No Secrets

As the Hoos and I watch AK develop and grow, we struggle to remember LP achieving the same milestones. Without the evidence of my blog, I think we would swear that LP was born talking. She is a sponge, using words I didn't realize she knew and sharing facts and information at opportune and inopportune times.

For example, yesterday, she had lengthy phone conversations (from the pot, natch) with both the Hoos and my parents. Fortunately, our household secrets were not part of the equation - for once.

"Leo asks me to sit next to him. And I say 'okay, Leo, but you can't hit me or push me or pinch me' and he says that he won't, but THEN HE DOES! Every morning Leo's mom says to him, 'Leo, be a good boy today.' But it doesn't work!"

For the record, AK also talks incessantly. We do not always understand her, but she definitely thinks she is saying something that I should understand, as she will repeat phrases until I figure out what she means. Part of the challenge is that we continue to try to compare LP's and AK's development. I know we shouldn't, especially with our awful memories, but it is the only hands-on kid knowledge that we have. With AK's history of ear infections, we are not sure if it is impacting her speech as her pronunciation is far from perfect - is it a development thing or a delay? (ACK! Too much thinking!) Who know?

Yesterday, we went to the ENT to discuss the possibility of getting tubes for AK. At this point we can continue to wait and see if she will need them and not worry about any permanent damage to her speech and hearing. A reasonable approach since we have had a decent amount of time since her last infection and her nightly Claritin regimen seems to be keeping infections at bay.

Alas, tubes or any other solution won't impact her volume control. It is just a toddler thing. A horrible, unpleasant toddler thing. No one likes hearing "MOMMMMYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!" screeched at the top of their kid's lungs. Even if she does do it to the tune of Tarzan's "Ahhhhhhhh-ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-aaahhhhhhhhh" call. Hoping that will go away when I can understand her better...