Shane and I went to the gym again today. He went to play with all of the kids whose mothers were in dance class; I went to work on the homework for my online class.
It was a win/win/win situation. Shane got to play with other children. Carrie got to sing. I got to do my homework (the least win of them all, but at least it's done).
Then something strange happened.
At 7:45 PM, I walked into the playroom. Shane was the only straggler once dance let out. He was running around pushing a big car he could ride in happy as can be. One of the girls there looked up at me and said, "Your son has such a big vocabulary for his age!"
Oh, how things have changed.
A month ago, Shane was saying a handful of words and qualified for speech help from the county. Two tubes in his ears later, he's imitating and guessing at new words to the point a child care worker is complimenting him.
I was a proud father. The girls went on to talk about how great Shane was and how there's a 2.5 year old that doesn't say nearly as much as he does. I admit: I ate it up. There was a little bit of worry about putting Shane through the surgery, but I can't imagine a better result than the one we've gotten. Shane's been ear infection clean and he's talking. Sometimes, he talks so much I wish he wouldn't be so insistent with what he wants! ("Go? Go? Go? Go? GO!!!! SEEEE!!!!!...Go?")
I was a little happy-sad when I tried to pick Shane up to leave and it got me thinking. The boy ran off to another new toy and grabbed the girl's hand who was complimenting him. For the next 10 minutes, he dragged her around the room and generally didn't come whenever I tried to call him over. It made me a little sad he didn't sprint over and yell "DADA!" I know a losing battle when I see on, so I only tried a couple of more times to call Shane. I was not fully opposed to him getting some more energy out before bedtime anyway, so I figured I'd let him enjoy himself a little longer before breaking it up for bed time.
A parent's job is to love your kid and do what's best for them. That means you can't always be the playmate if you really love your child. I've always known that, but it is not something any parent I know looks forward to. I thought that would kick in more as Shane got older. The truth is it starts happening whenever you have to put limits on something or you choose to put the baby on the other side of the baby gate so you can pick up whatever he knocked off a counter. Shane's been mad at me before, and he'll be mad at me again....but as long as he knows I love him that's fine with me.
I'm writing this here for you to read one day Shane. You weren't too happy about me dragging you to that surgery, but I'd do it again and again for this result. Keep in mind that the next time I'm the bad guy I may be playing the good guy in the long run.
Anyway, It's nice to know your old man and pretty mother got the ear surgery decision right. You're talking!
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