I remember back when Z was around one, him and Iz were two days apart, she was doing so much more than Z, from pointing to talking. Z didn’t point and certainly didn’t talk. At the time I said I was eagerly awaiting the toddler stage, the one that they chatted away with the odd random word, the stage they were funny and mischievous. At the time Iz kinda missed that stage as she went straight to talking, Z never hit that stage. We never had the pointing, the babbling away, the funny toddler stage.
Z is nearly six, we still haven’t hit that pointing, the I want stage. I doubt we ever will.
We hit the mischievous toddler stage when he was around three, the into everything stage, the climbing, the jumping, the wild stage. We’re still at it, but at nearly six he can reach and do things that your typical toddler can’t, and without seeing the danger behind it’s scary.
The last six month his speech has improved massively. We can’t have a conversation with him, but he’ll look at you and say random words, as if he’s trying to talk to you, he listens and understands you. He’s babbles away and you can hear him singing parts of songs, or phrases he’s heard they maybe even songs, I comb my hair being a new one. Sentences forming.
That toddler stage, the pre school age of dressing up and role play, when imaginative play starts to progress, to show itself, again that never came with Z. Couldn’t get hats or anything on him to keep him warm or cool. Until the beast from the East arrived in March 2018 and he kept a hat on. He accepted that he needed to wear a hat to play in the snow.
Fast forward to summer 2018 and it was a Mickey Mouse hat, he kept it on in the sun. We tried a few more but nothing he took a shine too until another Mickey Mouse, he’s not taken it off. I picked him up some Mickey sunglasses thinking maybe it’s Mickey, he’s worn them to school everyday since, apparently keeping them on in class to.
Now I’m waiting on the wellies everywhere stage, I won’t say no I’ll embrace it. If he wants to wear wellies with a hat and glasses he can!
Tonight he raided his room for hats, I think he found them when he was looking for gloves the other day, was like a little fashion parade.
Maybe he knows the summer is over, as his fave was a big teddy bear style one. He didn’t fall asleep with it he was cuddling it . He even managed to make sure the window was open!
We may not have fully hit that toddler stage yet, we may have not done it in your typical normal way but we are hitting it. Differently to the way it’s expected, but we are hitting it.
Looking back to that time and not even knowing if we’d hit it at all makes it seem unreal. You have babies you have expectations then you have autism and everything is gone. There are no expectations you just get on and see what the days, months, years throw at you. If you’re unlucky it’ll be something, if you’re lucky it’ll be progress.
It may turn into an obsession with wearing hats everywhere but from not wearing them to wearing them all the time I couldn’t care!
Here’s to the next part of the toddler / preschool stage, before we hit the child stage. I’m looking forward to what comes next. When other people say they can’t wait to rid their homes of toys everywhere, I say they are only little once, there will only ever be this time for toys let them be everywhere. Maybe when he’s fifteen and still has toys everywhere I’ll feel different!
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