A little more uplifting!! :)

As usual, when I make such a dramatic post, I start wishing I would have contained myself a little more! As this day has rolled by, I have improved my attitude a bit. I'm still pissed that the neuro is too busy to return my phone call, but Austin has been happy most of the day and that has made a world of difference.

So...I thought I'd share the story of my quest to hear Austin's "da-da-da's" with you! :)

For any of you parents out there...Have you ever taken any milestones for granted? I mean, you know they're a big deal, but you don't capture them the way you'd like? I certainly did.

Before Austin's IS started, I was obsessed the that dang Denver Development Chart that was in my trusty Baby 411 book...my survival guide to first-time parenting. Every new month that rolled around I was pulling it back out and checking the milestones off as he reached them. Rolled over by four months...check. Sits independently and transfers objects from hand to hand by six months...check, check.

Then came the consonant babbling at the six month mark. He wasn't doing that yet. Even his pediatrician voiced a little concern, but said he'd still be well within the "normal" range as long as he was doing it by nine months. To my relief, within one week of his six month well-check he was babbling up a storm! All we heard was "da-da-da" and "daa-dyyy"! It was music to our ears and we couldn't hear it without chuckling a little. After that, I decided to chill out a little on that chart and trust that everything comes with time...after persuasion from my mom, of course!

So why didn't think to purposely get that on video? Don't know. It never occurred to me that he would only do it for three weeks. I thought I had all the time in the world.

He stopped the babbling about one week into his ACTH treatment. It didn't really dawn on me at first. I remember riding in the car with Haley and we were talking about this new sound he was making, "ummm". I had commented on how I thought he may have been learning his "m" sounds. After I thought about it a minute, I realized he hadn't been doing his "da-da's" lately.

I haven't heard it since.

So, the other day I became bound and determined to search through all of the relevantly dated dvds to find that "da-da" captured on something. I knew I hadn't sat down with the camcorder to specifically record that, but I thought maybe I had gotten it and not realized it. Finally, after hours of videos, I found it! It was such a short clip...but I heard it again. And I cried. I didn't cry because I didn't think I would ever hear him do it again. I cried because I missed it and didn't realize just how much.

It's amazing some of the things that I took for granted, thinking that he would always be doing them. Most everything is still is doing. And he's doing even more now! Now, I make sure to catch it all. Got him sitting up, crawling (even though he doesn't do it much), standing...Next up...WALKING! Can't wait! It's coming soon!