New Words/Phrases/Conversations

Oh my goodness, there's so many new words and phrases I don't even think I can list them all.  But here's a few of my favorite new words, phrases and conversations with the kiddos:

Kiddo:

Hubster: (tucking Kiddo into bed).  Can I pray for you?
Kiddo: Of course!

Me: (sweeping kitchen floor).
Kiddo: Oh, good job, Mommy.

Me: Here, don't forget your backpack.
Kiddo: Lunchbox?  Peanut butter jelly?
Me: Yes, you have peanut butter and jelly in your lunchbox.  And strawberries too.
Kiddo.  (rubs his tummy).  Yummy!  Thanks Mommy.

Little Brother: (gives Kiddo a slobbery kiss on the arm)
Kiddo: Eww, yuck!  Big wet kiss!  Yuck!

Kiddo: (sees an ad for new Lego sets).  New Legos?
Me: I don't think you need new Legos now.  Maybe for Christmas.
Kiddo: Christmas?  Yes!
Me: Christmas isn't for a while though.  About 100 days.
Kiddo.  Oh. Lots days.
Me: Yes, you'll have to wait awhile.
Kiddo.  OK.
Hubster:  What do you want for Christmas?
Kiddo: TWO Legos!! (he was referring to two Lego sets)
Hubster:  Just two little Legos?
Kiddo:  NO! Lots, lots Legos!  Lots toys!  Christmas!!

Kiddo: Go outer space today?
Me: No Buddy, we can't go to outer space.
Kiddo:  Oh.  Later?


Little Brother:

He's finally starting to put two or three words together into phrases.  Most commonly heard are:

More drink.
More pizza please.
Oh sorry.
Oh, thank you!
Big kiss (before or after he plants a big slobbery one on you)
Big hug (as he's squeezing your neck)
Baby cry (every single time he hears anybody cry)

While ordering at Chick-fil-A
Cashier: Can I help you?
Little Brother: "Cow hat!" (see picture.  He LOVES the "cow hat")
Cashier: "Ok, here you go, a cow hat."
Little Brother: "Oh, thank you!"




His newest words and their pronunciations:
Pizza (said correctly. No longer Zizza, which I'm a little sad about.  I like zizza.)
Eephen.  (Elephant).
Nana (banana)
Yoyuck.  (yogurt.  He loves it).
Gas (Madagascar, the movie).
Mumu Me (Despicable Me.  Why do kids' movies have such hard names for kids to say?)
Bobot (robot)
Paint! (for anytime he wants to color anything.  Even if it's with crayons or colored pencils and not paint).
Coon up (Clean up)
Uhcorn (popcorn)
Bawoon. (Balloon)
Tees (tickles)
Coocake!  (Cupcake)
Gwapes  (Grapes)
Soo bus (school bus)
Hippo (Nipple.  He'll lift up his shirt and point to one of his nipples and declare them a hippo.)
Belly Butt! (Belly button.  Again, for when he lifts up his shirt to point out his belly butt and hippos.)
Numnut! (doughnut)
Chut (church)

Unfortunately, some of his pronunciations are not appropriate to write out, but I'll put them here so when he's older I can remember these stories.  As for now, it is so embarrassing to have him shout out these words when he sees these items.
Frog sounds like the F word.
Fish used to sound like the S word.  It has now changed to sound like the B word.


There's so much more I could put for each of them, but life is busy and their language flourishing at such a rate I cannot remember it all.  And the latter part makes me super happy. :)

Last Day of Mini CHAMP

So, the last day has come and gone.  It started with a receptive language test, and I wrote down every area where he struggled, for us to focus on later.  These include things like:

• Prepositions: in back of, behind, in front of
• Sequential order: first, then, last, etc
• Understanding not/doesn't
• Pronouns: his/hers, and he/she/they
• Most/least
• Identifying words by their beginning letter sound
• Rhyming
• Same/different
• Together/apart

Whew.  I'll get a formal report of the language test in a few days, but it's just so interesting to me how he does so well with academic stuff (he aced the colors, numbers, shapes, letters, sight words, and even adjectives like biggest, smallest, longest, etc) but struggles so much with basic language.

He then worked on his goals of saying words that start with D and F.  He's doing so well!  I was given a report that states that in the first session he had 10% accuracy of his words beginning with D, and 0% accuracy of the words beginning with F.  By the end of the second day, with cueing, he was getting 73% accuracy of D words and 90% accuracy of F words.  Whoo hoo, go Kiddo!  I'll get a report in a few days of today's progress, so I'm looking forward to seeing the results of his overall progress.

He had lots of fun with the clinicians today, but his favorite game was collecting Angry Birds after saying his words to put on a parachute.  After he had collected them all, he got to make them fly, which he was so excited about, he started doing his marching dance while they were playing with the parachute.  :)

By the end, even though he was tired, he was counting with four and five both starting with an F sound, and Jodi and I, who were sitting in the observation room, were clapping and cheering together, haha.  Awesome, proud moment for both of us.

The exhausted Kiddo with Jodi (in blue) and his clinicians Michele, Erica and Courtney

Honestly, I had this moment during one of the sessions where I felt so overwhelmed and lost and I put my head down on the little table and wanted to cry.  To think that we're spending three days, three sessions a day, working on two sounds that he's been working on in therapy already for a while, and will need more practice on for a while, well sometimes it just doesn't seem fair.  He still has so far to go.  And I was thinking that he's getting as much therapy in these three days as he does privately in three months.  How long is this going to take for him to talk like his peers?  But whenever I feel that way, I try to think of the positive and how far he has come.   He's made 90% progress on his F sound in two days, imagine what it will be after three?  These ladies know what they're doing and I see the results.

In fact, in the elevator as we were going up to our hotel room a man asked him how old he was.  Kiddo said proudly "Five!" (with the F sound, whoo hoo!) And the man laughed. "Five?" he said. "Before you know it, you'll be twenty!" And Kiddo giggled at that.

And as if that didn't make me proud enough, when we made it back to our hotel, he proudly declared "I'm back!" a phrase they had been working on with him in day two.

I am so proud of all the hard work he and Jodi and the clinicians did.  I love CHAMP, but even moreso, do I love my little Champ who always amazes me with how hard he works to learn what comes so easily to others.  He inspires me.

Mini CHAMP Day 2

Day 2 is done!  The clinicians continued working on words beginning with D and F, making sure to incorporate them into short phrases as well.  Here's a few of those phrases:

Feet down
Four years
Five years
Fun time
Fall down
Fish fin
Food please
Dog eat
Eat dinner

Other phrases worked on, especially while they were playing their games include:

I like ___
High five
Thumbs up
____ please
Under _____
On _____
I found ____
Where is _____?

They also worked on using phrases starting with "I'm" today.

I'm (Kiddo's name)
I'm five
I'm hungry
I'm thirsty
I'm good

Here he is working with his three graduate clinicians.  They are all awesome and keep Kiddo engaged and working hard, but disguising it as fun.  He's doing great working with them.

