petronia

Maybe I should switch to a biweekly schedule for good? The hiatus has been because work is stressful, though. Alan has been at his grandparents the entire week, which we agreed to because my parents' car is in the garage for repairs. But I hardly feel as if I've gotten a breather. Meanwhile, Alan is spending a lot of time outside, drawing on my parents' concrete terrace (and his own shoes) with chalk, pulling up dandelions, or chowing down on watermelon.

Friday last week I took him to the doctor, where he had a total meltdown. It was a confluence of factors: he was bored, a couple of other moms and babies had just come into the waiting area, but all of a sudden we were called and he was wheeled into an examination room with someone he didn't recognize (masked and gowned of course) and the door was shut. That really set him off. In a way it means he has good self-preservation instincts? :P He howled and kept pointing and wanting to leave and go home, and the more we attempted to weigh and measure him the more upset he got. So in the end she couldn't check Alan's back, though his posture has improved somewhat. I was given an M-CHAT-R to fill out at home and a referral to a speech therapist. Tried contacting one who didn't call me back, got another clinic recommendation to reach out to on Monday.

Although Alan is behind on speaking -- and has been behind from day one: he never babbled at 6 months -- he's always progressed at his own pace. I've gotten used to him mostly just humming and whining, though; he never does that thing most toddlers do, chattering volubly but incomprehensibly, so I get taken aback when he trots out a new word. Last weekend he said "down," quite clearly, to mean that he wanted to be carried down the stairs. Then I took him into the toy store on Wellington to get him sidewalk chalk and a toy bucket, and when we wheeled up to the cashier he saw the ball bin and was like "BALL! BALL!!!" I was so surprised that well, I bought him a very handsome rainbow-coloured ball. Then left before he could do more damage. But oh, he was self-satisfied!

We went to the park after that and met J (he of the water gun) and his mom and mom's friend and younger brother. Alan was very popular because he showed up with toys: they were like "Ball?" "Ball :)" at each other. Then J came up to me to ask for chalk: he *did* have his charming patter all ready, but I couldn't understand a word of it. XD

Since then my parents tell me he's also learnt to say "home," which is a concept I'm sure he understands well (I always say "we're home" when we arrive). He recognizes not only my front door, but my parents' too.

Maybe Alan just has high standards for himself, and won't say anything until he knows he can do it perfectly. :P