now.  Needless to say, I was shocked to find that I came up with a list of over 70 words in just a few minutes.  And many of these words are spoken so clearly that even a stranger could understand you.  As well, you started using two word phrases a month ago and regularly surprise me again as you put different words together.

I love sitting down with you to take your shoes off.  You start repeatedly saying "shoe off" until I remove your shoes.  Then, you give me a little grin, grab your socks, and start saying "pull" with such a groan that I must suppress a laugh at your exaggerated effort.

Another thing I love about you is that you enjoy walking around the house pointing out things that are off limits and saying to me with a very serious face, "No! No, no touch!"  Other times, when I'm emptying the dishwasher or something else that you are very interested in, you quickly run over and start touching everything.  Then you seriously look up at me, say "No, no touch!", give me your mischievous grin, and continue touching with a little giggle.  You are going to give me a run for my money as you grow up, little mister.  That much is already apparent.

You also do a great job of reminding yourself "no hit" before hitting me in the face, laughing loudly, and then going back to hit me again.  It seems that you are picking up on some of your big brother's less appropriate behaviors.  (You also love to spin in circles with him while laughing and saying "spin".)  Don't you worry; we are addressing these behaviors!  But the good news is that you will (hopefully) grow out of these things much sooner than he will, as it is obvious that you are doing these things out of imitation and admiration of your big brother rather than as a need for proprioceptive and vestibular input.

Which reminds me, one of my favorite phrases of yours is "Out? Ok!", which you say to me when I come in to get you out of your crib in the morning.  I particularly love this because you have picked it up from your big brother, who regularly asks and then answers his own questions, such as "I want snack!  Yes?  Ok!"  It is such a joy to me to see how closely you watch your big brothers and, in your admiration of them, how much you desire to emulate them.

In fact, when your big brother is napping, I have to be on my toes to catch you before you run over to his door, loudly proclaiming "open door".  I'm still not sure if you are missing him or his toys more, but either way, it is endearing to see how you notice that he is gone and want me to help you find him.

Then this morning you surprised me as I was packing you up to head out for speech/feeding therapy (which you are ever so close to graduating from! You just need to start drinking out of anything other than your bottle, which you are firmly attached to!)  As I told you we were going to see Miss Char, you looked up at me with your little serious face and said "Char. Eat." Yes, little buddy, that's right.  We're going to go see Miss Char and work on your eating skills. Clearly, your speech skills are good to go at this point.

And can I take a moment to be honest with you Liam?  Sometimes, as I listen to you speak with such effortlessness, I feel a twinge of pain in my heart.  It hurts to watch you already begin to surpass your brother verbally.  My heart sometimes feels like it's being tied up in knots as I hear your amazing clarity of speech and then watch your brother struggle so much to say a word.  I am so very proud of you.  And I want you to know that.  I will always be your biggest cheerleader.  But since I'm your brother's biggest cheerleader too, my heart breaks as I am reminded of just how hard this life is for him.  You see, I love him just as much as I love you, and watching your effortless speech is a reminder to me of just how hard everything is and will be for him in this life.  Please be patient with me, my son.  Please forgive the times that I have tears in my eyes as I watch your magnificent accomplishments.

While I am being honest with you, I pray for you, my son, that God will give you a tender but strong heart.  I pray that your heart will be strong enough to withstand the mocking that you will surely receive for associating with your brother.  And I pray that your heart will remain tender toward your big brother for the rest of your life.  May you always be patient with him, coming alongside him and guiding him through this life. It is only a matter of a year or so before you surpass him in every way.  When you do that, please don't leave him in the dust. Take him by the hand and help him.  Be his best friend and his protector.  Show this world what it means to love Jesus in the way that you love your brother.

I love you, my son.  Your laugh is infectious, and your joy permeates everything that you do. You bring sunlight into our home just by being here.  We are so blessed to have you!

Love,
Mama

* Your words at 16 months (at least what I can remember):  open, up, down, close, help, please, monkey, bear, circle, beep, bagel, pizza, milk, coke, more, door, car, shoe, sock, pull, off, no, touch, march, Bob (the tomato), run, Zach, bite, burger, fry, cow, dog, woof woof, pig, block, eat, duck, quack quack, night night, giraffe, pants, shirt, brush, toes, foot, cracker, all done, all gone, nugget, sit, push, spin, hit, medicine, yellow, blue, book, ball, hi, bye, juice, hug, poop, oh no!, oh my!, plate, fork, spoon, sword, baby, waffle, cookie