Sticks and Stones

I will start this post by explaining I suspect Noah has a speech delay. He can say Mama, Dada, Dog, Cat, Duck, Hi, Bye Bye, Bubbles, Choo-Choo, No, Night Night, Mmmm for food. These usually are spoken sporadically with a few of them being "favorite words". He has said Birdy, Cracker, Cupcake and Turtle but those are words I have only heard once or twice. He growls for wild animals, tries to say "tweet tweet" for a bird, says mmmm for moo.....so we are getting there. He is however 17.5 months old and by no means a fluent talker. Jibberish is his main form of communication and unless a miracle occurs I doubt he will be saying 50 words by 18 months!

So today we were at The Little Gym class. Usually the same parents and kids are there each week but a few newbies pop in every now and again. This dad who I have never seen before randomly walks up to me and asks " how many words does he say?". He had a daughter about Noah's age ( turns out she is 16 months, I asked) and I assumed he was going to strike up a nice convo about their jibberish since Noah runs around jibbering like a wild man. Not so much. I responded that Noah says 6-10 words and mostly a lot of jibberish. If I had counted the exact number of words I have HEARD him say, it would be 16 but I was not trying to get too technical. His response: " Oh my daughter is practically speaking in sentences, it must be a girl thing". He then proceeds to walk away. ::::Punch in the gut::::

Now this man has no idea Noah was born with a brain injury. Or that I am neurotic and obsess about things like speech and development. Or that he is a complete moron. 

I spent the remainder of my afternoon obsessing about this comment. Running it through my head. I know this is just the start of the comparing games, the competitive nature of some parents, but really...I needs some witty responses ready to throw back! 

I did get a bit of pleasure out of Noah saying "bubble" when the teacher blew bubbles...but seriously, can't I just enjoy a morning with my little miracle?