Sport's Speech

On a Friday morning in January I took Sport to the public preschool center for a developmental screening.  We've been concerned about the clarity of his speech and we decided to get a professional opinion.  After chatting with Sport for a bit, the Speech Pathologist determined he has an articulation delay.  His language development, vocabulary, sentence structure, ect are on target, but his pronunciation needs work.  Turns out we didn't need a professional opinion.  Anyone who has heard Sport ask to play on the "pompooter" (computer), call for "Tolt's" (Colt's) attention, or describe his favorite animal the "zep-ah" (zebra) could tell you he either has a pronunciation problem, or a thick foreign accent.

Because of this delay, Sport qualified for free preschool a few hours a day twice a week.  Within minutes he was signed up to begin class the following Monday.  I was really torn.  I wanted Sport to get whatever help he needed, but I wanted to provide it.  Sport has major separation anxiety (maybe I do too) and I really didn't want both of us to fight this all the time.  Plus, Sis and I would miss him.  Especially Sis, who would in turn demand more time and attention from me.  I can be practical as well as emotional.  I called Brandan during his prep hour and he shared the same concerns.  We were going to have to think about it over the weekend.

And then, about 1:30 that afternoon, the time Sport would be in preschool the next week, I was unloading laundry when he came up and started asking questions about Davey.  It started simple (did Davey live in my belly like our new baby that was coming?), but the more I told him, the more he wanted to know.  Did he ever live in our house? How big was he? How come he died?  I finally sat down on the floor, took a deep breath, and started from the beginning.  I told him about the day Davey was born and what he looked like, his heartbeat, and fingers, and lips, the little outfit he wore, how we held him, blessed him, sang to him, and how he went home.  I held it together amazingly well (I was 8 months pregnant for Pete's sake), but even so, when I finished my story, Sport wrapped me up in a hug and buried his own teary eyes in my shoulder.  After a minute, he pulled back and very seriously told me he knows Davey is happy because he lives with Jesus now.  He said he knows Jesus makes Davey happy because Jesus makes him happy.  And then he also told me that he is sure Jesus is wearing His white shirt, not his red one, because its heaven.

It seems like all the boys about the age of four have developed their own personal connection with Davey, Heavenly Father's way of allowing him to continue in our family.  I would never claim that preschool would disrupt that for Sport, but it felt like a sign to me for me that he needs to stay home with me for as long as he can.  What a pity to have missed that moment with him, or any other that might come up.  I'm so grateful that Sport's speech has never gotten in the way of our conversations.

Other notable Sport moments:

Sport - Mom, are unicorns real?
Me -  No, honey.
Sport - (perplexed) Really? Because rainbow are.

Discussion about building our new house.
Sport - We don't have a ladder or a hammer.  How are we going to build our roof?
Me - We'll have to buy some I guess.
Sport - Or I can sit on Dad's shoulders and tape the stuff on.

During story time at the library.
Librarian to children - Who are your heroes?
Sport - (shouting) Jesus!

One day Sport dressed up in camo from head (literally, a camo hat) to toe.  He repeatedly asked me if I could see him and I kept distractedly telling him no.  When we piled in the car to meet Brandan I told Sport he needed to get his seat belt on.  Sport reassured me that wouldn't be necessary because the policemen wouldn't be able to see him other than the blue of his eyes and he would just shut them if he saw a cop coming.  Logic is airtight.  Then when we picked up Brandan, Sport posed the same question to him - Dad, can you see me?  Noticing his get-up, Brandan played along and pretended to search around for the source of Sport's voice.  Delighted, Sport tried it out with Sissy.  "Sissy, can you see me?"  Just like the child from the Emperor's New Clothes, Sissy stated with blunt honesty,  "Yes, you're right there". Sport was shocked.  Game over.