Penis!

We have spent a lot of time, Midget Number 1 and I, trying to address his speech and other learning difficulties.

In day to day life, I don't notice that he is any different to other children his age. I know he's special, and at this point I'm so used to him being him that I pity parents with 'average' kids as they must lead a very boring existence.

Some days we have great victories - getting him to say all the colours, reading books, counting to 30, speaking clearly in sentences. Other days, generally when he has to see a health professional, he will be sullen, withdrawn and refuse to say anything. Which is useful.

In the past, I have been told that he is 'retarded', 'severely autistic', 'brain damaged', 'deaf' amongst other things. The problem here is not that he might be any of these - I can honestly say that, when I look at him, I see only The Boy whom I love passionately regardless of any health issue he may or may not have.

The problem, as I see it, is this dependence on labelling him. I'm in total support of being able to access data and information so that we can make informed decisions about things, but whilst this is the case in regard to food, clothing and other consumables, that's not the case with a small child.

We don't choose the children we have. They aren't always going to be the ones we thought that we'd get. You might well be a laid back, easy going bird with a hyperactive, highly strung kid who stays up half the night and morning screaming and thrashing around. You might be a bit of an idiot who has a child of such intellect they rival Einstein.

We don't get to choose - this is the point. As such, our job as parent is pretty much to keep our children alive until they can look after themselves, and hopefully not screw them up too much in the process. Or at least not screw them up so much that therapy and serotonin drugs can't address their issues in later life.

For me, my only hope when I was pregnant was that my baby could be happy - and he is, a really jolly, lovely kid who lights up the world around him. If he has a 'problem' we'll work it out together, and if anything I am much harder on him than I would be if he were average. This is because I still retain both the pride of being a single Mum to him, and also because if anything, I expect him to behave better than others around him. In the main he does - he's loving, he shares nicely, he has a strong sense of justice and he is totally piss your pants funny.

In the meantime, we're just waiting for the 'professionals' to decide what's going on here and what other help we can get - it's a long wait that's filled with self denial, but hey - we'll get there. As I say, some days his speech is beautifully clear and others - well, it's not so much.

Which reminds me. Today my son has learnt a new word which he made a song up to. It's a bit repetitive but he seems to like it. I'm hoping he'll sing it the next time we have an appointment with some idiot that tries to label him like a tin of spam in a corner shop.

What's it called? I'm pleased you asked. It's a brand new song hitting your local hit parade soon - it's called 'Penis'.