HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!

Then

the goal was to get Aiden to point at the correct picture or item

as I said the word,

witch or ghost or bat or pumpkin,
to show us he could discriminate between the words,
and associate the word with the correct object.

it was a short seven months into his journey

to hear and speak.

He was 19 months old.

If we were lucky,

and we were,

we'd get a vocal "ee-ee-ee" for the witch

"oooo" for the ghost,

and "pa-pa-pa" for pumpkin.

in fact I remember being

ECSTATIC as he went a step further and called a pumpkin,
 "uH-uN"

it was pure bliss.

Now

two years later,

three and a half years old,

two and a half years into his hearing journey,

he TOLD me he wanted to be a 

"DOST"

for Halloween or a

"DIAHSOAR! ROAR!"

and proceeded to TELL me, every.single.day how a

"Jah-o-laher a face. eyes, nose, mouf"

and when I would ask, 

"What is a JACK-O-LATERN without a face called?"

He would yell, 

"Pumpkin!"

clear as day.

and he's added words like

scarecrow, skeleton, trick-or-treat, Halloween, costume, and scary.

This year on Halloween,

he RAN up to the doors, bag in hand,

and it was HIM I HEARD,
out of all the kids,

"TRIH-A-TREAT! oh, tank you!"

and my heart melted,

each.and.every.time.

HaPpY HaLLoWeEn!