Son Says...

In the past few months E's conversational skills have revved up quite a bit. He can now engage in an intellectual exchange on the phone with Mimi or Papa regarding what he's doing or what he ate for lunch that day. Granted, this is a conversation that is only riveting to a grandparent, but they must be fascinated with it, because they call my phone specifically to talk to him. I have officially been downgraded from "daughter" to "receptionist."

He's also much more excited about the world going on around him. He's learned to spell his name, and when he mastered that one I taught him that the red sign at the end of the street spells S-T-O-P, Stop! So I guess he's put two and two together (which he does a lot more than I realized) and now understands that when letters are strung together it "thpellths" things. Now he constantly asks stuff like, "Mama, what thpellths car? What thpellths truck? What thpellths BIG truck?" It makes me smile. And then, after about twenty words, it gets a little old. The spelling bees are usually interrupted by me turning up the radio and saying "Ooh...this is a good song, E! Let's sing!" (Just being honest!) But then he starts humming or singing in the backseat. And that makes me smile too. (Until I realize that my toddler is singing all the words to an extremely inappropriate Flo-Rida song...then I just feel like a terrible mother. Again with the honesty.)

The newest development in my sons language is a very pronounced stutter. I started noticing it out of the blue a couple of weeks ago. At first it was just a sentence here or there. Now it's pretty much the first word of every sentence out of his mouth. The Village has noticed it as well. Everyone who keeps my son at some point during the week has commented on it. "Did you notice he's stuttering?" they ask. You mean did I notice my son going, "Wha-Wha-Wha-What-What-What-What's that dog doing?" Yeah...I may have picked up on it once or twice. Maybe.

At first I kind of brushed it off as something that kids just do when they are developing. No big deal, right? But as everyone else commented on it, I began to think, "maybe this isn't a normal toddler thing. Maybe I should look into this a little more."

So I did the DUMBEST thing any mother could possibly do. I googled it.

And as it turns out, my child is either experiencing a perfectly normal part of language development that a kid here and there goes through.....OR he has an incurable neurological defect that will haunt him for life and cause him much pain and suffering on the playground. As luck would have it either way, only time will tell. And here I thought the next couple of months would be stress free days of holiday fun and good eats.

Damn you, Google! Damn you AND your easily accessed, overly informing website of terror!

Brace Yourself Limb, I'm Coming Out There...

The winds of change have blown in my direction again, and this time they are taking me out on my very own limb. My very own shaky, scary limb.

I'm starting my own business. Enough of this "working for everyone else, making everyone else all the money crap." If other people can go out on a limb and manage to dilly dally around out there without crashing to the ground, then by God, so can I.

This was the thought process at least when I filled out official forms at the courthouse this week and then proceeded to leave with my very own business license in hand. I'm currently in grad school to become a therapist...and I still intend to finish that journey and see where God takes me. But in the meantime....I had an idea. And what good is it to have an idea that you don't pursue? No good at all, I say. So I'm in red hot pursuit of this crazy, wacky, hair brained idea that begins with me getting a business license and ends with me being one of those women on Oprah talking about how she made millions by going out on her very own shaky, scary, limb.

Ok....so the last part's a stretch. But I'm in pursuit just the same.

I won't go into details just yet...there's still lots to be done. But if you'd like you can go visit my website. There's nothing there yet...just a little sign that proclaims that something is "coming soon"....but it's the beginning. And most of you have been around for all of the other beginnings I've blogged about...so why not this one? Check it out. http://www.shoptowntn.com.

I shared my crazy, wacky, hair brained idea with OS and asked if I had his support. His reply was simply, "Baby, with as many crazy ideas as you come up with, you're bound to hit on something sooner or later." : )

With support like that, how can I not go for it?

Stay Tuned...Something's Coming!