All about speech therapy

At the Cincinnati Zoo...on the train

Down in the basement workin' the car

Back home in the pool!

I did not post last week since we were on vacation with Greg's family and Timothy did great!

He was insanely good on the car trip to Cincinnati and cried twice for a total of five minutes. He was upset to have to sleep in his car seat rather than a proper crib or even a pack n' play. He resisted and did not sleep. Also he was upset for the last few minutes of our 12 hour trip - seems fair to me. He did so well with all the relatives it was amazing. In fact, he was better behaved on vacation then he is here at home. Of course, here he does not have four people doting on him constantly. The beginning of our trip was rainy and cold and the second half was perfect sunny weather. Even though we didn't get out much at first, Timothy still had fun exploring Susan and Micheal's basement with all of their fun toys - especially the battery-powered Jeep. We went to the Butterfly Exhibit at Krohn's Conservatory and to the Cincinnati Zoo both of which he enjoyed, especially as an opportunity to see other children. Everyone says the same things about him that he is alert, calm, a great eater and very smart. It's nice to hear these things since we have no clue as this is our first, but we are very spoiled, no joke.

One thing that's helped a great deal in understanding how well he is processing is our speech therapy. He's learned about twenty signs - his favorite (obsession) is 'light'. We were to teach him a few signs as a bridge to speech but once I got help from Leslie I just keep showing him more and more and he's picking them up quickly. Today we learned 'car' and he points to our car every time I say the word. Nothing, and I mean nothing is cuter than seeing him do the sign for 'dog' (which is hanging your tongue out of your mouth and panting). He stands kinda bent over to simulate the 'pant' part and sticks his little tongue out, I practically have to hug and kiss him every time he does it.

We have a long way to go with speech as he is only at 10 month level. He's very instructional with his grunting and pointing but he seems so gratified to communicate so much more clearly. We continue to emphasize the 'm' sound - he's actually pretty good at this especially when making the moo sound for a cow and the 'b' sound using baa. He even tries to say 'quack'. Of course he has surgery hopefully in June and we'll almost have to start at the beginning, sigh, with articulation.

It's such a responsibility to teach your child speech! I feel pressure to constantly teach and sometimes I just want him to play. But that's what parenting is all about anyway is teaching your child problem-solving skills, creativity, sharing, discipline. This gig is a lot harder than I thought it would be...the change in lifestyle, freedom - no problem, he's so easy anyway, I get a full night's sleep every night and he's had no problem lately taking his nap. The responsibility of teaching him is overwhelming at times, but he's just so sweet and getting sweeter with each day as he gets more attached.

We had our 18 month check up on Tuesday with the pediatrician - he seems to have grown an inch since we took him to the IA doctor last month but most 12 month clothes are still too big for him. He also had to get 4 vaccines - poor guy, not happy and a tiny bit crabby all day and Wednesday.

He still loves to play ball, any ball and walk outside. He watched his Daddy mow the lawn the other day and was beside himself with fascination and kept following him with his little walker, so cute and adorable. By the way - he knows the sign for Daddy but Mama, not so much.

It the pics above I kinda rushed the whole swimming thing - although it was 83 degrees it was a bit windy and we were in the shade and the water was pretty cold so as you can see he looks freezing. I would have moved the pool to the sunny spot except the pool weighs like 90 tons with water so we stayed put and he would not let me take him out.