Mondays By Mums - "Talking"

I love to hear William 'talk'. I say 'talk' because he only ever used phrases he's learnt, usually from TV, and is not yet capable of spontaneous speech.

In the early days when it was clear that he had some severe developmental delays, there were days when we thought we would never hear him speak.

He 'talks' because he enjoys the sound, but not to engage in conversation. He can ask for things he wants by the use of single words sometimes but these are often muddled.

Last night William was gibbering all night. He was reciting whole sentences from In the Night Garden. Which is usually great. But not at 2am. Till 3am. Till 4am. To be honest I don't really know what time he started or finished, but it was a looooong time and it wiped us out.

Its frustrating sometimes to hear this 'rehearsed speech' over and over again. We know he's capable of pronouncing the sounds, but seems unable to form those into social conversation with us. I'd love for him to say that he loves me too when I'm tucking him in at night. He said it once, a long time ago, repeating what I'd said to him, but not since. I know it doesn't really matter that much and that communication is much more than words, but on the really really bad days it would be lovely to hear him say 'I really do love you too mum'. And then I'd know that everything really would be alright.