Language of His Own

For his first four years, Ashton seemed to have a language of his own. Instead of cooing like most babies, he made a guttural, growling sound which reminded Steve of the dinosaur sounds on Jurassic Park. When he began to talk most people could not understand him. We did most of the time, but that is only because we were with him most of the time. He spoke with an extremely nasally voice and had some very unusual responses that would even stump us.

One day we finally realized that he was using the Spanish word "Nada" for "Nothing." We attributed this to the fact that the nursery workers at church were Hispanic, but the nursery director told us that they only used English in the nursery. 

One way that we began to better understand his speech was by listening to him sing songs. Since he had a very good grasp of pitch and rhythm, it was not hard for us to know what songs he was singing and could match his words to what we knew the words were. He also had a very sing-song style of speaking. He voice would rise and fall in some very unusual pitches compared to what most people thought of as normal speech.

When Ashton was four, we took him to an ENT who discovered that his adenoids and tonsils were extremely swollen. He said it was like he had two golf balls in his throat. He also told us that these had to have been swollen for quite some time. His two previous pediatricians never noticed this.

Unusual Fears

While Ashton seemed oblivious to many dangerous things, he did show many signs of high stress and unusual fears. This became obvious after we realized that he would avoid something (or someone) that he feared. Some examples of his fears that seem abnormally excessive (compared to other children):

Sound of toilets flushing (still will not flush a toilet and will scream and cover his ears when in a public restroom if somebody flushes)

Water in his ears or face (we recently purchased an aboveground pool and he seems to be getting over some of this)

Fireworks (the loud pop)

Vacuum cleaners

Animals (though we now have a bunny and he seems to be comfortable with her)

Clumsiness

Ashton has had trouble from the beginning with his motor skills. Until Zachary began walking and climbing we simply thought that he took after a family member who is also clumsy. This clumsiness has been the cause of many bruises, bumps, scratches and cuts. Ashton has trouble looking the same direction that he is walking. His clumsiness helped to keep him out of some things as a toddler because he was afraid to climb. He learned climbing from his younger brother who we have found on top of the refrigerator and his closet shelf.