Tomorrow's the last day.  His first session will be a receptive (comprehension) language test, because we know he has a receptive delay, it's just never been formally evaluated.  Then he'll have a half hour break, a session working on his D and F goals, a break for lunch, and one final speech session.  Sad to think it's almost done, but he's been working like a champ (pun intended) and making steady progress on words starting with D and F.  :)

Mini CHAMP Day 1

I have to start with a collage comparison of Kiddo age 3, and Kiddo age 5 exploring George Washington University campus before going to CHAMP.  Melts my heart, how fast children grow, and to realize that Kiddo was only a month or two older than Little Brother is now when he went to CHAMP the first time, well that seems crazy to me.

Kiddo, age 3.  July 2013

Kiddo, age 5.  July 2015

So anyway, we made it to mini-CHAMP (meaning it's a three day intensive, rather than a full week of CHAMP Camp).  I gave the awesome Jodi Kumar a hug, and then she and her clinicians whisked him off for an evaluation.  After the evaluation, we decided our goals would be to work on words with D and F sounds, as well as a list of words Hubster and I wanted him to say more clearly, including:

• Kiddo and Little Brother's names
• Computer
• I'm hungry
• I'm thirsty
• Banana
• Cereal
• Dinner
• Like/don't like

He has three sessions a day, so for the next two sessions they played lots of fun games working on those goals and some simple phrases, and Kiddo said "Fish" properly several times.  I was so proud I was clapping in the observation room, haha.  He also is saying "four" and "five" much clearer which also makes me proud.

Kiddo working on the F sound.  Jodi's on the left, clinician on the right.

Kiddo was so excited to ride the train and he was so cooperative during his sessions today, I was thrilled.  Jodi was commenting on how much personality he has now (he kept giving her hugs while she was working with him and she had to teach him the phrase "I want a hug" before he could get one, haha) and how much progress he's made since he was last there.  :)

Tonight Hubster and I are taking Kiddo to see the Minion Movie which will be a total surprise to him.  My in-laws are generously watching Little Brother for a few days so I can focus on soaking in as much as possible during the mini-CHAMP, which I am extremely grateful for.

Stay tuned for days 2 and 3 of Mini CHAMP!

Progress Report

*Little Brother*

Sensory:  We got Little Brother evaluated by an OT for sensory processing disorder.  He has it.  Sigh.  His sensory issues are related to vestibular movement, especially when going from sedentary to movement oriented tasks or vice versa.  For example, after he's been sitting for a while, if he stands up and starts running, sometimes he'll fall forward and land on his belly.  It's not like he gets hurt from it, he just gets back up and keeps going.  This also explains why he pauses for a few seconds after he's gone down a slide (it's because he still feels like he's moving.)   I was told by the therapist that he's very impulsive, which is a thing you see in kiddos with sensory processing issues and behavior regulation.  So basically, we're teaching him how to handle being told no (currently his reaction is major temper tantrum and trying to do whatever we told him he couldn't do) to help him become more stable emotionally.  I feel like all we're doing is seeing more temper tantrums and my patience is so very thin right now.  I had no idea that impulsivity was sensory related, I thought it was more personality based.  He also has extremely poor visual tracking.  So, now he and Kiddo get OT at the same time and I love both of their OTs.

Speech: Words and phrases are coming!  This little guy has so much to say.  I've had one therapist say she's sure he has apraxia, and two who think it's just a severe delay.  The more I hear new words, and an improvement of old words, the more convinced I am it's just a severe delay, or if he does have apraxia it's definitely mild and nowhere near as severe as Kiddo's.

New words and phrases:
Ok (said all. the. time.  Especially when being disciplined, though within minutes he's doing again what he was doing before)
All clean
Stomp stomp roar (when he stomps his little feet, than hands out as he pretends to be a dinosaur)
appy juice (apple juice.  Sounds so much like he's saying happy juice I jokingly called it that for a while.  But once he started asking for it all the time, we got rid of it all.  No more happy juice, bud.)
Oh no!
Aww man
Pete Cat (his fav book, Pete the Cat)
Teetee on (Tv on.  When he wants to watch TV)
Kitty cat
Ocdoput (octopus)
Doo doo doo (what the rooster says)
Hew pwee (help please)
Moowee (movie)
Pa pie ee chit (french fries and chicken.  his fav thing to eat)
Zitza (pizza)
Chut (church)
Amen! (after our prayers)
Wet  (especially when playing in the pool or bath)
Mama baby (when pointing out a mother and her baby, especially in books)
I know (his response when we tell him "I love you."


*Kiddo*

Speech: Kiddo is totally blowing me away with all the new words and phrases and sentences (yes, for real, sentences!).  Every time he's done with a speech therapy session his speech therapist raves about how much he is saying and that she is understanding what he saysand how much clearer he is.  Other people are beginning to understand him too, so I don't need to translate for him all the time. I wish I had kept a list of all the new words or phrases, but here's the most impressive ones I can remember off the top of my head:


I love you Mommy.  (My all time favorite phrase.  Took me 5 years to be able to hear it).
Big Hero 6 good movie!
Touch Mommy nose.
Microbot (from Big Hero 6)
Bug fly.  Daddy do this. (demonstrates swiping motion Hubster made to shoo a fly away)
I want to play Angry Birds please. (What?  7 words?  With correct grammar?  I'm blown away.)
Right there (when answering the question where something is.  Before he would just point).
Oh, I get it (when told some new information.  He totally got this phrase from me and whenever I hear him say it I just can't help but grin)
Play Lego Game Daddy (when telling me he played the Lego Game Movie with Hubster on the playstation)
Later?  (whenever I tell him he can't do something now).

A few conversations:

Me: Wake up, we're at Chick-fil-A!
Sleepy Kiddo: Eat play?
Me: Yeah.   Sound like fun?
Kiddo: Yes.  Sleep later.

As we drove past Chuck E Cheese:
Kiddo: Chuck E Cheese!
Hubster: Yeah, we went there for your birthday.
Kiddo.  Yes.  Minion cake.
Hubster: It was a cool minion cake.
Kiddo: Yes.  Cake all gone.

