Comments

The Cousin Visit

There's a lot of talking in our house. Sophie talks constantly and when she isn't talking, she's singing or humming.  They say that some kids are verbal and some are physical.  Sophie is as much the former as she isn't the latter.  She's been talking in complete sentences since she was two but regularly wipes out on her bike (which still has training wheels on it).

Ava talks constantly too, but no one can understand her. She says a few words perfectly--mama, money, McDonald's--but the rest sound like "jooooooo".  She's all vowel. That said, she's incredibly coordinated.  She's a tiny person (25th percentile) and can't reach the pedals of her Tinkerbell big wheel.  But she's faster on it Fred Flinstone style than Sophie is on her bike.  She's a climber.  She can dribble a soccer ball. She'll probably be the next Pele.

So who cares?  You would think no one, but people comment.  When Sophie was little, one of our babysitters always mentioned how "tentative" she was.  And my mother constantly comments on Ava's inability to use consonants.  Other people mention it too, albeit less directly. "She may not talk, but she makes herself known," kind of thing, and the underlying suggestion is that something is wrong. 

Are you a child psychologist? Or a speech therapist? Did I solicit your opinion? Maybe there is something wrong, but seriously, shut up about it.