- My little man was now two years old and walking and talking up a storm. He always gravitated towards books and puzzles and was really into flashcards. He just loved to memorize things and repeat the words.
- He loved Little Einsteins and would memorize the names of the composers they featured. He would ask me to play "composers," where I would say their first name and he would say their last. I had to keep a list with their names, as my memory was not as good as Evan's.
- Soon maps became the obsession of the moment. We had a colorful map of the United States framed for his room, but had not yet hung it on the wall. I pointed out a couple of states to Evan and the next day he went up to the map and pointed to the states and recited their names. I was slightly stunned. Every day he would point to more states and ask, "what's that?" I would tell him their names and he would remember. At just over two years old he knew all the states and could even name them by looking at the back of their puzzles pieces. He couldn't get enough of his maps and I hoped people didn't think I was at home drilling him with flashcards to get on Letterman or something. He got down the Great Lakes and some oceans and moved on to a place mat with a map of the world. By 2 1/2 he had about 70 countries down. He was teaching me quite a bit, as geography had not been my favorite school subject. Seeing him point and name countries like Tanzania, Latvia and Chile was hilarious! But we did realize this was pretty out of the norm among children his age.
- Evan wasn't as adept at jumping, running and kicking as his peers. We wondered if being a little bit behind was that big of a deal.
- When it came to coloring my guy was just not interested. The summer before Evan was going to turn three and start preschool, he still couldn't feed himself. We realized we would have to teach him and spent many weeks working on it. Now we know both issues were because he has difficulty with his fine motor skills.
- At an appointment with Evan's pediatrician, I asked why my son was still drooling so much. He said it was teething. His last teeth had been in for over a year. "Weird," we thought. Now we know it was due to low muscle tone in his mouth.
- Evan was kind of in his own world when it came to playing. Not too uncommon for a two year old. Sometimes he would be laughing and doing his own thing and I would smile and say, "he's in his own world and it's a really happy place." Every time I said it, it made me sort of uncomfortable - like there was something heavier about the statement that was beginning to weigh on me.
- Evan would make fleeting eye contact. We thought that was just a personality trait.
- Our future engineer loved to line up toys and and get everything right where he wanted it. It reminded me of a trait that an autistic child might have. I would stop him in the middle to see what he would do and though he would complain, he wouldn't freak out. That reassured me that Evan didn't have autism. I was ignorant. I didn't know that there was a spectrum where children could have the same traits at lesser degrees.
- Evan would memorize the entire dialogue from his favorite shows and recite them over and over again. He loved his reflection and would go to mirrors or the stove to see himself talking and even acting out the parts. Now we know this behavior has a name: scripting.
- He had a very hard time answering questions. By 'hard time' I mean he could only answer questions that were simple and factual (what color is this?, how many ducks do you see?). He could not answer anything else at all. You could repeat "what did you have for breakfast?" over and over again and never get a single response.
- Our friends came to visit and their son was Evan's age. We were shocked at the difference in the way they spoke. Evan was all memorized show talk and his friend made observations, answered questions and said things spontaneously all day long. What an eye-opener!
- At 2 1/2 I called Evan's pediatrician and asked him about the constant show talk. He said to cut down on the TV. After witnessing Evan and his friend and their blatant differences, I called his pediatrician again. He said he would check Evan out at his three-year appointment. What was a few more months?
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