And a funny story:  Kiddo's speech therapist and I are working on the "F" sound with him.  We tell him "Teeth on your lips" and demonstrate.  I did that with him, when we were counting, "four, five" and Kiddo starts giggling.  I asked him "What's so funny?"  He says, "Mommy, teeth dirty."  I had a piece of seasoning stuck between my teeth. ;)

Random stuff: He now can put his shoes on all by himself on the correct foot.  He can alternate his feet on the stairs effortlessly if he has a railing or a hand to hold.  He is no longer having issues with getting his hair washed and is a lot less concerned with getting water in his face.  In fact, in the kiddie pool he went down a slide face first. :)


In the Upcoming Weeks:

We'll be heading up to the DC area next week to visit with family and friends in the area, and to have three days of speech at a Mini CHAMP at George Washington University's Speech and Hearing Center July 13-15.  This is where he went two summers ago to work with Jodi Kumar for CHAMP Camp.  At the time, he had just turned three, had about 20 word approximations, and mainly communicated using sign language.  He left with the k and g sounds and about 10 new words and the phrase "I want ___" which was huge progress for us and really helped me know how to work with him better to get faster progress then we were seeing before CHAMP.  The progress he's made in two years has been pretty incredible, and every speech intensive we've done (CHAMP Camp in 2013 and Nancy Kaufman's 4 day speech intensive in 2014) have been so great for really boosting his speech and progress.  Our goals at the mini speech intensive will be working on his d, n, and f sounds.  I'll keep you posted on how he does, and can't wait to see family and friends again. :)

Funnies

Little Brother: (Hands me a ball of play dough) Pit! (Pig)

Me: Oh, it's a pig?

Little Brother: Uh huh.  (He then jabs one end of it.)  Butt!

Ah, any mother's dream gift.

*          *          *

Hubster: Hey, would you like to move to a new house?

Kiddo:  Yeah!  New house!  House dirty.

Thanks Kiddo.  So encouraging.  Don't think it's a good reason to move though...

*          *          *

Me: I love you.

Little Brother: I know!

Me: You're cute.

Little Brother: I know!

This is now his response every time you tell him you love him.

*          *          *

Hubster: Hey, your birthday is coming up.

Me: Yeah, you'll be five.  And you know what we'll do on your birthday?

Kiddo: Yeah.  Chuck E Cheese!

Not what I had in mind, but looks like I'll be planning a Chuck E Cheese b-day celebration.

Progress Report

Whew, it's been a while since I did one of these, so I'll try and remember the inchstones and new words and phrases since the last progress report.

Kiddo:

Social: We spent an amazing two weeks with family and Kiddo seemed to blossom socially from all his fun playing with his eight cousins and other relatives. The weird thing is, we didn't see it as much while we were there, but we do now.  He is now calling his friends by name, and when he sees pictures of his cousins will call them by name.  He also now calls Little Brother by his name, rather than "Baby" as he has for the past several years.  He is starting to respond to peers too, when they talk to him.  Before he seemed oblivous to them talking to him, so huge progress there.

Kiddo with his cousins--all born in 2010. :)

Gross Motor: It's taken me three years to find a good pediatric physical therapist, but FINALLY, I found one, a good 45 minutes away, and she is truly AMAZING.  Within one session she had taught Kiddo how to get up on tiptoes, and within two sessions, Kiddo was alternating his feet on stairs.  The two weeks we were visiting family, he had lots of practice alternating feet on stairs, as we were on the third floor of a hotel.  We encouraged the alternating of feet by prompting him with "One-two-one two! (without the prompting he doesn't alternate his feet).  He's doing so much better on stairs, and next time we're around a staircase I'll get a video.

Fine Motor: He is still not holding writing utensils properly, but is now coloring items on a coloring page rather than just scribbling all over it. Sometimes he picks really random things to color, like at church this Sunday they were to color a picture of Jesus walking with his disciples, and Kiddo only colored the plant and the sun.  But still, he's coloring, rather than just scribbling, which is awesome.

Speech: Wow, this kid has so much stuff to say now.  I wish I could even remember it all, but life is so busy I don't even have time to write down the conversations we have.  Yes, conversations!

Biggest articulation improvement is he is now including more final consonant sounds.  Words that end in p and t sometimes d he's including those ending sounds.  He's also getting better at changing consonant sounds, rather than repeating them.  Example: potty used to be poppy but now has the d sound in the middle, whoo hoo!  However, he's had so much practice switching consonant sounds that he's doing it in words where they stay the same.  Example, I'm now "Moppy!"  And yes, always with an exclamation point.  I can't wait to be Mommy again, regardless of whether it has an exclamation point or not.

Biggest speech/communication improvement is he is now using verbs.  They usually have to do with what Little Brother is doing, as Kiddo thinks it's his job to report on Little Brother's activities.  Some examples include:

Little Brother's name + ______
Throw toys.
Close door.
Loud noise.  (aka, Little Brother is screaming)
Cry.
Sleep.


Some conversations (though these are not his pronunciations, just what he's trying to say)

Me: Look, it's a roly poly!  If you touch it it will roll up into a ball, because it's scared.
Kiddo: Yeah.  Wake up bug!
Me: It'll wake up when it's not scared anymore.
Kiddo: Eat leaves?
Me: Yes, I think it eats leaves and grass.
Kiddo: Bee eat honey.
Me: Yes, they eat nectar from flowers to make honey.
Kiddo: Butterfly eat flower.
Me: Oh, yeah, they eat the nectar from flowers.  Like bees.
Kiddo:  Yeah.  Bug wake up!  Eat leaves!

Me: Time to pray.
Kiddo: No pray!
Me: Yes, we always pray before bed.
Kiddo: Mommy, Daddy, (Kiddo's Name), (Brother's name), Jesus!
(those are the things he always thanks God for, but usually in fill in the blank format: "Thank you God for ____."  Way to rush the praying there, Kiddo.)

Kiddo: (spotting the toddler bed we had bought for Little Brother)  Big boy bed!
Me: Yes.  It's a big boy bed for Little Brother, just like you have.
Kiddo: Yeah.  Big boy.  Little Brother--little boy.
Me: Oh.  Yeah, Little Brother is a little boy and you're a big boy.
Kiddo: Yeah.  Daddy big big boy.

Hubster: I've gotta go to work, to fix the robots.  (He works with computers, but always talks to Kiddo about his work using robot references, since Kiddo is so into robots).
Kiddo: Robots sick?
Hubster: Well, they fell down. I have to help them up, make them feel better.
Kiddo: Robots get up!
Hubster: I'll help them up.  It might take them awhile.
Kiddo: Ok.
(Later, when Hubster returns)
Kiddo: Robots up?
Hubster: Nope, they're still down.  But I'm helping them up.
Kiddo: Ok.  No robots down.


Little Brother:

Behavior: Little Brother has some hyperactivity/impulsive issues that Kiddo's OT was noticing and recommended we get him evaluated for sensory processing disorder.  He also is terrified of water, and whether it's fear or sensory related, we do not know, but we're getting him evaluated in a few weeks by Kiddo's OT.  I've started using Peace and Calming essential oil on him and it does seem to be calming him down.  He has less temper tantrums and is hitting and throwing toys less.  He's much more enjoyable to be around lately. :)

Speech: I got Little Brother formally evaluated by Kiddo's private speech therapist.  She admits that apraxia is a possibility but it's too early to tell yet.  She diagnosed him with "severe expressive delay, mild receptive delay, and moderate articulation delay."  His behavior made it rough for her to finish the evaluation so we agreed that private therapy is not a good idea for now, until we get his behavior issues figured out.  So we'll continue the twice a month speech with Ms. Blessing in our home through Early Intervention, which he'll get until he turns three (in August).

