Tad Speaks – Really!

I’ve mentioned before that Tad suffers from a second-child speech impediment before – the impediment being that his sister does all the talking for both of them, so he really doesn’t feel a need to speak up. He did this as a small baby, too – would hardly make a sound while she was in the same room with him, but the minute she was away/asleep, he’d start cooing up a storm.

He does speak a few words, and we are reading and singing to him constantly, and he does have a good understanding of what words mean (he can follow simple commands like “climb into your highchair” and “help Mommy pick up your Duplos” and “get down from there!”), but he just doesn’t talk much.

Yesterday, he realized the value of words.

Our worship leader at church is a very nice and talented guitar player that I will call Mr. Ray (I’m having a Finding Nemo moment). He has grandchildren right around Tad’s age, and he and Tad have become friends. Every week after second service, before Mr. Ray packs up his guitars, Tad goes straight from the nursery to the main sanctuary, and finds Mr. Ray, who generously lets Tad pluck the strings on his guitars and sometimes plays a few chords with him (I told you he was nice).

When Tad came into the sanctuary yesterday, with me hot on his heels, Mr. Ray was busy talking to some other adults and didn’t see Tad. Tad stood at the bottom of the steps leading up to the platform, where Mr. Ray was standing. Usually, if Mr. Ray is talking to other people, Tad just waits until he’s done and then dashes up. However, he wasn’t in the mood to wait.

Tad waited at the bottom of the steps, waving to Mr. Ray. “Hi,” he called out. No response. “Hi,” he said again, waving his little hand. “Hi,” he called, a little louder this time, and hand still waving.

Finally, Tad really spoke up. “HEY-YO!” he said quite loudly, his hand waving insistently.

Mr. Ray saw him at this point. “Hey, buddy! Come on up!”

Tad eagerly climbed up the steps to the platform, and they proceeded to have a cute little jam session that gave many adults milling around a laugh and attracted an audience of other kids. Tad was in his element, and Mr. Ray was having fun, too. I was still in awe of Tad’s “hello” to get Mr. Ray’s attention. He really CAN talk! He just needs the proper motivation.

Do you think if I bought him a guitar, he’d talk more? More likely, his sister would “borrow” it and we’d have a fight. I think we’ll just stick to the reading, singing, and the weekly mini guitar lessons. After all, there’s nothing cuter than seeing your 21 month old son playing an A chord on an acoustic guitar, with help.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 9:21 am and is filed under Children, From the Church Front.
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