In His Own Time...

One of Liam's many tricks is the ability to take off the stars of the Star Stacker and place them back on. It's amazing to watch and sometimes he sticks his tongue out, reminding me of his big brother. When he's finished he'll look up and smile. The first time Quinn saw this he said, "Yea, Liam! Look Mommy, Liam's a big boy now. Is Liam going to walk like me now? Good job, Liam!" Quinn is very anxious for Liam to start walking and is convinced that on Liam's birthday he will in fact walk. And talk. Just like Quinn does. I keep trying to convince him otherwise and Quinn continues to try to convince me. "I think so," he'll say.

More importantly, the past two days I've celebrated during dinner. I mean, I've danced around the kitchen table singing, "He's eating! He's eating! Look at that he's eating!" (sung to It's raining, It's pouring, the old man is snoring...) Anyway, I'm still a little worried because this child is very picky about what goes into his mouth and even more so what he'll keep in there, chew up, and actually swallow. So Tuesday I gave him some watermelon for at least the tenth time and all of I sudden I looked and it was gone.

Me - What happened to the watermelon?

Mike - I guess he ate it?

Me - WHAT? (checking his seat, the tray, the bib) It's gone!

He ate it! He ate it! I can't believe he ate it!

Good boy Liam!

And then today I gave him some carrots for like the 30th time or something like that and he Was Eating Them! He ate an entire jar of carrots. And so I thought I'd push my luck and gave him some pasta with beef and tomatoes. And. He. Ate. Them. That's right. He almost finished the entire pack. And I sang, "He's eating! He's eating! Look at that he's eating!" Because not only was he eating the pasta, but he was asking for more. And grabbing the fork out of my hand, and bringing it to his mouth, and EATING.

Now I suppose the lesson here is that all children/babies come into their own In Their Own Time. But you know, sometimes it's so hard to be patient. And it's hard not to jump to conclusions. (you know, I was thinking, oh dear, maybe he's got a texture aversion or maybe he has autism - and I still think he might have a texture aversion, because seriously, 30 tries of carrots before he'd actually eat them - and as for autism, most parents/doctors don't notice anything until 15 or 18 months and then sometimes there's a decline, so you can bet your ass that I'll be watching for signs during those month. It also didn't help that I talked to a few coworkers (including a speech therapist and occupational therapist that work with our classroom dedicated to children with autism) and was asked by the o.t., "Oh, and didn't he have a lot of allergy issues too?" With no follow up after that. And the speech therapist just asked, "Are you really concerned?" To which I could only answer, "Yes. Even more so than just a teacher who sees all the stuff that can happen."

But WAIT. What the heck am I doing!? I'm supposed to be celebrating the fact that Liam actually ate carrots! And pasta! And watermelon! That brings his fruit/veggie total up to three (he's been eating bananas for a long time)! Go Liam!

(Start humming - It's raining...it's pouring, the old man is snoring, went to bed, bumped his head and didn't wake up 'til the morning....)

He's eating! He's eating! I can't believe he's eating! Ate his carrots and the pasta! I'm so glad he's eating!

In His Own Time. Things will come. I just have to be a bit more patient.