I attended Little Brother's transition meeting yesterday.  He will receive speech therapy services through the school like Kiddo, when he turns three.  Now I have two kiddos with IEPs, fun times, but whatever we have to do to help them, we will do. :)

Little Brother's speech seems to be totally taking off lately.  He repeats a lot of two to three word phrases we say.  Sometimes they sound clear, sometimes, not so much.

New words and phrases:
apple
grapes
I know
bubble
It's a _____
One-two-one two  (this is how he counts after our stairs experience with Kiddo.  Even if I say One he'll say one, I'll say two, he'll say two, I'll say three, he'll say one, I'll repeat three, he'll say two, etc.  Gotta work on this)
color
Me! (when he sees himself in the mirror)
moon (which is for both the sun and the moon in books)

Academic skills: He can identify body parts, lots of animals and their sounds, and several shapes (circle, triangle, star, square and rectangle).  Naming colors is either a concept he doesn't grasp or doesn't care about, though his favorite color is definitely red.  (Any time he colors, he always starts with red, and sometimes will only color with red.)  Counting is also something we're working on, so far he only counts to two.  Puzzles though, he's a champ at.  This kid loves puzzles, and sometimes can sit for twenty minutes, doing the same puzzle over and over again.

Asking Questions

The first time I read the above statement, I felt grief and worry wash over me.  That was closer to the number of words my four year old had in his vocabulary, than the number of questions he asked.  In fact, he didn't ask any questions, even though we tried to teach him the sign language for what, where, why and how are you.  I mourned knowing not only what Kiddo was thinking about, but what he wondered about, what he wanted to know but had no way of communicating to me.  And I worried that even though he did only have 400-500 words, shouldn't some of those be questions?  I mean, I work with toddlers in the church nursery who are asking "What's dat?" a bazillion times, and I'm sure they have less than 400 words in their vocabularies.

I remember asking speech therapists about it, and they would tell me just keep modeling asking questions, especially "What's that?" and "Where's ___?" because those are generally the first questions a toddler learns to ask.  One even told me to not even attempt teaching "Why?" until after he had learned to ask at least four other questions, as that's what happened in typical development.  But no matter how much I modeled, how many times we would go through flash cards I made which included phrases like "What's that?" he never asked any questions.

Flash forward to today, Kiddo now asks three specific questions.  He probably only asks one or two questions a day.  Nowhere near the 437 number, but I'll take it.  We're making progress and that's what matters to me.

His very first question was "Why?"  The first time he asked it, was when he asked me if he could "pay Lego game?" (play Lego Movie video game).  I told him no.  Clear as a bell he said "Why?"  I answered without a thought, just told him because he always played the Lego game with Daddy, and maybe when Daddy got home from work he might play the Lego game with him.  It wasn't until after Kiddo went off to play something else that I realized he had asked a question.  And I immediately informed Hubster of it, I was so proud.  This has become his most frequent question, that I hear at least daily, especially when he's been told to do something or told to wait for something.

Kiddo has asked twice "What dis?"  Once regarding my curling iron, another time about a beaded doll from Africa at my parents' house.  He does tend to repeat words we use with a question mark on the end as if to ask "What's that?" and we'll explain it to him.  For example, we use the words 'shopping cart', but he overheard someone commenting about the kiddos sitting in the buggy, and Kiddo turned to me and said "Buggy?"

And he asks on occasion, "Where are you?"  Usually this is in relation to an item, moreso than a person.  For example, I'll ask him "Where is your cup?" and he'll go around the house, his hands around his mouth as he calls out "Cuuuuuup, wha ah you?"  But sometimes, I hear him calling for me.  "Mommy, wha ah you?"

I find all of these questions interesting, because I never worked with him on these questions specifically.  I know he's heard them, but they weren't the ones we modeled over and over, the ones we had written on flash cards for him to practice saying along with the words he was working on.  He still doesn't ask those questions.  It reminds me that he is developing at his pace and in his own way and it's ok.   I now have a better idea of the things he wonders about, and I'm so proud that he figured out how to ask the questions that matter to him on his own.

Progress Report

Little Brother:  Wow, time outs are doing wonders for this kid.  We've had lots of problems with disobedience, and though we tried several different discipline tactics nothing worked, until we discovered calling time outs "stuck" did the trick.  This kid does not like being stuck, in fact, "tuck" was one of his first words.  A minute or two "being stuck" for every act of disobedience/unkindness has made him much more compliant, and done wonders for my stress and frustration level, haha.  Now he follows directions much better, and is no longer hitting or biting poor Kiddo.  The throwing toys at Kiddo still happens, but is getting less frequent.

Not much to report when it comes to his speech, but wow, this kid is great at jumping. :)

Kiddo:  Hubster and I are amazed every day at the progress we see and hear.  Some of Kiddos words and phrases and SENTENCES, are getting longer, more complex, and clearer!  Other people are starting to be able to understand some of the things he says without me having to translate, who hoo!

Some of his newest phrases and funny things:

• Every night during bedtime prayers, I say "Thank you God for ____" and he fills in the blank.  He always starts it off by saying "Eesus!"  Sometimes he's thankful for Mommy and Daddy, sometimes brother, always his own name, and sometimes random things like books, eyes, church, etc.  This kid melts my heart with his prayers.
• He demanded "pee butta jeyee! (peanut butter and jelly sandwich) one day for lunch, and I kept telling him to wait, as I was busy doing something else.  After three times of this he comes up to me, holds up one hand, says "One pee butta" holds up the other hand "One jeyee!" and then claps his hands together.  Hubster and I just laughed.  Yes Kiddo, I know how to make a PB&J, but thanks for the reminder. ;)
• He plays hide n seek now!  He tells us who should count (usually he's the counter, occasionally I get the privilege of counting).  When it's his turn he covers his eyes, but peeks a tiny bit, counts to ten and then says "Readee naw!" and comes looking for us, and when he finds us, he tells us where we are, which has been great for teaching him prepositions, and just pure fun to interact with him in a new/social way.  If it's my turn to count, well I must admit, he's a terrible hider (hint: his favorite spot is face against the wall, in plain sight) and if I ask Little Brother "Where's Kiddo?" Kiddo'll jump out and say "Boo!"  Gotta teach him that just because he can't see us doesn't mean we can't see him, but we are thrilled at how quickly he caught on to the game and how often he requests to play "Dida Seech!"
• He is really into science.  He is fascinated by the whole digestion process (we hear "eat, tummy, poo poo!) a lot.  He loves dinosaurs, weather, space, etc.  The Magic School Bus has become his new favorite TV show, which reminds me of my own childhood.
• He calls Hubster's school (Hubster's currently going to grad school) Robot School, because one time Hubster said he goes to school to learn about robots and computers and Kiddo latched onto the robot idea.
• While in speech therapy, Ms. Blessing had him playing "Don't Spill the Beans".  For each word he said five times correctly, he got the bean.  Then Ms. Blessing decided to work on sounds, rather than words.  "Say pa!" she said.  "No pa, no pa!" Kiddo insisted, "No pa, bean!"  Yes Kiddo, you are right, it is not a pa, it is a bean.
• He is starting to say hi to other people when they say hi to him!  This is huge peeps.  He plays well with other kids, but has never really interacted with them verbally, but now he tells them hi. :)
• He tries so hard to bribe me to read "boo boch!" (two books) instead of just one before bed.  One time he pulled out a copy of "One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish" and pointed to the number two.  "Boo ish!  Boo boch!" he insisted.  Such a smarty pants.
• He's started tattling on Little Brother.  He'll come up to me while I'm in the kitchen or doing laundry, or whatever.  "Botha do doy!" (Brother throw toy!) etc.  Or, he'll take matters into his own hands and tell Little Brother what to do.  "Botha no dutch!" (no touch!) or "Botha no do doy!" 

