New Toys

What can perk up a hot, tired little boy after a night of "party of one" in his room and a hot morning at summer school?

A SHAPE assistant with new toys! Especially the foam football and Connect 4 checkers!

And now I am hoping for an afternoon nap.

Little Things & the Universe

We had a couple of days just full of little things -- my favourite! A sample platter:

• James is responding well to prompts that get him to say phrases. Occasionally, he'll pop out with one on his own. Usually "Wanna 'atch Tho-mas" and "Issa ball!" He is digging Thomas the Tank engine (really the songs) and playing with practice golf balls (PGBs).


• Playing in the sink! With salad tongs! And water! And many PGBs! And foam numbers! Literally: lather, rinse, repeat.


• Working on scissor skills. I never knew how fascinating he'd find this -- thank you, thank you, SHAPE assistant!


• Big thing: Oh, and we really might qualify for respite care and get some this summer? Where can I kiss your feet? Little thing that's really big: OMG, my husband and I can, like, go out and just look at each other and hear *nothing* -- yippee!


• James picked out the green striped shirt, not the orange one. Not hesitation, no reconsideration.


• Last, but not least: we hatched a tadpole into a frog and released him out back, under a full moon! Neil Armstrong would have liked this audience.

Biggest thing in my universe this morning: first time James said "Aihhhh yuv oo" to me when I went to get him up.

Push It Real Good

We just got back from a fantastic trip to the speech & language therapist. First -- we got there ON TIME!!!! We met James' first case worker on the stairs. This is a wonderful woman who walked my husband and I through all our assessments and evaluations and signed us up, fast and furious, for all kinds of services to help our little guy. With a minimal of prompting, he said "Hi, Mary." She was so delighted! Last time she'd visited, he was just starting to say sounds and words. "Call me!" she said, as she dashed out the door to her next appt. and we marched upstairs to ours. The great thing is, she really means this.


I brought my daughter in to the therapist's office because we had to come up with a new appt. date & time. Summertime does that, I've noticed. James was talking so much more while he played, and handled the toys with confidence. After we'd hammered out a new interim schedule, the therapist helped me figure out how to get him to practice saying three- and four-word phrases. Talk about your heady mommy excitement! I remember crying this time last year, because at times I thought he would *never* talk!

It comes down to this: James needs to be pushed. Oh yeah, big guy! We will push it, real good! Meanwhile, I will treasure today -- the day you said "blue fish clock," "I want sucker, please," and "wha' is 'it?" Yay, James!

Adventure is Good for the Soul

I like being able to take our kids to different places, because our children are inquisitive and can enjoy simple things as well as a big show. This summer, we have lots of visits planned to family and friends. We've been to birthday parties, parks, the River, and the beach. Two weekends ago, we attended a big family event about two hours away.

James enjoyed it all: playing around, watching other kids, occasionally joining in a chase, and playing with light switches. But there is a picture that I really like of James right now:


To me it not only shows the person he's always been, but also the sweet, mischievous, fun-loving boy he is becoming more and more each day, as he figures out how to engage more with the world and use his new words.

Take Three

James is now starting to use three-word phrases!

He is also running around and saying "Oooh, pretty!" a lot. Like he did with "Ohhhh, man!"

Curious George is now his favourite thing.

Plus growling like a bear.

I have discovered that if I really want him to get up in the morning, all I have to do is tie his door open. It drives him nuts. I am an evil mommy!

More! Again!

James took it up a notch or two today. When I went in to get him up, he was reading a cloth book. He looked at me and said "book" and "bubble." Why this is big news: Usually he doesn't look at me when I come in, let alone talk to me about what he is doing. The book was turned to the page of a bubble bath. He and his sister took a bath last night, and he was very excited about that.

He started taking me by the hand or finger, talking to me to urge me somewhere and do something. He hasn't really done this before. Once was to change the TV channel, because he wanted Jack's Big Music Show. Once he grabbed my hand and said "up" and "poo-poo" because he wanted me to change his full diaper. He also wanted cookies from the pantry, but he hadn't eaten his dinner yet. He got a time out for throwing part of his dinner on the ground. Took two visits before he acknowledged the time out and said "okay" for agreeing to try again. We compromised -- he ate some alternative dinner and then he got some cookies.

I am thinking the temper storms are only beginning. He doesn't have a lot of ways to communicate. He will say "mad!" when prompted & he is MAD. But what to give him, as a replacement for screaming or hitting? It's the screaming that's the biggest problem. The hitting comes usually when he is tired, and he usually saves it for his family.

He picked out his shirt and socks. He and his sister played really well together on the playground after I voted this afternoon. They are holed up in her room right now, giggling and singing. Yay for siblings! Yay for siblings who play Tiger and tire each other out before bedtime!

Pep Talking

James started visits again to the speech & language center that he attended before going to preschool. He remembered the awkward turn at the Very Annoying Left Turn Light. He was very excited to see his therapist again, and remembered the way to her office.

Everyone exclaimed how tall he and his sister had grown in just five months. I had watched with pride how well James tackled the tall stairs on his own -- he'd either had to crawl up them on hands and knees or it took FOREVER, with me holding his hand. Right away, James started showing off his words, with naming the colours he saw, saying "ball" and "in" to describe his play activities, and saying "close" for "close-the-door-behindya-on-your-way-out-Mommy, why-don'tchya?" He sorted colours appropriately. He knew his favourite toys and their proper hiding places.

So now we have new homework: a "blackboard" with pictures on it and the simple, three-word sentences we will practice together and encourage his too say on his own. Because James is still a single-word kind of guy. (Not always -- yesterday I heard him croon "Oooh, pretty room!" for reasons unknown ... *shrug*)

Even though we had a very discombobulated bus driver this morning, summer school seems to have begun with a promising start!