what do you know about stuttering?

Posted on November 5, 2013 by mommyinthemidwest

Late last week, Ryan mentioned to me that he thought Dexter was stuttering. Over the weekend, I started paying more attention and noticed that he really does start his sentences with a repeated sound…a lot.

I-I-I-I-I-I wanna go home.

We-we-we-we-we-we’re the going to the movies.

Y-y-y-y-you can’t do that.

It’s not every sentence and it’s not all the time. But he does do it a lot. He seems to do it when Theo’s talking and he’s also trying to be heard, or when he’s very excited. But outside of those two scenarios, he still does it at other times as well.

I mentioned it to one of the providers at their sitter today and she said she had noticed it too (and probably thought I was an idiot for not mentioning it/noticing it sooner). I know I’ve heard him do it before but I can’t pinpoint when it started. I don’t even know if it’s gotten that much worse recently or if I just didn’t pay attention. MOTY award coming this way. Anyway, they watch a lot of kids that are roughly the same age, so I asked her if she thought it was fairly common. She said no.

So I recalled and looked up an article written by my friend and Speech Language Pathologist, Mindi, and instantly felt more at ease. Thanks to her, I’ve placed him somewhere between developmental and mild stuttering. He’s definitely repeating sounds at the beginning of a sentence more than 2-3 times, but I haven’t noticed any facial tightening when this happens. I’m not even sure he realizes he is doing it. If we tell him to repeat after us, and say whatever he stuttered slowly, he’s able to say the same thing without the stutter. I’m very optimistic that this will be a short-term problem (if you’d even call it a problem) and that he’ll soon outgrow it.

No doubt in my mind, this cutie bear’s big brain is working way faster than his little mouth is processing.

Now I’m so curious to know how many people I know who have kids that briefly stuttered around this age as well. Anyone?

xo,
~C~

trick or treat 2013

Posted on November 2, 2013 by mommyinthemidwest

Some severe storms were on the radar so every town around here postponed trick or treating to November 1st. Initially, I was not happy because Halloween felt kind of empty but trick or treating on Friday was nice.

I picked up pizza on the way home from work and after the boys ate, it was a typical night…for a few minutes. Theo played Legos and Dexter watched the first scene of Toy Story 2 for the 500th time while I ran around getting out treats ready for prospective trick-or-treaters.

We’re out trick or treating

And having fun like you

So please help yourself

To a piece or two!

Ryan got home and we pretty much headed right back out the door.

My little Donald Duck and Buzz Lightyear (that helmet was a nuisance and barely made it out of the driveway with it before I took it back home).

Our neighborhood is a wonderful place to trick or treat! This was our first time trick or treating here. Last year (OMGEE they look so little last year), we went back to our previous neighborhood to visit people since we had recently moved. The houses are a little further apart than in some neighborhoods so we took the wagon for them to rest their feet when they wanted to. People were SO generous and absolutely adored seeing the boys in their costumes – known neighbors and strangers alike. It felt like a mutual thing. There are many older people in the neighborhood and I think they appreciated the visit as much as we appreciated the treat. It was a lot of fun and nice to make conversation with neighbors we hadn’t met before.