So many questions | hippieheart's Blog

Today is our son's 2 year well-check and immunizations.  I am feeling a bit anxious.  Ok, maybe a lot anxious.  I've got butterflies in my stomach.  Every well-check, prior to this one, has been something I've looked forward to.  I like to hear how the doctor feels he is doing, growing, developing.  I like to hear, officially, how tall he is and how much he weighs.  I like to hear how he measures up and in what percentile of height / weight he falls.  My husband and I both go because we both like to be involved in the process.  It's exciting and somehow rewarding.  We always bring lots of questions for the doctor and we always leave with a sense of...I don't know...accomplishment (?) that we are doing all of the right things and that he is on target. 

But this visit is different.  Maybe I am overreacting.  Maybe I am being overly sensitive.  Maybe I am just suffering from the normal parent insecurities.  Or maybe I am beginning to see and hear things that my heart has been telling me for awhile, which I refused to acknowledge until only recently. 

Our son is unlike any child we've ever known.  Could it be that he is just a brilliant genius with some amazing abilities ~ or could these "oddities" be manifestations of a developmental or neurological disorder or disability?  I don't know.  I'm not sure we'll walk away with any real concrete answers today, but maybe we will at least know what to do next, to begin to uncover the secrets?  I can"t help but feel like we are about to embark on a new journey. 

Our son was six-weeks premature and it was never determined why he came so early.  I never drank or smoked or did any kind of drug while I was pregnant.  I didn't have any particular stress.  I was happy and fulfilled and stress-free, drug-free, alcohol-free.  But still, he came early.  He was kept in Neonatal ICU for five days, for mostly observation ~ and he did have some jaundice, but there were no other issues.  He never had or needed a feeding tube, he didn't have any issues with his lungs or any other vital organ.  He ate well, he responded well, he was perfect.  No issues. 

He met all of his milestones and continued to blossom and grow at a sometimes alarming speed: he was always in the 90th or so percentile for weight and the 50 - 90th percentile for height, always.  He sleeps well, eats well, he is very loving and affectionate.  He has a CRAZY recall / memory and an insane attention span.  I've never seen anything like it.  He does so many "interesting" things that I don't even have the time to list them, in detail, here.  But, suffice it to say, he has some amazing abilities that sometimes freak us out.  What I define as an insane attention span could be just that...but, other times, I think that maybe he is beginning to show signs of some kind of obsessive disorder.  He can sit with his books, alone, and be entertained for hours.  He can recall what is in those books ~ and there are almost 250 of them in his collection.  I can quote a single line from one of these books an he will either respond with something else that is in the book or he will go and get the book.  The books are all random on the five different shelves / cubbies that we have for them...and, he will look at the binding of the books, choose the one I was referencing and then bring it to me.  Sometimes he will go so far as to turn to the exact page I was referring to.  Some of these books are BIG hardbacks, with 300+ pages in them.  Ok. 

There's more, of course.  But, right now, I need to get showered while he is napping, in preparation for the doctor visit.  I've got my notes.  And I am armed with a couple of videos on my camera, to help illustrate my points and observations of his activities. 

I am taking a deep breath.