Charles has been a bit of a struggle this morning. It started when I didn’t let him go downstairs until he’d done all of his “morning stuff” — fresh diaper, clean clothes, personal hygiene. One problem is it seems that when Charles gets upset, he loses control of his motor functions and verbal capabilities.
This morning, for instance, after I hauled Charles upstairs to do his morning stuff, he dropped a car just before I set him down. He then spent about 15 minutes laying on the ground, piteously calling for his blue van, which was laying about 5 feet from his outstretched hand in plain sight. I popped up and checked on him now and then. At some point while I was off on a task Charles decided to try coming downstairs again, at which point he easily stood up and picked up his dropped blue van.
I hauled Charles upstairs again and set him down. I asked him if he wanted to do his morning stuff to which he didn’t reply. I started back down the stairs at which point Charles let out a plaintive “wait!”. I turned and asked “Will Charles do his morning stuff?” and Charles choked out a grudging “yessss”. Five minutes later Charles was watching Teletubbies.
However, his troubles were not over because he desparately wanted something while he was watching, but he wouldn’t say what it was. After another fifteen minutes of mewling he decided to try Dad’s recommended technique and ask for what he wanted. He got up, came over to the table where I’m typing this and said “I want milk” and so I got him some milk. Finally, the end of the mewling (for now).
I do feel a bit sorry for Charles. I think that his grasp of language is much better than his ability to speak so that frequently he can’t get the words out in an understandable way, even with a trained Mom and Dad. This is very frustrating for him and probably contributes to his general inarticulateness. Hopefully by the time he’s four he’ll have physically developed enough to find his linguistic efforts worthwhile.