Saturday Night—

Saturday night—This past Saturday night we went to a holiday party for a local group that we are apart of early in the evening and then from there on over to some friends house to celebrate the holidays with them. The early party was for a group that is focused around adopted children so naturally there is tons of kids running around.  My sidekick goes to daycare so he is in this environment all day long but I very seldom get to see him in this environment much (playing and interacting with other kids) so this was really neat to watch from my perspective.

OK on to the really interesting portion of the evening.  We buzzed on over to some friends house after the first party to exchange gifts and have a drink with them since we both will be out of town for the holidays.  By the time we got there the other couple was already working on the drinks part of the evening and feeling it.  They have two kids one is three and the other is about 3 weeks older then my sidekick (18 months old).

The kids start playing and we settle in for a drink.  The conversation goes towards the kids and they bring up that they are concerned about their son potentially having learning problems.  I was a little shocked.  We asked why the thought this and they said two main things.  1. He is not talking at all yet and his sister was talking about 4 months earlier at this age. 2. They are comparing him to our son who has been talking for about 5 months and is doing more physical activities. 

Now we are in the comfort mode telling them “no no every kid advances at their own speed”.  But they are doing exactly what I have done and I suspect is natural for all parents to do, Compare.  They said they spoke to their doctor about it and he brushed it off and told them not to be concerned yet.  But really what parent wouldn’t be concerned.  I personally would seek out a second doctor for advise jus tto ease my mind as a parent.

 Of course I didn’t mention to them how The Sidekick and I are working on dunking a basketball, bunting a baseball and high stepping when you go into the end zone this week and Algebra next week.