Sometimes I feel like I have failed as a mother. I know this is a silly thought as I know I haven’t, but there are times where my thoughts take over and for a brief moment I start to think these statements are true.
What brings me to this thought is the other day Aiden and I were at Kroger doing our weekly shopping. An older lady comes up to us in the checkout line and starts talking to Aiden and commenting on how cute he is (which he totally is)!!! When she asked him what his name was he looks at me like a deer in head lights. Like he had no idea what she was asking him. I immediately answered for him, as I normally do, and she proceeded to say “can’t you tell me your name honey”. When I told him to say “Aiden” he was unable to do so and it came out nothing like his name sounds. The lady then looked at me and stated “well maybe your mommy needs to work with you more”.
Fumes came over me. I wanted to punch the lady in the face. I wanted to say, you know what lady I do work with him, I work with him three days a week at therapy and I work with him every minute of every day on trying to say sounds and words. When I talk to my child I have to say it multiple times and have him repeat after me and work on vowel sounds daily. I break almost every word down to the simplest form just for him to say words such as “horse”. Many people take for granted that their two year olds can say more than 20 words. It’s hard most days. Most days we struggle with basic communication. Yes, Aiden is progressing well and is starting to say more words but most people probably can’t understand anything he says. My family can of course and we get so excited when he is able to break the word down and pronounce it.
So there you have it. These are times where I feel like I have failed because my child can’t say his name. We will be working on this and hopefully soon he will be able to say “my name is Aiden.” Until then we will keep working with him and encouraging him.
