Speech delay (receptive and expressive) in 2 year old

Hello, I currently have a two year old boy who started getting ear infections at around 6 months old, but was always sick with some sort of respiratory illness or cold throughout his two years of life. After around 10 ear infections, they finally sent us to ENT (don’t ask why it took so long, we had switched pediatric offices and our new one has taken our concerns more seriously) at his 18 month appointment I let them know he was not talking yet at all and they told me to wait it out, finally at 22 months I took him back and said I knew something was wrong he barely responded to his name and just seemed to not hear noises around him) and they gave us a referral for ENT which we saw about a month later who said he needed tubes a long time ago because 10 ear infections is way too many, his hearing test on the day we went, he passed and his ears were clear, but the frequency of infections made them feel as if there was probably a situation in which he was filling with fluid often and draining he showed signs of swelling in the ears and sinuses. A week later we went back for tubes and without being sick recently he was filled with fluid again the day of surgery, he has always babbled a lot and hit all of his other milestones on time besides pointing and waving(sounds like a criteria for autism I know), he has always been extremely social loves playing chase and hugging other children, he seeks out engagement with other kids, he always made okay eye contact (but he’d have to see us first, almost like he couldn’t hear us if he couldn’t see us) he likes when we copy his gestures like his own version of Simon says, plays peek a boo, etc. since the tube surgery he has picked up labeling some words, counting to 5, if I ask him to brush his teeth he will run to the bathroom, if I ask if he wants a snack he will run to the kitchen, but he doesn’t seem to have any other receptive language, he has started engaging with us more bringing us toys, doing a task then looking at us and waits for us to praise him verbally and clap) he has started asking to be picked up by reaching saying “up” and asking for help by saying help verbally and then handing us what he needs help with, he says dada baba, bubble, pop, no in context, he signs and says all done, and signs “more”. This has all been in the past 4 weeks since surgery, he responds to his name more often but not always id say 70percent of the time he looks at us. But it is still a bit hard to get his attention at times My question is does this sound more like he has to regain verbal and non verbal communication now that he can hear or a deeper issue like him being on the spectrum? As far as we have noticed he doesn’t have any repetitive behaviors or stimming, he is not rigid in routines, and doesn’t seem to have any sensitivities to lights, sounds, textures etc. he will occasionally line up his toys that are similar mostly his toy animals but not in a specific order and if they get messed up he doesn’t get upset, he also does pretend play. He eats and sleeps really well. We are waiting for early invention evaluation. He turns two years old tomorrow. His pediatrician seems to think this is due to his situation with his ear infections/fluid or maybe a language disorder. Has anyone had any similar experiences?

Please send any advice or experiences you may have. I have been so worried I’ve been making myself sick.