Over the last few days, Stacy and I noticed that Jules had some trouble getting his words out. He’s doing some rather classic stuttering — repeating the initial sound of a word at the start of a sentence.
Being first-time parents, we had what is doubtless the universal response, “Should we be worried?” It turns out: no. Stuttering is common in toddlers, as, it seems, their brain moves faster than their vocal apparatus can support.
Child development is fascinating to observe. Such stuttering is simply the most obvious expression of how Jules’ various systems advance at differing rates. Jules is tall for his age, but his muscle coordination hasn’t caught up, leading to a lot of stumbling, tumbling, and just outright falling. (Though, given his parents’ coordination, this might be a lifelong deficit.)
And then we have a Vice President with the reverse condition.
The minds of parents are also fascinating to observe. Dash went through the same stuttering phase for a few months last year. I noticed it, found it interesting, but didn’t really give it a second thought — figuring, kids develop some tricky complex stuff in the brain, right?
Then Jenny read an article written by some parent whose kid does have a real stutter. And then she worried. And then I worried. And then we sat around being worried for a bit despite the obvious reasonable explanation that it’s probably developmental, plus all the countervailing literature about how temporary stutters are common in kids. When you know that there are exceptions to every rule, these rational explanations are only allowed to occupy a small portion of your brain.
(Score another point for religion, which is largely faith that everything will be okay — rendered in a form that can live in the other, non-rational part of the brain.)
Religion is still a fake, Trav, despite your curious definition of it. When you consider the childhood experiences that you, and all parents have survived, how can you get concerened about a little stammer, sniffle or tumble. The recognition of evolutionary positivism, the fact not the philosophy, trumps all religious belief and coddling faith.
Jeez… Jules’ dad didn’t even talk when he was 2.