Drew and Charlotte were worried. Amelia had turned two almost four months ago, and still hadn't said her first word. They knew that a baby taking an unusually long time to learn how to speak could be an indicator of a learning disability.
"Calm down, Charlotte," Drew tried to sound soothing. "She might just be a little slower to learn than other kids. It's too soon to think she might have a condition."
"But what if it is something serious?" Charlotte asked. "What if she's always going to be behind her peer group?"
"She won't," Drew said firmly. "I'm sure she'll start talking soon enough."
"I just don't want her to have to have a harder life," Charlotte explained. "Slower kids tend to get bullied more often."
"She'll be fine," Drew said once more.
Unbeknownst to them, Amelia was sitting right outside their room, and had heard their whole discussion.
The next day, she was dropped off at the Finster's house while Angelica went to school and her parents went to work. "Chuckie," Amelia began. "Am I slow?"
"No," Chuckie said. "You always run lots faster than me."
"Yeah," Kimi agreed. "Sometimes you can even beat Tommy in a race."
Amelia bit her lip. She was sure that that wasn't the sort of 'slow' her parents had been talking about. "No, I mean, a different kind of slow."
"What other kinds of slow are there?" Chuckie asked.
"I dunno," Amelia shrugged. "I heard my mommy say she was scared I'm slow 'cause I still can't talk to the grown ups."
"Oh..." Chuckie said. "Well, how about you go try to tell my daddy something."
Amelia toddled off to find Chaz, but when she opened her mouth to speak, all that came out was a string of babyish babbling. "Are you hungry?" Chaz asked. "It is almost lunchtime."
Amelia ate her food sadly, propping her head up with one hand. Why couldn't she talk to the grown ups yet? All her friends could, except for Dil. What if she really was always going to be one step behind the other kids her age, like mommy had said?
After lunch, Amelia played with Kimi and Chuckie. She and Kimi tried to see how far they could get their toys- Superthing and Sasha the butterfly- to soar. That did make her feel a little better, but she couldn't shake the worry that she'd never learn how to talk.
When her daddy came to get her, she still felt rather sad. She didn't even talk to Angelica on the drive home. She didn't try to play with her at all for the rest of the day.
"Okay," Angelica said, storming into Amelia's room that night. "What's up with you today? You're acting weirder than usual."
"Angelica," Amelia began. "Am I slow?"
"What?" Angelica asked. "No, of course not."
"Then why can't I talk to the grown ups yet?"
"Well... I..." Angelica paused. "I don't know why. I guess you're just taking longer for some reason."
"But mommy said she was worried that I was a slow learner," Amelia added. "And that I'm gonna get picked on for it."
"If it makes you feel any better, I don't think you're a slow learner," Angelica informed. "And so what if you are? If anybody picks on you for it, or tries to make you feel bad, then they're not worth your time." She hugged her sister. "Don't feel bad, okay? Even if it's taking you a while to learn how to talk, you still learned how to walk really fast, remember?"
Amelia gave a small nod.
"You know, you learned to walk even faster than I did," Angelica added.
"I did?"
"Yeah," Angelica confirmed. "Just 'cause you're having trouble learning how to talk doesn't mean you're not really good at lots of other stuff."
Amelia hugged Angelica back. "I love you, Angelica..." she said.
At that moment, Drew had been walking by the door, and let out a loud gasp. "Charlotte!" he exclaimed. "She's talking!"
Charlotte rushed out of her office, still holding her phone. "She is?"
"Yeah," Drew nodded. "Complete sentences, too!"
"That must be what was taking her so long!" Charlotte said proudly. "She wanted to make sure she got everything right before she showed us." She picked her younger daughter up. "Oh, sweetie, I'm so proud of you!"