I've thought about writing this post for several days, and I just keep putting it off. Plenty of my sweet friends have inquired about Wade, but it's more than a one sentence answer. I think it's best just to address the masses ;)
I'm writing this post from raw motherly emotions, cause since we've been dealing with this I've had my feathers ruffled a bit. Just like anything else in life, everyone has a story or opinion (you think I would've accepted that by nearly 32 years of age). My skin has been thick and I've had to remind myself that I'm the mother that God chose for Wade---and that I'm going to do what is best to raise this perfect angel that I was given.
Even though I realize I don't need to address anything, I want to address this: we are NOT concerned that Wade does not talk. We lose no sleep at night over the fact that Wade still says no words. Most everyone that we encounter feels the need to reassure me that their child/neighbor/great-nephew/pastor's second son/niece's boyfriend's dog walker (you get the point) did not even "talk" until he/she was nearly three-years-old, and that he/she is perfectly "normal" now.
Wade is perfect and normal to us! He obviously has some developmental delays that we are working on identifying. We have a very sweet therapist that comes to our house every other week to do play therapy with Wade. Our pediatrician sent us to the ENT for an audiological evaluation--Wade passed his sound booth test and OAE. His tympanogram also looked good. Our pediatrician and therapist have now referred us to The Scholl Center for speech therapy and further testing. So, that's where we are right now: waiting on The Scholl Center to call us next week.
I had a few GREAT conversations this week with the directors at Wade's preschool and our sweet therapist. I won't lie, it's tough and emotional to watch your child fall behind his peers. The ladies at preschool also voiced their concerns for Wade and his development (which is never easy to listen to!), but they spent a great deal of time building me up as his mother! We need more encouraging women like them in this world! I left there ready to fight for Wade! Our therapist spent most of our session this morning listening to me pour my heart out, and she also provided me reassurance. She spent some time helping me understand the "what now" and possible scenarios we might be facing. We had conversation that included things like: hearing loss, autism spectrum evaluation, other cognitive delays, AND just a plain 'ol stubborn child that still hasn't come into his own.
Prior to his audiological evaluation Wednesday morning, I pulled out my Bible and flipped it open to the very middle: "You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous-how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered!" Psalm 139:13-17
Wade could wake up tomorrow with a different color of skin and that wouldn't change a darn thing about the way Alan and I are approaching this. Wade is exactly the perfect little tiny human that God created----we just want to nurture that. We don't need a fancy diagnosis. We are proud to be working with these therapists who are helping us understand the way Wade is designed, so that we can cater to him. To me, there is NO "worst case scenario" in this situation. We're not trying to change Wade, we are trying to learn him and improve our parenting. We were given a gift, and we're trying to put our all into it as his parents.
But, after all of this, don't think I haven't spent some time this week praying for Wade's future wife. Sweet baby girl might need it, because one thing is for sure: Wade doesn't listen :)
