Cacophony

Even as it raises my blood pressure, it reassures me. At age of 3, even going into age 4, James was largely silent. He could laugh and cry, and made noises (think of a baby learning to stand and walk, making sounds instead of words). Then he started to talk. Now he will not stop.

Much of it is scripting, repeating lines from movies or TV shows. But he can produce these scripts at appropriate social times. I hope it's helping him express himself. James lacks a filter, as to when to stop verbalizing and how to modulate his voice. He has 3 volume settings ... normal, loud, and bellow. Any verbal attempts to get him to lower the volume inevitably evokes an even louder "I'm awake too!!!" Strangely, telling him we need to whisper or using my thumb and pointing finger to shrink an invisible decibel reader display have more success in getting him to lower his tone.

A very painful moment for me came from watching James with a sucker after his first speech therapy session. At age 2 and a half, he could barely hold it, his fingers both grasping the stick and poinking out at strange angles. He had no idea what to do with it. Both the therapist, myself, and his sister modeled how to lick the sucker. He put it in his mouth, and it fell out because he did not close his mouth. He then lost interest in it. I wanted to cry.

James likewise had struggles to blow air out his mouth. He loved bubbles and tried so hard to blow them without success. He had difficulties with grasping many things in his mouth, with the exceptions of a spoon (he'd snap plastic ones) or paper (including books). We did have a breakthrough with one of those cheap play "microphones" -- he finally got talking into it and breathing out. He talked all the way through Target with that toy, and you know I bought it for him.

So when I hear him laugh, fight with his sister, and yell "Mommy! Where are you? Come and see!" I grin. When I am listening to "Itsy Bitsy Spiiiiider" sung into the "mike" for the tenth time in two minutes, I am excited. When his sister roars "Noooooooooo!" and hides in her room because, almost three years later, he's finally mastered the harmonica, I feel lucky to experience this cacophony.


And this? Priceless!