“Go Get' Em”
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On March 20th, 2022 our family made it to the top of the mountain. The view is beautiful now, but the journey was another story. A little over a year ago, our journey with speech therapy began. A time of isolation and masking with the pandemic, two things that contradict teaching you 18-month old how to communicate as we know it. I'm sitting in the doctor's office with Landon, waiting for his 18month check up to start. I feel like a pro at this point knowing how these check ups go. We start with general milestone questions, and not to brag.. but my boy was always making be proud hitting things ahead of schedule. That pride of mine was quickly humbled when I was asked, "how many words does Landon have?" I went silent, my brain grasping for an answer to "pass the test." The only word he says is "go, go!" I realized the words I've heard Landon speak, just stopped. My heart broke when I realized that included him saying Momma. Our amazing doctor joins us shortly after. He assured me not to stress and we could try speech therapy in 6 months if we don't see an improvement in Landon. Well, that wasn't going to work for me.. 6 months of waiting, oh and at that point we'd welcome Landon's baby brother and have new challenges to navigate. I've got to give our doctor credit, without a 2nd thought he referred us for additional testing and consults to start us in on early intervention. 2 months later, we completed assessments and hearing tests. Truth is, this is the start of the silent battle filled with worry and guilt that I'm not so great at this parent thing. Wondering if something is wrong, if I'm not doing enough, what evaluations would find. It's covid, I'm not seeing people like before and am just burying the the anxiety. That's were Abbey enters, our speech therapist who came into our home every week to work with Landon and give us all the tools to change how we support Landon all the other hours of the day. Abbey returned our hope and we committed to trusting the process. Just before baby brother, Leo was born. Landon started finding his voice and his next word came, "up!" My little "go, go" dude, was about to take off! Six months later, our family of FOUR is gathered around an Italian spread at the dinner table honoring our special guest, Abbey for her last speech therapy session with Landon. We all cried bittersweet tears to see Abbey leave us. Every goal we put our hearts and soul in to achieve was met. I feel joy too see what Landon has accomplished: hearing him demand "muppets Bohemian Rhapsody on YouTube" was a phrase I'd never dream I'd hear at the end of the process. My favorite though, hearing his little voice sing "I love you, Momma." I didn't know it then, but stranger will soon compliment my talker at the grocery store on the regular! Go get 'em Momma... Advocate early for what you believe in. To my dear Landon, you inspire me every day. You love hard and talk.. A LOT! I wouldn't have it any other way. Wherever life takes my " go! Go!" Dude, Give them all you got. Go get 'em!