My favorite toddler in the whole wide world has decided for the last several days that screaming at me is the key to his happiness. He screams at me when he’s happy, sad, upset, angry, etc. It’s like he’s just discovered that he can speak in whatever volume he wants and the dial got stuck at MAX. Come to think of it, that’s probably exactly what happened. There isn’t enough caffeine or headache medicine in the house to help my headache right now.

In the middle of cursing my awful luck and hoping desperately this doesn’t last the entirety of the terrible twos, I realized how thankful I am. I’m thankful my son can talk. We were terrified for a long time something was severely wrong with him developmentally. His hypotonia prevented him from being able to pick up gestures well or move to his desired location, so we were left completely in the dark about what he wanted until he learned to talk and became strong enough to reach for items.

I hope and pray each and every one of you worried about whether your little one will talk hears their voice soon. I hope and pray the non-verbal children learn to communicate effectively in other ways. Finally, I hope and pray if your child never picks up communication, they still find a way to reach out and let you know they love you more than anything else in the whole wide world.