Chelsea in Her Own Time

I have a confession to make.

When Chelsea was born and it was confirmed that she had Down syndrome I was in denial.

When she started rolling over at 4 weeks old, I was in denial.

Her therapists started doing home visits, and they raved about her progress. Yep, still in denial.

You see early on, I knew she had a disability, but I was convinced she was the one. You know, the one who would walk on time, eat independently, drink from a straw. Talk (with impeccable speech I might add). Yep, I thought my kid might be special. Maybe, just maybe if I worked hard enough she wouldn't be "disabled". Chelsea would be the one who met all of the milestones of a "normal" baby.

But time started passing. We missed a few milestones. Sometimes we would just barely squeak into that "normal" range, like when she began walking at the end of her 18th month. That was good enough for me though. Maybe she could still be "normal."

Then more time passed. She started falling further and further behind. I really didn't have time to fret much while she was in the hospital receiving chemotherapy for her leukemia. We spent those days fighting for her life. After all, she was special. Surely she could catch back up once she was off chemo.

Reality check.

Second birthday. No words.

Third birthday. No words.

Immediately following the third birthday I was slammed with my first IEP as a mom. Ouch.

I began asking her therapists and teachers, "is there a chance she might not talk?"

A tough question I know. Who wants to answer that? No educator in their right mind is ever going to promise a frustrated mother that their child will speak eventually. That's a guarantee nobody can make. And they didn't. I did however note that nobody was using the "she'll talk, give her time" anymore. That's what scared me. Was everyone losing faith?

I've said since this child was born, the ONE thing I want her to be able to do, is speak. Communication is the most vital aspect of her success as an adult, and finally she is having a breakthrough in her language development. While most babies are meeting these milestones at 18-24 months, Chelsea, now 38 months has started talking.

She says:

ow or owie
ummy (yummy)
me
Ella (a friend in her class who also happens to be the speech therapists daughter)
Mom (yes finally I'm getting it fairly consistently)
uh oo (love you, this melts my heart)
wuh (one)
two
eeeh (three)
six

Add this to her repertoire of:
Dad, hi, bye, shoes, des (yes)

And we've finally got those first 15 words!!!

I know, not a big deal to most, but it's music to my ears. I think the longer we wait for our kids to talk, the more meaningful it is. I never knew how special these few words could be.

So clearly over the past year I've had to pull myself out of that place called denial and accept the fact that she does indeed have Down syndrome. She has a disability and things will be a little harder for her. So now when somebody asks me, "will she ever talk?" I can answer with confidence, "she will, in her own time."

* On a side note, I have to put in a plug for one of our all time favorite books. It is titled Ruby in Her Own Time. It's the most touching story of a duck doing things ... in her own time, just like our Chelsea (and Chelsea loves the book!) It's really a great read for all kids, and adults. Helping us all understand that faster isn't necessarily better. We will all do what we will do ... in our own time. Thank you to one of my Hillcrest friends who gave us that book at Chelsea's birth!