As for gross motor, we're starting to make a little bit of progress on pedaling a bicycle, whoo hoo!  He needs a little push to get going, and then can pedal for about three or four cycles before he loses the momentum.  He can go the length of our driveway no problem since it's on a very slight incline, but can't pedal it back up.  Definitely needs more strength before he can do it, but I think he has the motor planning down for it, which is huge.  Steering, though, is a different beast.  Steering requires lots of motor planning, which his brain has no ability to process when it's working so hard on pedaling.  But I'm hopeful that he'll be strong enough to be riding his bike over the summer. :)

His core is definitely getting stronger, as evidenced by this photo.  I was doing laundry, and came out to find he had taken all the cushions off the couch and was hanging out like this.  "Mommy, cook!" (Mommy look!)  He held this position for at least 5 minutes. :)

Hopefully I'll have lots of other progress to report next month, when both kiddos get to spend two weeks visiting with their cousins!  I can't wait. :)

A Hard Day with a Sweet Finish

Today was rough.  Both kiddos were more disobedient and whinier than usual.  Kiddo was not cooperating when I tried to work with him on his lesson, so I gave up.  I was tired and my patience was wearing thin with them.  The clinic where we go to OT and speech called and said they need an updated referral, as ours expires soon.  So thinking it'd be a five minute phone call like it usually is to get a referral faxed over, I gave the doctor's office a call.  This call took a whopping 37 minutes, with me being put on hold several times and the kiddos interrupting other times.

And I was worrying about Little Brother, about how he keeps sloooowly adding new words to his vocabulary (he must have 200-300) but doesn't combine them in phrases.  He should be doing that by now.  The magic number of words a child usually has before he starts combining them is 50 and we're well past that.  For example he can say 'more', and he can see 'please', but he won't say them together, even if I tell him too.  So I worried again that maybe I'm to be a mama of two kiddos with apraxia.  Double the speech therapy appointments, double the bills, double the heartache and hard work.

I was frustrated and worried and overwhelmed, so Hubster suggested we go out for lunch.  It sounded great, so we piled in the car, had a great lunch, ran a few errands, and then on our way home I got pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit (luckily the officer just gave me a warning).  I was mad as I drove home, making sure I followed the speed limit exactly, since the officer happened to follow me pretty much all the way home.  Mad not so much at the officer or the warning, but at how things in my life were going.  So, when we got home I plopped the kids in front of the TV, grabbed a few chocolates and my Bible and determined to spend time with God.  Question where He was in all of this and what He wanted me to learn from all this, and why He wasn't answering my most desperate prayers for my sons and their healing and their words to come quickly and effortlessly.

Little Brother decided it was the perfect opportunity to snuggle me.  I can't turn down Little Brother snuggles.  And then Kiddo wanted to show me something he had found.  And then Little Brother wanted a snack.  And then Kiddo wanted a drink.  And then Little Brother threw a toy at Kiddo.

And I yelled at them. Fear filled their faces and I instantly regretted everything I said. I snuggled my boys, told them I loved them, then sent them to watch TV.  Finally they did, but I was no longer in a seeking God kind of mood, though I desperately needed Him.

I went on Facebook.  A place I know I should avoid, because I'll read about all the cute things my friends' kids are saying and videos of the milestones they're making effortlessly, and instantly feel sad, but I wanted to do something that would make me feel normal, that would distract me from my angry and sad thoughts.

After 5 minutes of reading articles and random things my friends are doing, I came across this blog post posted on the apraxia support group page:  "To the Mamas of the Special Ones on the Hard Days".  It was a refreshing read and made me feel so much better.  So, not alone.  I felt encouraged to take a few minutes to myself guilt free before spending time playing with the boys.

And then I did play with them.  And I heard Kiddo say a new word "Oos!" (oops!)  I heard it several times throughout the evening, and it made me smile every time.  That new word, that grin when Kiddo said it for the first time, well it made my heart release the frustration and soak in the victory.

And while we were playing outside, Kiddo pointed to the sky.  "Ook!" he said.  I didn't look.  "Oh, yeah, an airplane."  "No Mama.  Hecopper".   I stared at him in surprise.  I've never heard him say helicopter before.  Jeez, that's a hard word to say, but Kiddo was trying it on his own without practicing it over and over again like we oftentimes have to do.  He came up with his own motor plan for it.  Victory!

And then, Little Brother said his newest word too.  I was kissing him all over his face and he was giggling so hard he couldn't catch his breath, and then he gasped and said "Sop!"  "Did you just say stop?" I asked him.  "Yeah," he said.  "Sop!"  I grinned.  A new word, I'll take it.

Or when my children say any new word.  :)

And then, bedtime rolled around.  After Kiddo was all snuggled in bed and we had read his book before bed, we prayed together.  Sometimes I do the praying, sometimes I do it fill in the blank style.  I decided to fill-in-the-blank it.  Me: "Thank you God for ____."  He said his name in response.  "Me," I corrected.  "And thank you God for _____."  "Eesus!"

I choked back tears as I told him, "Yes, thank you God for Jesus."  I've never had any indication that Kiddo understands anything relating to God, Jesus, Bible stories, except for identifying "baby Eesus" at Christmas time.  I've never prayed before using the words "Thank you God for Jesus."  It was his own spontaneous thought and it filled my heart with hope and joy.

We finished our prayers and I kissed that precious little guy goodnight and as I left his room it hit me: God had answered my angry prayers through the mouth of my apraxic child.  How amazing, how incredible is that?  Though things may be rough, I am so thankful that God sent me His son Jesus, to give me strength for all I need to do, to give me peace when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and to forgive my anger and frustration.  And just as I ache inside that my children are not where I want them to be developmentally, oh how much more God's heart must have ached when His son was nailed to a cross He did not deserve.

