My son starts talking and thank god for Sesame Street!

I have been a little concerned about the fact that the Munchkin has not shown too much interest in talking or vocalizing. No matter how much I try to make him speak or repeat words after me, he just doesn’t comply. He makes the connection between the name and the object but for some reason feels no need to say it. For example when I hold his bottle and say “dudu” he won’t say it himself but now understands that that’s is the word for his milk and often when I ask to fetch me the “dudu” he promptly searches for his bottle and hands it over to me.

He does the same for his stuffed tiger/monkey/ball/remote control( I consciously trained him for that ;hopefully that doesn’t classify as child labor) /cream/comb/book/shoes and what-have-you.  When you say the words, he also points out those particular objects in his colorful books. But never and by that I mean e-v-e-r, has he tried to copy the words. I was genuinely puzzled  and getting increasingly worried. Especially since I had heard some recent statistics related to autism(apparently caused by the whopping number of vaccinations given to babies in the U.S) and the fact that mostly boys are affected by it. All this had begun to scare me a little.

“Mama” is the only word which he says with full and proper intention. So today afternoon after lunch as I usually do , I started pointing to random objects and enunciated their names encouraging him to repeat those after me. He smiled and clapped along, but words? Nada.Till we came to his favorite Sesame street toy-Elmo.

“Emmo” he repeated. I looked at him dumbstruck wondering whether I had imagined it. So I said it again and he laughed and repeated after me. I made him say it almost 10-15 times laughing loudly alongside. I was super excited. I moved onto his stuffed tiger and “Tie” he called out. My heart was bursting with joy. And while I was just barely getting over this my cell phone rang and he picked it up, put it to his ear and said “He-o”. He made my day today!

You probably think I am over-reacting but compared to the past months of absolute silence this kid is literally chattering away nineteen to the dozen today. Major milestone! Now I understand why something seemingly silly and obvious can send a parent into raptures. This was actually a relief for me because I had started thinking of all sorts of horrible scenarios.

I’m not really surprised that he chose to say Elmo first. He is obsessed with this creature and I was going to do a post on his obsession today anyway. I mean come to think of it,its just a puppet (ugly and hideous if you ask me)but my son completely adores him. For the entire length of time , Elmo is on screen the kid is transfixed doesn’t budge an inch from his place. The Sesame street show runs for about  an hour every morning and that is probably the quietest time in the house with the Munchkin wide awake.The Munchkin’s Dad chooses that moment to quickly sneak out to work to avoid any tantrums.

When we are out shopping and enter the toys aisle, the Munchkin picks out everything that has an Elmo pic on it ,no matter how small. So by the time we get out of the kids section we have an assortment of crayons,juices,snacks,toys,puzzles all with Elmo on them. If he is having a meltdown the best way to distract him is to ask him “Where’s Elmo?”.;he grudgingly stops his tantrum and trots off in search of his beloved toy.

I got an Elmo hand puppet book for him too. But now that has become a royal pain as he brings the book to me at least 10 times a day and demands that I put up a little show. He also loves “Elmo’s song“and starts bobbing up and down  , the joy apparent on his face, every time he hears it. Needless to say, I know it by heart and exploit it fully

The best part is he eats anything that comes out of an ‘Elmo’ box. So this is the favorite brand of choice for both Mama and baby. The Munchkin loves it for obvious reasons and Mom loves it because it is organic and not made of refined foods.

As for me I ain’t complaining, I’m milking this stage for all it’s worth