THIS IS WHAT ALL PAEDIATRICIANS SHOULD TELL MUMS WHOSE TODDLERS AREN'T TALKING YET

THIS IS WHAT ALL PAEDIATRICIANS SHOULD TELL MUMS WHOSE TODDLERS AREN'T TALKING YET

Hi Mummies and Daddies and Good readers,

How are we all today? It's Wednesday and it's mid week, what have we achieved since Monday? If you like me, at the start of the week, got an offer letter to study a MA Education at the University of South wales in collaboration with UNICAF then yay! But If you are still expecting good news and haven't yet received it, don't worry, the week is still young and what God has ordained for you is coming your way.

So if you know me, you'll know that i put to bed last year and had an angelic baby boy, an angelic baby who's now fast approaching the notorious terrible twos(though he is just 16 months) and is currently on my lap pressing my keyboard and at the same time trying to demolish my iPad 2 that i have been managing since 2012 (he broke the screen of his own iPad 2 [used to belong to the father]). So anyhoos, I don't want to digress any further. A week ago we went to the hospital for my son's vaccination and later on his doctor who asked us questions about his milestones like 

"if he talking" no

"does he obey orders" no

"does he stack blocks on blocks?" hum, we don't have kiddie blocks in our house so no, but he does like to play with his food on the floor and arrange it back into his plate when he gets fed up. Does that count?

"does he respond when you call his name." uhm, sometimes, when he's in a god mood i suppose" 

After evaluating him, feeling his breathing, checking his ear and eye and having him say "Aaah" the doc told us that normally children of his age would be saying a few words by now and if by the time he is 18 months and still not talking, then he needs to be taken to a specialist.

No reassurance, no smile, no soft tone, he told us point blank with a dead cold stare on his face.

Normally the old me would have panicked, but unfortunately for this doctor, i am on many, and i mean many mummy forums and a lot of mums complain about their children not reaching the developmental milestones sometime as their peers besides not everyone got their degree at the same time or could read and write at the same time. We all have our time when we blossom.

So if the doctor was expecting me or my husband to panic, he was so wrong. We took one look at our beautiful, stubborn, absolutely adorable son, smiled at him, my husband carried him on his shoulder and we went home. The paediatrician's comment didn't affect us in anyway whatsoever. He wasn't God and only God who is the author of my son's life can decided when he will talk.

So that said what this doctor should have reassured us with was this story i want to share with you all who are worried about one thing or another in their children's lives, or even their own lives. 

Sunday we got dressed and went for evening mass in a taxi, and we happened to get a very chatty driver who after listing many random gists asked us how old our boy was, we told him, then he asked us if he was talking yet we said no but we were expecting him to anytime now. 

then he proceeded to tell us a story which i'll share with you now.

He narrated the story of a boy who for 13 years didn't speak. The boy's parents and other family members had gone from being worried, to frustrated to downright just giving up, especially as the doctors said nothing was wrong with him. One day they were all at the dinner table when he suddenly blurted out 

"Mummy, please pass the salt." 

and his mum blurted out 

"So you can talk all this while?! Why didn't you say anything before now?!"

He cocked his head at his mum and replied

"before now there was no problem"

Hope this cheers you up! Have a great remaining week!