Yes, thank you God for Jesus.

Kaufman-Day 2

Speech:  Uh, can I just go ahead and say that yes, Nancy Kaufman is truly amazing.  I want her to relocate to our neck of the woods so we can work with her every week.  Her energy and intensity is amazing, and a million cups of coffee would still not get me anywhere near the level of energy and enthusiasm and intensity she has.  She pushes the kiddos hard, yet knows their limits and makes sure they have moments of fun while they are working.  And she really does make it fun and keeps them engaged and motivated.  She reminds me of a loving drill sergeant. ;)  She got Kiddo to say more words and phrases in a half hour session, then I think I've gotten him to say in the past week.

They worked on lots of his favorite words (pizza, banana, puzzle, shoe, water, sticker, monkey) as well as a lot of the words on her Kaufman cards.  And lots of phrases, such as:

• Put on/off
• Put away
• I want to pick
• Up high
• Oh no!
• Stand up
• Go down

and lots of phrases using verbs, which can also be used as requests:

• pet puppy
• throw ball
• read book
• eat apple
• open bag
• turn on/off
• hug baby
• blow/pop bubbles
• sleep bed
• ride bus/boat
• put on hat

She also has been working on those final consonants (such as hat, boat, bed, up, want, book, yes, pick) and he's doing so much better with them with the help of hand cues.  

She's also getting him to say "yes" with the final "s" sound, instead of his usual "yeah," and to say "again" instead of his usual "more" when he wants something to happen again.

I have pages of notes I've taken, and Nancy records each session, so I can't wait to watch the DVD sessions again and share them with his speech therapists when we get home.

I'm so proud of how hard he's been working for Nancy.  We've prayed hard that he would cooperate with Nancy and her methods that he would learn a lot, and we see God answering our prayers and blessing our time here. :)

OT:  Oh my goodness, their sensory gym is amazing and I wish I could get a pic of Kiddo working/playing in it, but sadly they don't allow pictures in it, though I'm grateful to be able to go in and watch and learn.

In OT today, he did some swinging, did an obstacle course twice that ended up in a super fun ball pit, and played in a kiddie pool of dried rice and beans.  He loved that!  He laid out on his tummy in it, his arms going up and down like he was making a snow rice angel.

Ms. Jessica did quite a bit of work on his picky eating and oral motor skills.  He got to eat some veggie straws, and had to bite it using his back molars, rather than biting it from his front teeth, to help strengthen his jaw.  He caught on quite quickly and ate several veggie straws, biting from the back molars each time and asking for more.

She then showed me strategies for introducing him to new food so he doesn't experience the anxiety/meltdowns he normally does about having to eat anything new.  Today he tried a slice of pear and a turkey burger.  He did great, taking two bites of the pear (he wasn't a huge fan) but eating about half of the turkey burger.  She believes his picky eating and anxiety about new foods stem from a texture thing, and so her strategies should help him deal with new foods and their new textures.

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Little Brother's adventure included shopping with Grandma at Meijers, where the pony rides are only a penny.  He loved it and cried when it was time to get off.

Kiddo is so proud of all his "ticker"s he got for his hard work in each session and didn't want to take his shirt with his stickers off for bed.  He is currently sleeping in this outfit.  He was so tired that about half an hour before his usual bedtime he didn't say a word, just went to the bathroom and then climbed into bed by himself.  Within a minute, he was asleep, and about ten minutes later when I put Little Brother into his pack-n-play for the night next to where Kiddo was sleeping, Kiddo's eyes flickered open and he was immediately back asleep again.  

Kiddo is working so hard and making me so proud. :)  Stay tuned to see what we learn tomorrow!

Verbal Behavior Therapy

Several months ago I spoke with Nancy Kaufman on the phone after she had viewed one of Kiddo's speech videos I submitted to her.  She's among the best of the best apraxia experts, and has created lots of materials for helping children with apraxia learn how to speak.  I've watched her DVD to learn her methods and use them often with Kiddo.  I met her in July when I went to the apraxia conference (read my post about it here).  And in October, Kiddo will get to work with her for FOUR days.  I'm so beyond excited to see this amazing lady in person work with Kiddo and will definitely post about our time with her. :)

Anyway, back to several months ago I spoke with Nancy Kaufman.  I was telling her that he doesn't say a lot of things spontaneously, only if it's been scripted to him over and over again.  And that he doesn't know how to answer or ask questions.  That he's been diagnosed with a mild-moderate receptive language delay, as well as the apraxia.  And she told me to get him into Verbal Behavior Therapy.  That she thought that with a year of Verbal Behavior Therapy for about an hour a week, his receptive delay should be no more.

I had never heard of it before.  As soon as I hung up the phone with her (and well, calmed down a little bit after having talked to THE Nancy Kaufman and told that she would "be delighted" to work with Kiddo for four days) I researched Verbal Behavior Therapy.  And found that it's a branch of ABA therapy (Applied Behavior Analysis), a type of therapy generally used for autistic children.  I was a little concerned and disheartened, because we've tested for autism before and Kiddo is not on the spectrum.  But the more I read about Verbal Behavior Therapy, the more I was sure that Nancy was right.

"What Is Verbal Behavior Therapy? 

Verbal Behavior Therapy teaches communication using the principles of Applied Behavior Analysis and the theories of behaviorist B.F. Skinner. By design, Verbal Behavior Therapy motivates a child, adolescent or adult to learn language by connecting words with their purposes. The student learns that words can help obtain desired objects or other results.
Therapy avoids focusing on words as mere labels (cat, car, etc.) Rather, the student learns how to use language to make requests and communicate ideas. To put it another way, this intervention focuses on understanding why we use words."  From Autismspeaks.com

The Hunt Begins 

There were only two ABA clinics nearby.  One had a 6 month waitlist, which I put Kiddo on.  The other was 1 1/2 hours away, and required that we be there at least 5 hours a week, with an hour or two a session.  Nope, sorry, no can do.

I bought a few books on Verbal Behavior Therapy, and decided to try and do it on my own.  I learned a few things, particularly what areas that Kiddo needed help in, but not really how to help him myself.
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At the apraxia conference I attended a session that was about Verbal Behavior Therapy, given by an ABA therapist who also was a Speech Language Pathologist.  What she said made so much sense and I spoke with her for a while after the session about Kiddo and she gave me some very helpful suggestions.  I knew Kiddo needed this Verbal Behavior Therapy--and he needed it stat- if we were going to make any more progress with his communication.

