Every Parent Does it...

Right?  Worry I mean?  It's normal to analyze your kids and hope they are where they need to be...and are who they need to be (or who you want them to be?) 

I feel like I worry more with Little Dude.  He was VERY slow to develop communication skills...talking, signing, eye contact.  All of those Autism signs.  We were concerned there for a while.  He's talking like a banschee now although we still have a tough time understanding him here and there.  He's made MAJOR progress though. 

Our deal now is that he is SILENT when he is with a lot of kids.  In preschool his teachers think he has no opinions and that he is as sweet as sugar.  At the Thanksgiving party he threw a FIT because I tried to serve him some Stone Soup.  Yikes!  He flipped.  His teacher said, "I didn't know Little Dude did that.  I've never seen any emotion like that out of him."

At first that warmed my heart...he's a good kid.  And then I worried.  He's not normal.

Soccer season was the same way.  He looked like he was watching grass grow.  He wandered around the soccer field in some daze while the rest of the kids chased the mob all over the field...you know how they run in hives at that age.  Little Dude was not even aware that the hive existed or that the ball was on the field for that matter.  Finally the last couple of games the ball ran into him and it appeared that he gave some sort of forward motion that could have possibly been a kick, in some strange altered universe.  Progress.

I wrote the coach a thank you email telling him that despite Little Dude's outward demeanor, he really did have a great season (since he'd been looking forward to it ever since the Wondertwins started playing 2 years ago). 
This is what the coach wrote back in response, "Little Dude was fantastic!  I wish every kid has his demeanor to be honest...sweet kid there."

Thanks God for those little encouragements throughout motherhood.  I wouldn't survive without them.