Sean @ 31 months

Speech
I've been very worried about Sean's speech since he turned 2. It's obvious that he is not progressing in his speech the same as many other toddlers his age. Since then, I've consciously tried to get him to talk more. At first, he was resistant. He has this stubborn streak. If he doesn't want to do something, it's really difficult to get him to do it.

I've read that to teach a toddler who is slow in speech, you need to talk face to face with him and get him see the way your mouth moves as you enunciate each word. He didn't even want to see my mouth. So I thought sending him to a speech therapist at that stage would not be that useful. We had to do this at home first.

So we began to consciously trying to get him to talk, pronouncing words slowly and getting him to say it. Somewhere along, he got the Alphabet bug and really enjoyed reciting the alphabet. When we entered Children Corner, it so happened that they have a weekly lesson on letters. Perfect! Sean loves lesson time. He still didn't speak much though. Just recite the alphabet over and over again. He knows them all by heart but still doesn't quite get his 'F', 'W', and 'X'.

Since he started Playschool, he's starting to incorporate more words. Sometimes he's just so excited when he wants to say something, he ends up pointing and making urgent noises. Maybe he just have too much to say and doesn't know the words. I've got to constantly remind myself to say out the words rather than saying, "What is it? What are you trying to say?" He probably doesn't know what words he's trying to say. Playschool also reminded me about teaching Sean to pray. So we started having to pray for Sean to be able to speak clearly.

But I was still worried that when Sean turned 30 months, he still could not string 2 words together. The article I read said that it could be Autism, another article described about Childhood Apraxia. I mean people have told me many stories that someone they knew didn't speak until 3 or 4 years old, and they are perfectly fine. I know that but I think it's hard for a mother not to worry about her child.

Sean actually understands quite a lot. You can talk to him normally and he'll understand you. The problem is that he's finding it difficult to say words with 2 syllables. So when we went to get his 2 1/2 year jab at the pediatrician, we asked the doctor. He said we should start writing a list of words Sean uses in his speech before he can diagnose whether there's a problem or not. And to see if there are new words in his vocabulary. Which we are doing now.

The thing is Sean is a perfectly well-balanced child. He's happy when he's not in a whinny mood and trying to get his way. He's good a great sense of humour. He has lots of energy and is healthy (most of the time). He is very lively, which sometimes is difficult when he has to sit down at school and sing. He just wants to run around and dance, which he loves to do very much. Recently, when he hears a good dance tune, he breaks out into his own dance.

But the speech thing really bug me. But just last night and today, I heard him string 2 words together! Alleluya! Other kids his age can speak in sentences or even sing a song, but for this mummy, knowing my son is now beginning to put 2 words together is a break through! I'm definitely feeling relieved. I hope he'll progress more each day. =D

Breastfeeding Weaning program
So I'm still breastfeeding Sean. Some will say, it's good but many others are aghast. Even my own parents are telling me to quit immediately, actually they've been telling me for a long time. " He's sucking you out! You're too skinny! It's not good for you!"

Well.... it's not that I'm not trying to wean Sean but I haven't been able to do the "Just don't give him"method, because Sean cries loudly and turns to his daddy and point an accusing finger at me "Ne ne ne ne!" As if I had hurt him emotinally so badly. And my dear hubby jokingly tells him " Tell mummy, it's better than mango."and was not supportive of weaning abruptly. So it took quite a while before I get more support from hubby to wean Sean. Now at least when I say no to Sean he'll take my side "Mummy says no."

So we are on a gradual weaning program. First I had to get Sean interested in other milk first. We tried several new milk in the market and he's likes the Yes! Grape flavoured milk fo snack and the plain Dutchmilk for before sleeping. So I'm giving him a small bottle of milk before he can breastfeed. I tell him, he has to finish the small bottle of milk first before he can nen-nen. At first, he rejected the milk but now he's grudgingly accepting the fact that he has to drink the milk first. But you can see from his face that he'd rather not drink it. It's like drinking medicine to him. In fact, it's easier to get him to drink medicine than to drink milk!

So my hope is to get him to drink more milk and let my breastmilk supply slowly dry up. Let's hope it happens as planned.