The birthday boy

Though Jenny had been forced to stop her attempts that particular day by Jason's protection of her sanity, it didn't stop Jenny from trying all together. Continuing attempt after attempt, the next day and the day after that. All the way until the day before his birthday Jenny attempted time and time again to get Charlie to speak but no matter how much she tried and how frustrated she got, Charlie continued to refuse.

After an exhausting day of preparing for her son's birthday party all day and spending whatever time was left on a final hail Mary to get him to start speaking, Jenny had turned to bed early and could not be bothered to wake up until there was just two hours before the guests would be arriving. Jason had come up to the room to get dressed and as he did, he had placed Charlie on the bed with Jenny. As he knew how tired she was and how defeated she was feeling, from her battle with their one year old, he had let her be all morning. Doing whatever final preparations there needed to be done himself along with his parents, while Charlie had spent the time watching some educational cartoon. Now that the time for the party was so near, he had to get her to get up and get ready as well. And he had figured that the best person to wake her would be the birthday boy himself.

But no matter how much he patted her face, placed kisses on her cheeks, she remained lying in bed with her eyes closed and very much still asleep. Maybe subconsciously ignoring his attempts in order to get back at him for exhausting her so much to begin with with all his stubbornness. Jason was watching their wordless interaction full of amusement. Chuckling at both wife and son. But it seemed that Charlie still had one wild card up his sleeve, one last resort. And while Jenny had by now slowly started to wake up, Charlie was looking at her with a puzzled and conflicted face. In his mind he was fighting a battle with himself. Because after he had exhausted every 'regular' option, he started to feel forced to use something he had avoided for a long time. Wondering and going back and forth on whether he should use his grand finale move or to just give up as he had planned to surprise his mother with that particular move later today.

Just before Jenny, who had now become aware of who was sitting beside her and what he was trying to do, decided to open her eyes because she thought her son had run out of options and she didn't want to tease him anymore her son had made a decision before her using that very same reason. Telling himself that he had teased his mother enough and that he needed her in her regular cheerful mood in order for them both to be able to enjoy today's party, Charlie used his treasured wild card. In a soft, shy, voice he said in what could almost be described as a whisper, the word "Mommy".

Jenny not quite believing her ears, assuming she was still partially asleep and was just dreaming of that which she wished to hear, remained in her previous position and with her eyes closed. But then she heard it again. "Mommy, wake up." With widened eyes, Jenny shot up in her bed, grabbed the sweet looking young boy in her bed by his arms and asked him to repeat himself. "What did you just say? Did you just call me 'mommy' honey? Did you just speak?" Charlie nodded shyly and said, "Wake up mommy. Charlie wants to play." Jenny couldn't believe it. Until yesterday he wasn't speaking a single word and now her son was speaking in full sentences. How was this possible. Was this just a very vivid dream or was this simply a dream come true. Had she received a gift on the day she was celebrating receiving one of her most precious gifts in life?

As her eyes moved around in all directions in disbelief, she looked at the deep blue eyes that were looking at her before she pulled him in for a tight hug. While pulling his small body along, she turned towards the other side of the room, where Jason had been buttoning up his shirt but had stopped halfway in order to film this moment. "Can you believe it Jason? Our baby boy just spoke. He spoke full sentences. He called me mommy. Can this day get even better?! Did you get all of this. Did you manage to film it? I want to remember this moment forever."

Though it isn't uncommon for gifted children to skip some linguistic development stages, such as copying simple sounds of frequently heard words and speaking in single or two word 'sentences'. Though Charlie was showing clear signs that he understood most of their words perfectly, proving the extent of his vocabulary far exceeded his age. But she didn't expect him to start his talking so suddenly and use so many of the words in his vocabulary in one go.

Feeling that no matter what else the day brought, it couldn't get any better, Jenny jumped out of bed and got started with her already perfect day. All the while she held Charlie as close as she could and kept placing kisses on his cheeks, nose, soft hands and whatnot, as his words from that morning kept repeating in her mind. His shy tone. The cute voice. The sweet words. It was well worth the wait and the painstaking efforts she had put in. Now that he had answered her wishes, she would make sure to answer his. So, for today, no matter how heavy he got, she would make sure to be the one to hold him and let him cling to her however much he wanted to. A reward Charlie was happy to receive and Jason accepted with some suppressed jealousy and an undeniable amusement.