So, I called back the first clinic to see where he was on the waitlist.  Another 4-5 months (after already being on the waitlist for three months).  I called the clinic 1 1/2 hours away and practically begged them to let us come for only an hour a week.  No go.  But, the director did tell me that a new ABA therapist had moved to our area and was looking for clients.  She gave me her contact info.  I called her immediately.  And she has been a godsend.  Seriously, I think God brought her to us just when we needed her the most. :)

Verbal Behavior Therapy Begins

She comes to our house once a week for an hour, right during Little Brother's naptime.  She works with Kiddo for about 50 minutes, and then gives me things to work with him for the remaining 10 minutes.  And seriously, Kiddo is making so much progress, it's incredible.  He's learning how to request for things spontaneously, rather than me prompting me every single time with "What do you want?" or "Use your words."  He's learning how to put words together on his own, not phrases we've scripted for him a gazillion times.  He's learning how to follow two step directions, when before one step was all he could handle.  He's learning how to use verbs.  And this is all with just four sessions of Verbal Behavior Therapy.

I am thrilled.  Yes, a lot of this is just natural growth and development.  A lot of it is us working on the same things with him over and over again.  But the Verbal Behavior Therapy is teaching us the strategies for doing that.  It's teaching us "he needs to be able to understand and say ___ and _____ before he will be able to start asking questions."  I'm learning a lot.  And so is Kiddo.  And that makes my heart so happy. :)

Blessings at the Beach

Hubster and I took the kiddos to the beach a few weeks ago.  I admit, I was not super excited about it, as Kiddo is kind of anti-water.  As in, will freak out if water gets in his face, and will cling to you with a kung-fu grip if he's in more than a few inches of water.  Plus, Little Brother gets into everything and has a love for running off wherever his heart fancies, and so I was anticipating an exhausting trip for us.

It was not.  If anything, it was the most refreshing, blessed time Hubster and I have experienced in a while.  We have never seen Kiddo so excited or expressive about anything before.  We'd ask him, "Where are we going?" and he'd exclaim "Da bea!" and do what I call his happy dance.  Or we'd tell him we're going to the pool, and he'd exclaim "Da poo!" and do his made up moves for what he thought swimming looked like.  Never have we heard him so expressive, so vocal, so excited.  I've called him stoic for years.  Not anymore.

And that's just the beginning of the blessings folks.  The Kiddo LOVED the water!  He wanted to swim.  He wanted to go into the ocean and didn't want to get out.  He got water in his face, and though at the beginning of our trip he freaked out a little bit and demanded a "towa" (towel) we'd tell him "no, just wipe it off with your hand", and he would.  Towards the end of our trip, he would wipe it off without us telling him anything, or ignore the water in his face completely.  MAJOR VICTORY!!

He started our pool times by clinging tightly to one of us, or content to play on the top step or two, but slowly he got braver.  We let him float on a boat raft for a while, and he really enjoyed that.  We introduced a kickboard to him, which he liked, but we had to hold tightly to it since he doesn't have the core strength to stay on it without our support.  And we graduated to the swimmies on his arms, which he was so proud of, and by the last night of our beach vacation, was able to keep himself completely upright and (as you can see in the picture below, top right) content to not have Mommy and Daddy so close by.  Again, major victories. :)

And, as if that wasn't awesome enough, Kiddo started JUMPING into the water, trusting Daddy to catch him.  Yeah.  Pure awesomeness.

Little Brother had a lot of fun splashing in the water too, and he added a few new words, the most common being "airplane".  We celebrated his b-day at the beach (pics to come in another post), with my parents, who joined us for a few days, and it was a great time for all.

Swimming with Mommy and Grandma, flying kites with Grandpa and Daddy, and other beach fun.

Hubster and I just soaked in all the progress we saw in Kiddo.  Our hearts were filled with a joy we haven't experienced in a while, seeing the joy, the excitement, the fun the children were having.  It really felt like God was smiling on us, showing us His love for us, for our children, and how everything is going to be ok.  All the hard work we're doing, and will continue to do to get Kiddo talking and communicating and climbing and all that other important stuff, is paying off and we are seeing fruit.  Beautiful, sweet apples of gold.

Had to get a selfie with both my blessings. :)

I am so blessed.  Filled with hope for Kiddos' future.  In awe of God's awesomeness.  And excited that I can share it with you here on the blog.  I hope I never forget how awesome the week really was. :)

Speech Progress Report

Kiddo is in a speech surge!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE these!  I don't even know if it's a real term or not, but I've made it into one, because seriously, it's like he plateaus or makes painfully slow progress on his speech for sooo long, and then all at once, for a few weeks, new sounds, new words just flow out of his mouth.  But the big thing is, he's speaking in phrases now!  Wahooo!!

Here's some of his most common phrases:

• Baby cry (he calls Little Brother Baby)
• Daddy work
• kick/throw ball
• big burp (thanks for letting everyone know that Kiddo)
• big boom
• I need help
• I want ____
• Go potty
• Wake up
• Mommy book 
• All clean
• Brush teeth
• Baby don't touch!
• No Baby!
• I'm four
• Play Lego
• Play game
• Eat apple (his new fav fruit, and he says the "p" in apple now, I'm so proud.  Before it was "ah-oh")
• open door (he now puts the "p" in open.  Before it was "oh-eh"  Consonants are good!)  

And some of his newest words:

• Bible
• star
• brush
• shorts
• hiccup
• puppy (he is mastering these "p" words! Wahoo!)

Now, I haven't included the pronunciation for most of these words, because sometimes they change based on if it's a word said alone or if it's in a phrase and based on where it's at in a phrase. I still have to translate for him a lot to others.  Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out what he's saying and I have to rely on context, and him using sign language.  But we're making progress folks!  We're even having conversations!  Here's a few conversations we've had this week:

Kiddo: (Burps for a loooong time)  Big burp!

Me: Yes, it was a big burp.  What do you say?

Kiddo: Thank you.

Me: (trying not to laugh) No, what do you say after you burp?
Kiddo: Excuse me.  Big burp.

While eating some Nilla Wafers, Kiddo and I were looking at the back of the box, which were covered with those cute little minions from Despicable Me.  
Kiddo: (Pointing) One eye!

Me: Yes, he does have one eye.  Some of them have one eye and some have two.

Kiddo: (Proceeds to tell me 'one eye...boo (two) eye..." for EVERY SINGLE ONE.  Seriously, this takes a minute or boo two.)

Me: Good.  Ok, how many eyes does Mommy have?

Kiddo: (looks at me) Two eye.  

Me: How many eyes does Little Brother have?

Kiddo.  Two eye.

Me: How many eyes do YOU have?

Kiddo: (Pauses then puts one of the Nilla Wafers in between his eyes)  One eye!

Haha, I had no idea this kid was so darn funny!

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Little Brother's words are coming too!  He will be turning two later on this week, I can't believe it!  He had only two words (go and da da for all done) for the loooongest time, and so we got him evaluated for speech by our beloved Ms. Blessing and she has been working with both kiddos once or twice a month.  She's amazing, seriously.  Anyway, within no time of her working her magic, Little Brother was making the noises of animals and slowly adding new words.  He no longer qualifies for speech therapy anymore, as he's made so much progress and now his speech is within the normal range for typical development, yippee!

