You have been rolling in and out of a stutter in your speech these past months. It’s been tough to watch you hang on a word while the burst of words behind stack up in your mind. Fortunately, I think the emotional effect hits me harder that it does you at your age. You’ve recognized it happening, reciting “um” multiple times over.
Your Mom tagged along on a work trip to Sundance last month. We needed the general parenting break and Grandma VIcki delivered the heroics of multi-night childcare. (Thanks, Mom!) We were obviously excited to see you and Matteo when we came home. You were so excited to see us that you really couldn’t get your words out that night, and honestly that alarmed me. You came around and had an easier time communicating as we got back into a routine over the coming days, which was a relief.
Your Mom and I did our best to slow down how we spoke to you and each other (a tough task for me, as you know) and waited for you to take your time to talk when you wanted. That was a good exercise for us all. By slowing down we all looked at each other more and really focused instead of moving fast and getting distracted by the next thing or screen in front of us.
The irony of it all is that some days you have no stutter and those seem to be the days when you have some complaining to do. Particularly around dinner time, which may very well be your tipping point to nighttime crankiness, you start complaining about whatever glorious meal or fast Trader Joe’s cuisine is put in front of you. I don’t know how you got so picky with food and moreover how you got so opinionated. You’re a food critic who doesn’t like to eat much. This is a phase that needs to move along, sister.
To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with stuttering. My concern is that it’s one of those traits that can draw out some undesirable attention in formative years that we’d like to minimize for you. We are getting an appointment together for a speech therapist to help you and ensuring your teacher at school is keeping an eye out for any changes. We’re doing what I think good parents are supposed to do: act quickly on any potential challenges to ensure your maximum comfort and self-confidence in your own skin before you have the chance to question it. I’ll be curious to see how this plays out: a short episode, a season of life, or part of the whole show.
No matter the outcome, I’m always here to listen to what you have to say, no matter how long it takes to say it. Except for complaining about dinner. Let’s cut that out entirely.
Love, Dad