Long Time No See (It Seems, Anyway)

This is a strangely flat hippo creature that Aaron has named "Flat-o-pottamus." Aaron apparently put it on his own head, and then Eamon thought that was hysterical and walked around with it on his own head for about 20 minutes afterwards. Don't say our child doesn't have a sophisticated sense of humor.

This week, I saw Eamon for maybe a total of 2 hours. MAYBE. I really only saw him in the mornings, because every night I had class until 8PM, and Eamon goes to bed at 7:00. Moreover, Aaron had to work late twice this week, which meant that Monday and Wednesday night Eamon stayed overnight at my parents' house, and I didn't even see him the next morning.

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It was just a week. Not that big a deal, right?

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Except that it is. It was.

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You might not think that anyone changes that much in week, but he did. When I finally had some time to spend with him on Friday evening (class got done early, so I had about 20 minutes), he was different. He was definitely taller, for one thing--even my mom said that this week he could suddenly reach things on countertops that he'd never been able to reach before.

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And he suddenly looked...well, a lot like a little boy. Not so much like a baby. Not at all like a baby, really.

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And there was something else different in his eyes. That recognition of understanding. I suddenly realized that I really couldn't just say anything in front of him anymore, because he really does understand about 95% of what I say. Last week, it was maybe 75%.

With his Oma's help, Eamon even took his first picture. Hi, Daddy!

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And what else changed?

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He decided to start talking. Not sentences yet, but he's saying more words now. For awhile, he only said "Mama" and "Eamon" and "Uh oh." Then he stopped saying even those, and then he stopped even making syllables. He still understood a lot that we said to him, and his sign language vocabularly included about 30 words, but still. No speech. Or even an attempt. After a month of this regression, I finally insisted that we take him to the doctor.

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Our pediatrician was unconcerned. From his brief visit with Eamon, he concluded that Eamon was just that type of guy who has to be in control, and he wouldn't do "baby talk" because it wasn't quite right. He would talk when he was ready.

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I wasn't convinced. But you know what happened, don't you?

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Not a day after we took him to the doctor, Eamon started making all those sounds again. And then he started using words. When you show him a picture of himself, he used to say some version of his own name ("Eh-ma"). This week, he would proudly declare, "ME!" When I called my mom, I could hear him in the background shouting, "MY MAMA!" Then yesterday, he was watching Sesame Street and said clearly, "Grover!" Today, he and Aaron were watching the Grover video "Monster in the Mirror" on YouTube, and Eamon announced, "Wubba! Wubba!"

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I was really only around to witness the last one.

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And you know what? The pediatrician was right. None of these words are coming out like baby talk. They all sound like perfectly formed words, as if he's been saying them his whole life.

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I hate missing these moments. I mean, I miss a lot anyway because I work full time, but going to class every night is really difficult. I know that it's only three weeks, and that I'll be done with all my coursework soon, but it's still very difficult. A week shouldn't be that long, but in Toddler Time, it can be a lifetime.