mother's intuition

kendal has always been a special child.  being our first born, he has taught us how to be parents.  this means that we've had to learn when to worry and when to relax when it comes to developmental things (and sick things and hurting things...). 

and i think after all the worry with his walking and gross motor delays (to which he is still delayed), i've finally figured out when to worry and when not. (maybe, anyway!)

all the time kendal was sitting (and not walking), he was doing things way faster than he should in other areas.  like, putting together puzzles and stacking and talking.  he's always been a great talker (and singer now, he sings constantly).  about 2 weeks ago, he started stuttering.  not just a little, either, i mean big time stuttering.

so much so that my mom has even commented on it.  now if she's commenting on it, it must mean something usually.  and, that is what really brought it to my attention.  i'd noticed it before but i hadn't paid much mind to it because, i guess, i thought he was just going through a phase or something.  so tonight at dinner, every other word was k-k-k-k-k-k-k-k-kitty and p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-pea and everything had about 20 repetitions to it.  i never interrupted him and i never finished his sentences, i just listened.  he doesn't seem frustrated with it, he just seems excited when he's talking.  but anyway, i decided to get up from the table and leave them with nathaniel.  i went upstairs and got on the internet to see if i could find anything of use about 2 year olds and stuttering.

not to my surprise, it is likely a phase.  the consensus of the sites i found say that basically their "their talking abilities going faster than the language centers of their brain" (i.e. their brain can’t catch up to their motor mouth, so it slows things down by repeating sounds over and over).  i guess that means i won't be worrying about it unless he is, eh, still stuttering at christmas!

on the other hand, what i do worry about is his pronated feet!!!  soon we'll be getting braces and starting PT for gross motor again (because of stairs, mainly).  he did walk down the stairs this week on his own, which was a huge thing for him.  he was holding on to the rail with one hand and walking down.  he's NEVER done that before.  he was so proud when he got to the bottom!  so funny how he does things on his own schedule...