Colin at one year old and almost 4
Most babies say their first word around 12 months of age. As I said in my last post, I worried about Finn talking. When Colin was one, and Finn was two, neither of them had any words. When Colin was 14 months old, he said, “bye.” I remember my Pawpaw saying, “he’s going to talk before Finn does.” I remember having anxiety about that. What if Colin talked before Finn? What would that do to Finn’s self esteem?
As any good SLP, I badgered Colin constantly to hear that sweet, sweet first word. When people would leave our house, I could prompt him to wave and say “bye.” He did pretty well for about a week. Then he just lost interest and stopped saying it. I really don’t think it was a matter of “he’s autistic and lost some language.” He just kind of stopped, like he hadn’t quite mastered it to begin with.
As I’ve said, he does have some pop-out words, but nothing that he uses consistently. If it isn’t used consistently with meaning, it doesn’t count. (Sorry, kid, your mom is an SLP. I’m a tough critic!).
Fast forward to today. He is just over a month away from his fourth birthday. I pick him up from his part-day of daycare. One of his teachers says, “Are you leaving, Colin?” I say, “Yeah, you better tell Katie bye.” He usually just smiles and waves.
Today, he looks at Katie. Smiles. Waves….and says, “bye.”
*Insert all the excitement and all the heart eyes and all the thankfulness in the world*
He said it again to two more people before we left school. I called my husband, parents, and grandparents on the way home to share Colin’s most wonderful news today!
We have a pretty set bed time routine. Daddy brushes Colin’s teeth. Then Colin waves night-night to Daddy, because, well, let’s be honest: everyone wants Daddy to leave so Mommy can put them to bed.
Then this happened: