I Love You Too!! I Really, Really Do!!

A marker of verbal apraxia is that kids who have it can suddenly, seemingly randomly say things that they could never say before and with perfect clarity. It's maddening because they won't be able to repeat it and these are moments of clarity that are spontaneous and out of the blue. They are usually when the kid least expects it too, when they aren't stressed or being asked to say something or repeat, but just relaxed and at ease, when their brain isn't "trying" to talk.

This morning, I was taking a shower and, as per usual, Collin was chilling in the bathroom waiting for me to get out. He has many activities that keep him entertained while I take a shower. He likes to dump out all the Q-tips and take them one by one to Eddie's bed, thereby annoying the dog; he likes to play with my hair accessories and ask me to do his hair for later (hee hee); he likes to play with his barrel of monkeys; and most, recently, he likes to open the shower door and play peek-a-boo.

So, today the game got more interesting because he's getting taller and he can almost climb into the tub, something he's strangely eager to do. It was so cute to watch him try that I just blurted out "I love you!" to him while watching him do it. It was probably the twentieth time I said it already that morning because he does a million things a day that elicit that response from me. But this one was different apparently because he looked up at me and said, "I love you too."

It was plain as day, clear as a bell. Oh, how it melted me, just wrecked me. I'm glad he couldn't say it again because I was home alone and I would've been rendered incapable of function for the rest of the day, as I would've turned to a puddle of goo and goo can't care for a child. It almost made me feel guilty for taking the incriminating photos of him below.