Mostly he's been using them singly. Usually with an exclamation point at the end of them.
"Mommy!" "Daddy!" "More!" "Meow (meaning our cat)!" "Up!" "Down!"
You get the idea. It's been making things easier for us and more exciting for him (I think).
But this weekend he made two small milestones while we were visiting my family in Boston.
"Happy Day," he said with perfect clarity and before we could ask ourselves if that's what he said, he said it again, "Happy Day!"
Not sure where he picked that little coupling of words up: a song, a book, a friend, one of his physical therapists. It might have just occurred to him that the words went well together. We don't know. But it was a sign of hope and a wonder to us. He's been saying it since.
The other word, though smaller, was more significant to me.
"Baby!" he said pointing directly at my one year old niece, "Baby!"
It's really the first time he's acknowledged someone outside the family verbally. It also was the first time that he acknowledged an equal, a cousin, a cohort in crime. It was like watching man discover the wheel; the realization on his face and the leap he made to get to it were nothing less than a miracle.
I don't know when sentences will come. It may take a while. But I feel as if the boy is really starting to connect words with people (people especially) and things.
And what words! Such happy, embracing words! It makes me hopeful. It makes me proud.
We keep reading to him, and playing peek a boo, and singing songs that he likes and hope that more will come. I come in the door each night and pick him up out of his crib each morning with more hope and more expectation of wonderful, wonderful words coming out of that little mind.
"Daddy!" is what I usually here, "Daddy! Up!"
"At a boy," I keep saying back to him (possibly to convince me it's not a dream) "At a boy."
3 comments:
I LOVE the happy day!!!!!
That is soooo exciting and awesome to hear about his developing speech. You must be over the moon.
Write the words and phrases down, cause you'll never remember them.
Enjoy! :)
What WONDERFUL words, "Happy day." Like Louise, I'm also so thrilled to hear about the developing speech. Max has a handful of words, and every single time a new one comes up, it's a miracle. This morning, I got him to say, "I want purple pancakes!" (he's obsessed with purple, we got this big jar of purple sprinkles), and I was thrilled.
I so know how you feel!
Thank you Louise and Ellen. It's been a good week for the little guy and for us - our doctor's visits went well.
I love the purple pancakes. My daughter is big, big into sprinkles too. Her favorite is blue. Sometimes I'll come down to breakfast and she'll greet me to a good morning with a blue sprinkled face up to the eyebrows. What a sight.
I hope everyone in your families is doing well.
Dave
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