Speech and School Update

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I'd have to say that one thing I'm super thankful for is hearing the precious things my kiddos say.  Every day there's a new phrase, a new funny conversation, a new complex thought that I just can't even keep track of all of them anymore.  I love it!! 

Kiddo:

Kiddo now speaks in complete sentences! Though he may leave out a few words here and there, they are indeed complete sentences.  And the cool thing is that others are beginning to understand him and I don't need to translate for him as much, whoo hoo!!  There are some things he says that I don't understand, but he is getting so much better at finding other ways to communicate it to me--he can oftentimes tell me what letter the word he's trying to say starts with, or take me to whatever he's trying to say.




His new favorite phrase is "What the heck?!"  He picked that up from me, haha.  He also is great at asking questions now.  I used to be jealous of those moms who complained about how many questions their kids asked, because I wanted to know what Kiddo wondered and thought about, and I worried about how much he was missing by not being able to ask questions.  But they are coming.  He asks what things are, what sound was that, how many days until___, the list honestly goes on and on and I am thrilled to answer each and every question and get to know what is going on in that smart mind of his.

His speech didn't get a whole lot clearer after having his adenoids removed, but he does sound less stuffy and has gotten sick a lot less often, which is great. And his breath smells a whole lot better, an awesome bonus!

He's doing great at school!  His peers are in awe of his reading skills, which makes him grin with pride.  He still struggles with interacting with peers, but his teacher says she can understand about 90% of what he says and that he communicates his thoughts and concerns to her.  She said that one day in September during circle time she mentioned that the next month was October, and he raised his hand and told her that my birthday was in October, which made her impressed with that information.  He then asked when her birthday was, something that made her so proud she emailed the story during the kids' rest time during school.  That definitely made my heart happy to hear!!  His teacher is absolutely perfect for him, and loves him so much.  She emailed frequently while Kiddo was recovering from having his adenoids removed to check in on him and let us know how much she missed having him in class.  The school also fitted his classroom with an FM system due to his hearing loss.  His teacher wears a tiny microphone around her neck and there are speakers throughout the classroom.  It helps him to hear her better and helps him focus a whole lot better, which is awesome, but I also love that it helps all the kiddos in the classroom to hear and focus better too, and she enjoys not having to talk so loud because of the system. It's a win-win that I'm excited the school could provide for him. :)

He has three friends at school that he interacts well with and that genuinely seem to understand what he is saying, which is a huge blessing and makes this mama heart happy.

His handwriting and drawing has also greatly improved!  He used to just scribble for coloring and drawing, but is now learning how to draw people.  He used to write with his letters all over the place and his letters were oftentimes illegible, but now he is writing his letters in a neat line and they are legible!  We are so proud of all his improvement and how well he is doing in school!!

His self-portrait.
His teacher said she helped him with his curly hair, but he did the rest. :)

Little Brother:

Little Brother's speech is really coming along too!  His language is blossoming and he speaks in complete sentences or sentence fragments, rather than the two-three word phrases.  His speech still isn't perfectly clear, but it's getting better.  He's developed a bit of a stutter, which we're hoping is just a phase as he's trying to search for the word he wants to say.

As for his preschool, he used to cry about going to it.  It's why I have no pictures worth posting of his first day of preschool, he was a crying mess.  The first few weeks he would cry and tell me the entire way to school "I don't like school!"  He would cry about going into his classroom. But I would come pick him up after school and he'd be smiling and run to me all excited and show me the craft he had made and chatter about the letter of the week and what he got to play with the entire way home.  It was a rough time of figuring out what was best for him.

He started the year in the three-year-old classroom, even though he had just turned four, because developmentally and speech wise he seemed to be a better fit for the three-year-old curriculum and peers.  But after discussing my concerns about him not wanting to come to school with the preschool director, we decided to see how he did in the four-year-old classroom, and he loved it, whoo hoo!  He hasn't complained about going to school since, and this morning he ran through the hall to his classroom, yelling at the top of his lungs "FRIENDS!!!"

His impulsive behavior is thankfully calming down a lot and we are finding him much more manageable and fun and snuggly to be around. :)

A few fun conversations with the kiddos:

Kiddo: Why you not eat peanut butter rolls, Mommy?
Me: I like peanut butter rolls, but the flour in them, the white stuff, makes Mommy's tummy sick.  It makes Mommy's tummy big. (side note, I'm gluten intolerant)
Kiddo: Yes, like baby in it.  I like peanut butter rolls!  They delicious!

(Thanks kid for the support.)

Me: What'd you learn at school today?
Little Brother: G for grapes.
Me: Oh, cool.  I like grapes.
Little Brother: I don't like grapes.
Me: You don't?  I thought you did.  You ate some last night.
Little Brother: I all done with grapes. I don't like it.
Me: Well then, what do you like?
Little Brother: Pancakes! Waffles!  And....and...and...CANDY!  Candy, this I want!!  No grapes!
Me: Well, what fruit do you like?
Little Brother: No Mommy, listen.  Just pancakes, waffles, candy.

Little Brother saw an armadillo walking across a field. "It kinda like a turtle cat!"

Little Brother: Daddy, you wear glasses.
Hubster: Yes, I do. Do you wear glasses?
Little Brother: No, I just wear...my face.

The fish life cycle, according to Kiddo: "A mommy and daddy fish get married, then they poop out an egg! The baby fish [is] born and gets bigger and swims around for a while and then IT DIES!"

Little Brother, counting: ...twenty-eight, twenty-nine, twenty-ten!!

Me: No, it's 30. Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty!

Little Brother: No, that make no sense. It's twenty-ten!

Me: Your feet are dirty! Little Brother: No, it's hairy.
Me: You don't have hairy feet. It's dirt.
Little Brother: No, it's hairy feet!
Me: You have hairy feet like hobbits?
Little Brother: (stares at me, and rightly so, he has no idea what hobbits are) No, hairy feet like Daddy.

Me: Are you excited about seeing the Trolls movie?

Kiddo: Yes! I been waiting since I six years old!

Me: Here, put on your socks.
Little Brother: These not my socks.
Me: Yes they are.
Little Brother: No, they (insert Kiddo's name). See, H-A-N-E-S. That spell (insert Kiddo's name)!

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