Now, I'd guess he has about 50 words, plus his animal sounds, which I've read is the magic number before they start putting them into phrases.  Here's some of his most common words and their current pronunciations:

Goka = cracker.  His all time favorite snack.

Tizza = pizza.  His all time favorite food.  Hubster and I have to spell it because he seriously hears that word from wherever he is and runs to the oven looking for it.  If I drive past a Little Caesar's or Pizza Hut and he spots it, he'll let me know.

Baba = banana.  His all time favorite fruit.  He asks for this the second we go to get him in the morning, as he always has a banana for breakfast.  Well, good morning to you too, kid.

Go go go! = anytime we are going to go anywhere.

Teetee = TV.  He asks for this ALLL the time.  He hears no a lot.  

Dee = drink

Da da = all done

Mo = more

Hep = help

Tuck = stuck

Opeh = open

Pwee = please

Kookoo = thank you

Deedee = outside   This sounds remarkably to me like drink and TV and since he's realized I assume he's asking for a drink or TV first he's learned to just go to the door when he says it

Mama

Dada

Ball

Up

No.  Or oftentimes No no no!

Boo = book

Bubba = bubbles

Gapa = Grandpa

Gaba = Grandma

Poopoo yuck!  = no translation needed.  His only phrase so far.

Puhpuh = potty.  Hmm, I'm wondering if this kid is going to be potty training soon.

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I know there's a lot more I'm forgetting, but man oh man, I am cherishing all these sweet apples of gold!   I plan on recording and posting speech videos of both of them sometime soon.  I keep meaning too.  Eventually I'll get around to it. ;)

Kiddo's Prayer

Either Hubster or I pray with Kiddo before bed every night, but we've always taken the lead on the praying part, and then let Kiddo say Ah-eh! (Amen!) at the end.  But last night, I decided to do a fill-in-the-blank prayer.  See if he'd participate.  And I was so proud that he did.  This is how it went:

Mommy: What do you want to tell God thank you for?  Thank you for _____?
Kiddo:  Mommy.  (huge grin)
Mommy:  Good.  Thank you for ______?
Kiddo:  Daddy.  (another huge grin)
Mommy:  Thank you for ______?
Kiddo:  Baby.  (That's what he calls Little Brother).
Mommy:  Thank you for ______?
Kiddo: (points to his mouth)
Mommy:  Say it.  Thank you for _______?
Kiddo:  Tee!  (Teeth!)   Ah-eh!

I had no idea he was so appreciative of his pearly whites.

And here's a random picture of his latest craziness. Reason 1,001 why we should always have our bedroom door closed.

What Does ____ Say?

So, I was quizzing the kiddos a few days ago on the sounds different things make.  We started with animals (What does the cow say?), and then moved onto different types of vehicles (What does the train say?).  Both kiddos were having fun with this and so I kept going, until I ended up with this gem:

Me: What does Mommy say?
Little Brother shakes his finger in my face*: NO NO NO!!

*For the record, I don't remember ever shaking my finger at the kiddos, but I do tell Little Brother "no no no!".  Apparently a lot.

Multi-Word Phrases

Kiddo is in what I call a "speech surge" again and I am not complaining!  I am so proud of this kid and the progress he is making.  Some of the things he said today honestly shocked me, and so I wanted to record them here so I wouldn't forget them.  He is now officially in the multi-word phrase.  Pretty much everything he said today, was two, three or even four word phrases, though he did occasionally say a few one word phrases, such as pointing out a circle ("circo" as opposed to the "cako" he used to say), or that he wanted an orange ("or!") Starburst rather than the red I gave him.

So, without further ado, the fun and surprising things he said today:

• "I wa pho peeze."  Probably unnecessary translation: I want phone please.  Normally in that case he would just say "pho peeze" and then with lots of prompting I can get him to expand to the four word phrase.  But twice today he came up to me saying that phrase completely on his own. 
• "Los o egg"  Translation: Lots of eggs.  Today I located our Easter eggs in the garage, which for some reason were in the trick or treat pumpkin bucket.  So we played with both.  (Didja notice the Christmas cookie cutters in the picture above.  We played with the play-doh on Saturday.  A little variety in holiday traditions never hurt anybody, right?)  Anyway, I've never heard Kiddo say there was lots of something before, though I've heard him say egg several times lately and hence the reason I pulled out the Easter eggs early.  
• "Cady i kukin"  Translation: Candy in pumpkin.  Apparently he remembered that you can get candy in the pumpkin and he wanted some.  So I obliged, and went to get him some.  Remember the "orange" comment I mentioned?  Yeah, that was related to this experience.  
• "Two Cady." No translation needed.  Apparently the one orange Starburst was not enough for the kid.  He's gotten demanding, now that he knows the power of words (and that his mother is a sucker, giving in to most of his requests because she's so proud of him using his words).
• "I di i"  Translation: I did it.  We were playing with his bowling set and after he knocked over all the pins he said this.  Took me a few seconds to figure out what he was saying, but then I got it. A new phrase I hope to keep hearing over and over!
• "Mo wawa peeze."  Unnecessary Translation: More water please.  Usually he brings me his empty cup and I ask him what he wants, and then he'll say "mo" or "wawa peeze" but this if the first time he said this as a three word phrase without any prompting.  A few hours later, he said it again.  
• "Go up."  Absolutely no translation necessary.  And although this is not a new phrase, the fact that there was a "p" at the end of "up" was new.  I've heard "uh" as "up" since he was 16 months old. "Ow" and "Uh" were his first and only words for a looooong time.  He said this multiple times today as we were playing with his car, pushing it up the hill and then letting it "go dow".
• And finally, today I asked him "Do you want to play in the play room or your room?"  He responded clearly "My oom."  I was stunned, because first of all, I've never heard him say room before (well, 'oom like they do in the Chronicles of Narnia), but also because he knew to say "my" rather than repeat "your."  And then (just to make sure my ears weren't deceiving me), once we entered his room he proudly declared "my 'oom."

So darn proud! 

Speech Videos

I realized it's been a while since I've posted a speech video, so here's two for you. :)

Colors and Numbers: Kiddo loves telling me what color everything is, and now how many of something there is.  Well, if it's five or less.  He can count to ten with prompting, but 1-5 he has completely mastered.  He is one smart little guy and I can't wait to learn more about what is going on in that little head. :)

Vocabulary: I believe he now says close to 100 words.  He said about 50 when we went to CHAMP Camp in July, so I'm really proud of him doubling his vocabulary in less than two months.  And this time last year he only had one word (ow), so I'm excited about his progress.

I would say that of the 100 words he says, only about 20 he says precisely, but the 80 or so word approximations are slowly becoming more clear and closer to the actual word.  Here he is showing off some of his vocabulary using flashcards.  I personally would think practicing his words with flashcards would be boring but he LOVES them.