"They all develop in their own time..."

As a mum how many times have you heard the line "They all develop in their own time" but it doesn't help when it's your child not doing said task. 

Oliver has always been quite well developed. He was crawling/walking/running earlier than a lot of children his age. Then we approached the speaking phase...

The art of speaking and developing their vocabulary, I have found, is the hardest. Oliver says a few words here and there but generally he's quite a reserved and internal little boy. He said 'mummy' and 'daddy' early on and has been saying some words but if I do the dreaded thing of comparing him to other children his age he is quite far behind. 

It's something that's been playing on my mind in recent weeks especially when people comment 'he doesn't speak much' and as Oliver showed few signs of extending his vocabulary. I've been doing everything I've read about, lots of role play, talking to him about our days, spending time one on one with him and explaining everything I'm doing but still nothing and it was really getting me down. And yep i know the more tense I get about it the more he will sense this, I'm not good at taking my own advise! 

Then the weekend came, Oliver spent three days with me and my husband and something just seems to have clicked. On Saturday we celebrated my mums birthday, we've had a lot of family birthdays recently and tried to get Oliver to say Happy Birthday to no avail so on Saturday when the birthday cake came out and we all started singing we carried on as normal, until that magical moment. We stop singing and Oliver is giggling and excited because he loves a good song & dance, he then walks away and we hear 'Happy Birthday' as clear as day! He's singing along in the hallway by himself. It brought tears to my eyes. It really was an amazing moment. Since then he's been saying plenty, he's been counting 1,2,3 today and asking for the Planes DVD to go on. 

It just goes to show that when he's feeling happy and settled he will develop more. 

I couldn't be more proud. Today he also played nicely with friends and interacted with them instead of playing side by side. 

Our little babies grow so quickly and this weekend I've seen my baby grow into a proper little boy and I couldn't be prouder! 

So yes they do develop in their own time and no, hearing that doesn't stop you from worrying.