One of my biggest fears about being a parent is that I am somehow failing my kids. The especially comes into play when it comes to our son. He is now 22 months old and is not really talking. I try not to stress about it, but I feel like it is my fault. I do read to him, admittedly not as much as I should, and we don't talk baby talk with him. It's really started to bother me after reading articles on toddler milestones and realizing that at this age he "should" have about 50-75 words that he is using regularly. The reality is that he has about 10 if he's lucky, although I know that he understands a heck of a lot more than that. I know that he is recognizing letters as well... we have an alphabet book that I read to him and he can flip through the pages and says some of the letters on the right page. He is obsessed with the alphabet right now! He plays it over and over on his leap pad, looks at the alphabet book over and over and plays with his alphabet fridge magnets. oh, and he loves the ABC's Zoo Game on fisher-price.com . To top it all off, we had a woman here this weekend from a company called A+ Child development. She gave us some info on their program and asked us some questions about Zander's development. I felt so horrible not being able to tell her for sure if Zander knows his shapes, colours, numbers to ten, body parts etc. I mean, how am I supposed to know what he is supposed to know? Ok, not the greatest excuse, but alternatively, it's not like he can tell us that's a triangle or that's red. We look at his shapes book a lot and often when we are doing something, I'll tell him the colour of the things we are playing with or looking at. Is it having any effect? I have no idea. I really hope that he starts talking soon, I'm starting to worry that there is something wrong! With Grace, apparently I am supposed to be reading to her, telling her nursery rhymes (if I can remember them) and saying the alphabet, counting, telling her what things are, including colors and shapes, some of this stuff I didn't do with Zander and he's now almost two! According to the study info we were given, parents should be doing certain things doing pregnancy to ensure that their child's brain is developing in a way that gives them a head start. HELLO, WHY DOESN'T SOMEONE TELL YOU THIS STUFF WHEN YOU ARE PREGNANT? And why don't they give you some info at checkups to say, by the next appointment, this is what your kid should be doing and this is how you can help them. The doctor doesn't even have to tell people, just give them a hand out so they at least have the info. Now, I am not going to try to point at someone else and blame them for my lack of knowledge but hello? A little help here???? Am I the only one that feels this way?!?!?
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3 comments:
As you may have read on my blog Dominic still hardly talks and he is three. I find the same thing, how am I suppose to know what he knows when he can't talk. A lot of what we do is ask him to point. Example "where is the red car?" when you have 5 different coloured cars. I know a lot of people will tell you not to worry...but I would advise calling landsdown and get him on the list for speech. There is like a 3 to 6month wait sometimes. You don't want him to get to far behind. If he is talking by the time they call you, well that is a bonus! I always say it is best to get the help just in case. Dominic has been in speech since before he was 2 and is improving, but is still only at maybe a 2 year old level now. You can just call lansdowne and refer him yourself...you don't even need a doctor. I wouldn't worry that you aren't doing enough...paying attention to your kids is a lot more then many others do. You seem to be a great mom! Thanks for posting on my blog...it allowed me to find yours.
Jenaia
Thanks Jenaia... I got referred to Landsdown and funny enough, they called me back yesterday to tell me that Zander is on the top of the wait list and we have an appointment with a speech therapist on Monday.
i found that the free programs at our local library, and the ontario early years centres were a great help--gave me a place to take the kids, refreshed my memory on long-forgotten nursery rhymes, and provided a fun outing, too.
try not to freak out about what you don't know--all of us parents are in the same boat. you sound like you love and worry about your kids--that's the most important foundation you can give them.
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