I Can Count

I CAN COUNT

Justin at 3 years old
 

Justin was around three and a half years old and barely talked. The two of us sat on the blue living room carpet and played with blocks while we waited for his speech therapist to arrive.  I closed my eyes and enjoyed the cool fall breeze that blew through the open windows. Justin squealed with excitement as he knocked over the stack of wooden blocks we had counted.  “Look what you’ve done.”  I playfully said and beeped his nose. He beeped my nose back and began to gather the blocks again.

I looked out the door and noticed Kathy’s black Ford Taurus coming up the dirt driveway. She was right on time as usual. Justin adored Kathy and looked forward to her visits.  She was average weight and height with short reddish hair and always wore the most colorful nurse scrubs.  She loved her job and it showed when she interacted with the children.

Kathy walked up the faded, wooden steps and closed the storm door behind her. Justin’s face lit up when he saw her.  He toddled over to her and bounced up and down while he waited for her to pick him up.  She put her folder on the floor and bent over to scoop him up in her arms. She gave him a big hug and told him hi.  Justin placed his head on her shoulder and began to point at different colors on her shirt while we discussed his progress over the past several weeks.

We had worked on counting, colors and shapes for several months, but it seemed to go in one little ear and out the other.  Kathy reassured me that it would just take a little time as she looked at Justin and gave him a sweet smile.  He grinned back, but then decided to grab her loose fitting top and look down her shirt.  She tried not to draw attention to the situation as she moved Justin’s little hand.  We continued with our conversation as if nothing had happened, but Justin pulled his hand away and looked down her shirt again.  “No no.” I sternly said as I took him from her arms.  He gave me a look that let me know he didn’t understand what he had done wrong.  When I started to explain to him that we don’t do things like that, he held up two boney little fingers and said with a look of pride on his face, “Ball……two balls.” as he pointed to Kathy’s chest. 

 Kathy and I looked at each other in disbelief as her face turned red with embarrassment. Neither of us knew what to say or do.  I can’t believe he just did that I thought as I looked down at the floor and bit my lip to keep from laughing. “Well…..uh…..It’s time to play.” Kathy said to Justin as she sat on the couch.  I put Justin down and watched him clumsily walk to her so they could get started.  She sat him on her lap and they began to work on “ABCs” instead of   “shapes and numbers”.   As I left the room I thought to myself, maybe my little boy has mastered his colors, shapes and numbers after all.    

 

 Thanks for reading,

Angela :)