Ears. Check.

Tooter and I just got back from an appointment with an ENT in town. Tooter, unfortunately, was the victim of an over-anxious mommy. He is 19 months now, and has really no vocabulary to speak of. There is "dah dah" for Jmk, and "dye dye" for bye bye. Recently he has started "mum mum" when he's eating, which I think is supposed to be yummy. But, still no "ma ma" for me. He has quit saying "ca ca" for cracker. And he hasn't learned any new words in months now. (Or, at least, that's what it seems to me).

So, of course, instead of being laid back about it, I worried that something might be wrong. A speech therapist friend who lives in the neighborhood suggested that I just verify that his ears/hearing check out okay.

So, that's what we did this morning. And, praise the Lord, they did check out fine! (Deep down, I knew his hearing was fine. I just needed someone with "MD" behind his signature to tell me that). Tooter is just going to be a "late talker". He's a boy, he's the 2nd child, he has an older sibling who talks all the time for him. Those are the things that the doctor (who was very nice!) said were part of the delayed verbal development. The doctor was remarkably unconcerned, so he's seen this a bunch, I suppose. He said to give him a few more months to catch up. And, when he does, his progress will occur quite rapidly. All things that I have heard before. Again - I just needed that medical verification for some reason.

In a convoluted way, a part of me almost wanted there to be fluid in his ears or some such thing to explain his delay. Which makes NO sense - because had there been an actual problem to affect his hearing, that problem would have required surgery to correct it.

And, now I see that in actual print, I'm so grateful that Tooter is fine. And, like my friend told me, Einstein was reported to have not "talked" until he was three. Hey - you gotta hang on to stuff like that!

If you detect over-excitement in my voice when I report new words, you'll understand why now!

In other news, Mom called while we were out, and she and Dad were in Budapest, and were having dinner. They'll be cruising the Danube tomorrow, which sounds lovely! She says Budapest is a pretty place - I'm looking forward to the stories!