So our little guy turns two soon, and he still doesn’t utter a single word. Every now and then we’ll hear something that distinctly sounds like “mama”, especially if he’s upset, but other than that, he’s happy to function—and he functions well—using little grunts and gestures. It’s peculiar but fascinating; the way he communicates is almost like a baby gorilla. Everyone tells us not to worry until he’s three.
We’re actually not overly concerned at this point, since he understands so much and can identify colours and letters and numbers and parts of his body. But there’s always that nagging voice at the back of a mom’s mind saying I’d better be proactive about this and get it checked out just to be safe.
Easier said than done. Where we live, the wait list to see a speech pathologist is nine months long! Hopefully by then he’ll be reciting entire nursery rhymes.
In the meantime, we’ll keep on repeating words over and over and reading and singing to him and encouraging him to vocalize. And we’ll savour his own way of reaching out to the world.