For a while recently, I had reached this point in my time as a mother where I was in this quiet little place. Hayes was this sweet, content toddler. And when Hudson reached 3.5 years old, we turned a corner. There was peace and cooperation.
And then as Hayes’s speech therapy caught on, we added a little more noise to the home. Okay, a lot of noise.
But the noise is in the form of sweet, intentional words from Hayes that we prayed for and waited on for months. In fact, Hudson can’t help but do his cute little grin every time Hayes attempts to say a new word. He’s not making fun of him. He’s just so surprised and thinks it’s about as cute as I do. (Which is pretty stinking cute.)
His new favorite word is “Mommy.” Sweet, right?
Yes, it’s sweet. But there’s a little problem. “Mommy!” isn’t as sweet when it’s screamed in rapid succession. (Imagine Stewie Griffin in that ad they used to show on TBS all the time.)
I know deep in my heart that I will survive the toddler years again, but every time I hear Hayes start shouting “Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy!” I doubt myself. Especially at 6:30 p.m. when we are counting down the seconds for Daddy to walk in the door.
I know that Hayes just wants my attention and that’s the way he thinks he needs to get it. But it hurts everyone’s ears and it makes my shoulders tense up. And when we put Hayes to bed at night, I realize that I can slowly relax my shoulders and bring them away from my ears.
I absolutely love that his favorite word is “Mommy.” And if his favorite word was “Daddy” and he screamed that all day, I know that we’d all be on edge just the same. Coming unglued bit by bit.
Thank goodness my husband is a “together” man. Because I do not have it all together.
But you know what? In a year, I will have to look back on this post to even remember that Hayes did that. And then I’ll laugh about it. And I will physically ache for my 21 month old baby boy who loves to laugh and run and try to jump and bounce while he shouts for his Mommy to look at him and so he can say, “Hewwooo, Mommy” or “peek-boo, Mommy!”
My sweet Hayes who falls asleep in the car on the way home from school and nuzzles his head into my shoulder as we walk into the house. And before I can lie him down in his crib, he’ll look at me and give me the sleepiest grin.
My sweet Hayes who used to be so content and never made a peep, is now showing us so many answers to prayers with his words and his voice and his crazy wild man activity.
It’s this place where I am so afraid to wish away the small things that bring headaches because time will take the sweet smells and funny giggles with it.
Isn’t it funny how you wish for a milestone & when they reach the milestone you wonder why you were wanting them to reach it so fast? But when they’re sleeping or away from you, you miss it…that thing that drives you crazy or makes your shoulders tense up. Parenting is such a complicated, roller coaster ride of emotions that I never want to stop.
Neither one of my girls say mommy or daddy yet (yet they have a myriad of words in their vocab) and it makes me a little sad but I know one day they will and there will be days that I want to change my name. When I do, I’ll try to remember this time when I wish they could.
Oh yes! We wished and wished for this and now he’s making so much progress. That is wonderful! Maybe now we can start teaching him about his inside voice and how he doesn’t have to scream to get my attention. 🙂
what a sweet post! we have a VERY loud 19 month old, so i think i understand you on volume aspect. & i’m so glad to hear that your prayers have been answered and that Hayes is talking more and more to you guys. that’s so awesome!
It has encouraged us so much. It can be so difficult not to compare him to his brother or to friends’ children. But now that we’ve seen so much fast progress I know we worried for nothing. But I’m also so thankful we were diligent about getting him in speech.
Great post! Thank you… I have a 19 month old, and we just had his first speech evaluation yesterday. As of right now, he has zero words – and, as selfish as I sometimes feel saying it because I KNOW there could be so many worse things – his lack of language has been HARD on Mommy. I spend way too much “googling’ and worrying, and not enough time being thankful for THIS time too. This was a good reminder. 🙂
It is SO hard. I still do a lot of googling and sometimes that it helpful and sometimes it scares me more. The unknown of child-raising and motherhood is scary. But I do know that your little one and mine will overcome this minor challenges that worry us so much. 😉
Isn’t it the best to have husbands who can be calm and collected when we cannot? I dont understand it, but my husband is a miracle when I have lost it and I need reinforcements.
As a speech therapist, this post makes me very happy! I’m so glad you have had such a positive experience with speech and seen such good progress. I’m glad you aren’t afraid to talk about your child needing speech…sometimes it can be daunting to admit/ get your child that help. Sounds like you are on the right track! Thanks for your sweet blog.
Jeannie, thank you for your comment. And thank you for all you do in your job. Our speech therapy experience has helped calm my mama heart and has helped Hayes tremendously. 🙂 so, thank you!
Oh I can relate!! Charlotte is now talking SO MUCH, it’s amazing! I am in love with her speech therapist. But yes….not only does she repeat words, she is now onto repeating phrases 100 times, “Eat skettis (spaghetti), mommy? Eat skettis mommy? Eat skettis mommy? (and on and on and on)”. That’;s what I heard all night. It’s funny because I was SO WORRIED about the lack of speech and my MIL always said to me, “someday she will talk….and never ever stop!”. HA! What a sweet boy you have, and 21 months? He is doing awesome!!!! CG wasn’t saying mommy until after she turned 2 🙂
i love that hudson is as tickled by the newness of hayes’ s voice as you are. so cute! does hayes ever string together his two favorite words and say ok, mommy” ? it’s so nice to hear about answered prayer…and i can just picture that sweet, sleepy smile.