What's This?

Kiddo now asks "what's this?"  With those two words, a new door has been opened in Kiddo's life.  With those two words, Kiddo has now learned:

• what a scare crow is
• what those "Caution, Slippery When Wet" signs on the floor are actually all about
• how to use a toy he had never seen before at Grandma and Grandpa's house
• and what a tube of diaper rash cream is and what it's used for.

It's amazing how those two little words can make my heart burst with pride.  Because, well, he's always been behind his peers in speech and language.  I've gotten used to it.  It's all I've known for both of my boys.  But what makes my mama heart ache, is wondering what Kiddo wonders about but has no way to express.  I'm convinced Kiddo has a little engineer's brain in that smart head of his.  How many things does he not understand but wants to?  What things does he want to learn more about?  Is he even aware that he has these thoughts and questions, or has he gotten so used to just knowing the things he's told and that's it?  

I should clarify and add that Kiddo has asked questions other ways.  He'll say his usual words or phrases with that raised voice sound at the end to make them into a question.  For example, he'll ask "Go bye bye?" and I might say "Not right now," and he'll say, "Ok.  Later?"  So yes, he was asking questions before, but not using those question words like "who, what, when, where and why."

Well, things are different now. I now have two kiddos asking me the question "What's this?" and a journey of discovery awaits all of us.  I am beyond excited.

My cool, questioning dudes.

Progress Report

Kiddo:

This kid's speech is at the point now where he's singing.  Seriously.  The other night he sang to me The Wheels on the Bus.  I couldn't bear to stop him to get my camera to record it, maybe next time I'll be prepared.  He sings parts of Old MacDonald Had a Farm and Jesus Loves Me and Rain Rain Go Away.  And the most surprising of all, was that he sang this song for me on my birthday.  Way to make this mama feel special, Kiddo.

Conversations:

Kiddo: Mommy go shopping?
Me: Yes I did.
Kiddo: Buy more popcorn?
Me: Yes, I did.
Kiddo: Yay!  Good job Mommy!  High five.
And the kid precedes to give me a high five.  Way to make me feel appreciated, Kiddo.

Me: Who's your best friend at school?
Kiddo: (insert girl's name here)
Me: Do you play with her?
Kiddo: Yes.  Play.  Hold hands.  Learn.
Me: Oh.  Is she your girlfriend?
Kiddo: Yes.

Me: Do you want to be an astronaut when you grow up?
Kiddo: No.  Big big like Daddy.

Me: I love you Buddy.
Kiddo: I love you too, Mommy.

He also has started to say the prayers for us before meals.  We don't catch every word he says, but there's always the words "Thank you Jesus" in it, and every time we hear that little mouth so those precious words, Hubster and I are thinking the exact same thing. :)

Little Brother:

Little Brother has struggled with colors for a while.  He called most colors pink, or at least we thought it was pink, it's possible he was saying paint.  But, he's caught on now, and knows most of his colors now, whoo hoo!  My favorite ones he says are "yeow", "geen", "pupo", and "ooj".

He's also getting the hang of the sequence of counting.  Before we heard lots of "1,2,8,9,8,5" sort of thing.  He's got it down from one to ten with prompting.  Six and seven really seem to throw him off, but he's catching on.

He can identify his letters and is starting to identify them as words.  Every time we stop at a stop sign I hear "S-T-O-P, Stop!"  He's starting to write the letters of his name and will proudly show them off to me with a "Look!"  He also drew a happy face for the first time this morning.  It led to this conversation:

Me: Oh, is that a happy face?
Little Brother: Yes.  Mouth.  Eyes.  Nose.
Me: Good job Buddy!
Little Brother then draws something on each side of the happy face's head.
Me: Are those ears?
Little Brother: No.
Me: Hair?
Little Brother: No.  Cheeks!!
Haha, this kid has such big cheeks, he probably does think they needed to be added on.  The kid scribbled all over it though before I could get a picture of the happy face.  :(

He says lots of two word phrases now.  Eat pizza.  Go play.  More swing.  More drink.  White doggie.  Go away.  Go bye bye?  School bus.  Go school?  What's this?  Okie dokie (pronounced O dokie).  Go shopping?  Ten Monkeys (his favorite book).  Pete Cat (His favorite book series).

Both Kiddo and Little Brother ask questions by using that questioning inflection at the end of a word, but now Little Brother is using "w" question words!  His two questions are "What's this?" and "Why?"  And though I hear them often, they have yet to exasperate me.  I am so proud to have a child who can ask questions and I'm happy to provide the answers.  That may change one day, but for now, I'm treasuring it.

He can jump now!  And he jumps a lot.  Off of curbs.  Down the hallway.  Over cracks in the sidewalk.  For a long time on the trampoline  This kid love to jump.

I'm sure there's a lot more I could report, but that's it for now.  We're making progress, and it is beautiful to see. :)