All of Atticus’ Words

With each new word that Atticus says, I am always reminded that there was a time when we didn’t know what Atticus’ speech abilities would be.  Before he was born, all we knew was that he had a very large tongue.  When I was still pregnant, I tried to imagine talking and swallowing with my tongue protruding outside of my mouth.  I couldn’t do it.  Seriously, try to swallow with your tongue sticking out.  I couldn’t help but think, how is he even going to swallow, never mind talk?!  This was just one of the many worries that consumed my brain from March 2012 to May 2012.  After he was born though, just seeing him and being able to hold him, helped me to stop worrying about all of the unknowns and allowed me to take things one step at a time, and focus on all of the positive aspects of the situation.

Now, here we are in November of 2013 and Atticus is 18 months old.  With each new word that he adds to his vocabulary, I can’t help but think back to before he was born and wondering if he would even have the ability to speak.  Unfortunately, I think it’s all too often that some of the normal everyday things that babies (and adults) do are taken for granted.  Before Atticus was born, I pictured him crying at night and me going to get a syringe to push food through a feeding tube.  I knew breast feeding was most likely out of the question, but I never imagined that he would take to a bottle so quickly.

Everytime I see Atticus eat, or speak, or drink from his sippy cup, I am so grateful – because these are things that I honestly did not know if he would ever do before he was born.  It’s these ‘simple’ things that we take for granted.  But, when you really stop and think about it – these things are not simple at all.  They are extremely complex processes, yet, when Atticus does it, he seems to do it so effortlessly.

He has learned to use his tongue, even though it is still large, in ways that work for him.  He’s becoming a pro at feeding himself finger foods.  Almost gone are the days of us having to spoon feed him.  Even though his gums don’t fully meet for him to mash food the way that other kids would, he knows enough to place the food all the way in the back, where his gums actually do meet.  Next time you are eating, pay attention to all of the complex movements that your tongue makes.  Atticus moves his tongue a lot when he eats, and for that I am grateful.  When he had a large portion of his tongue removed a year ago, one of the concerns was losing mobility.  That was a huge risk, since you need to be able to move your tongue for so many things.

Yesterday, I asked Atticus’ speech pathologist how many words a typical 18 months old says.  Twenty was her answer, and I am amazed, grateful, and proud to say that Atticus is not too far off from that.  Below is a list of words that he is consistently saying and using correctly:

Da Da

Baby

Apple

Airplane

Car

Ollie

Uh oh

What’s this?

Bye bye

Hi

Yes

So, next time your baby cries, eats, speaks, breathes – all of these natural things that we tend to take for granted – realize how amazing these things truly are.   Not everyone is so fortunate to be able to do these everyday activities that most of us do without even thinking.  Please, never take these abilities for granted.

Drinking from a Sippy Cup!

Atticus can now drink from a sippy cup!  Given that his tongue is still a lot larger than a normal tongue and that it takes a lot of work for him to close his mouth, I did not think this was possible, or that it would come so easily to him.

Atticus started working with a speech pathologist a few months ago.  I never realized how much these professional do!  It is so much more than you would think.  When I tell people that Atticus goes to speech, some people think it’s strange since he doesn’t really talk yet.  I had always heard that early intervention is best, so it didn’t seem that weird to me.  Once he started going, I was amazed at all of the things they they do, outside of just speech.

Atticus’ speech pathologist started with doing facial massages that we call ‘face forward’.  They consist of massaging his cheeks in a forward motion toward the mouth to help elongate the muscles so that his lips can more easily close around his tongue.  We also periodically push his bottom lip up and hold it so he gets used to feeling his lips together.  We also have to teach him that this is something that his lips can do.

Even though his tongue prevents his gums from meeting in the front, his gums in the back actually meet quite well.  We also work with him to strengthen his chewing muscles by having him chew on his speech therapy P’s and Q’s.

I am so grateful for all that speech therapy has done for Atticus in such a short period of time.  Even with his malformation, he is so amazing and continues to prove that he can do anything.  I thought it would take months for him to learn how to drink from a sippy cup, but he understood how to do it, and figured out a way that works for him almost immediately!