Today I realized something about being a parent. I realized that in as much as we have to teach our kids about life, they in turn also teach us valuable lessons.I have been fretting for the past week about my son Joshua's delay in speech. His pediatrician finally recommended that we go see a developmental pediatrician to have him evaluated and see if he needs extra help and therapy. Joshua turned two years old last April 12th, and according to his pedia's charts, he should be speaking about 50 words by now and putting two words together and forming short sentences. So the past few days, I've been forcing him to repeat words that I have been saying to him, before giving in to whatever he wants. But so far no such luck for me. Let's say I ask him to say "mama", he'd say it back to me.... say "yaya" and he'd say it again. But do it again the third time like "dada" and he will just look at me, kiss me or distract me, but he refuses to say it. This got me worried. I don't know if he's just being hard headed or he really doesn't know how to say it. I kept on waiting and waiting for him to do it, until he ended up crying, which broke my heart. So I ended up just carrying him on my shoulders and giving him a kiss instead. After he's calmed down, I gave him a talk while carrying Kenji. I told him that Mommy is here to teach him so he shouldn't be shy if he said his words wrong. I just keep pushing him so that he can practice his speech and I'm always here to teach him and not laugh or judge him. I think he got what I meant. Coz when we proceeded to just play around and asked him what his little brother's name is, lo and behold, he answered, "Kenbi!"
This made me realize that my son Joshua is a GENIUS! I also realized that I should just be patient and let him develop in his own time. And also accept him as he is. I don't need to compare him to other kids his age, coz he might not be speaking as fluently as other kids, but his mind is probably developing at a faster rate than his tongue. So I just have to let his speech catch up with his brain.
I also realized how lucky I am to be blessed with two wonderful sons, who are just there to love me and my husband unconditionally, and to make us smile. We are happy to have two little miracles in our lives. Thank you boys....We love you.
