Sudden Explosion ...

like, out of nowhere?

Okay. I'm admitting it, I have a little OWD - "Obsessive Worry Disorder" when it comes to Aiden. Yes, I worry A LOT about his progress - not only in speech, but with his gross motor skills and being able to sit still. I'm his mom. I can't help it.

If you haven't noticed, I have not updated his list of "words" in QUITE.SOME.TIME. Like, since November. Ya, been a bit busy. Honestly though, I haven't been writing them down because a lot of times his words are here one day gone the next; plus a lot of them are more imitations than actually using them spontaneously in context. So being the OWD type of person I am, I decided to make a list of ALL words, but identifying which were spontaneously used in context and which were mere imitation.

With my new goal, I have been stalking my son with a notebook and pen the past few days and I gotta say, the boy is talking. Talking SO much more than this busy mom gives him credit for. I'm not going to wait anymore for that perfect sounding "dog" before I count it as a word. By golly, if I know he's saying dog and he's actually saying it as he points to a dog, the boy gets credit in my book.

It's funny how quiet he is in therapy or even when I'm working with him one on one at home. I asked our Regional Infant Hearing Advisor if she'd do therapy in our car ... because once we leave there, he's nonstop. So I decided to see what he had in his own territory, on his own time, without him knowing someone was "watching him".

and some examples ... (btw, do you know how hard it is to try and to write HOW your toddler says a word? It's not like you can stop and ask them, "can you please repeat that?" Not easy.)

Monday 6/28

We followed each other, doing our own things, but I made it a point to jot down everything I heard (and understood) that he said in context:

• ha (hot) - as he put his hand on the dryer as I was folding clothes
• da ih (got it) - as he picked up a puzzle piece off the floor
• bah (ball) - playing ball
• on - as he went around turning ALL the lights on as he does ALL the time
• dye-dye (bye-bye) - as he waved to me to go get into trouble in the bathroom
• ahey, et, O (ready, set, go) - as he pushed his car across the floor
• ow!
• hi! - his all time new (yet old) favorite

Less than 10 minutes worth. If that. I was floored.

Highlights from stalking him the past two days:

Tuesday 6/29

• Told his dad to "et own" (get down) as he tried to pull him out of a chair
• Would say something close to "o urn" (your turn) as he played Wii with his sister
• "ance" (dance) as he brought me the Laurie Berkner DVD to watch
• "boo" (book) to read him a book
• "awsh" and "upsais" as we heading upstairs to take a bath.

and get this (we've been practicing and introducing all the sports the past couple of weeks as this summer's main theme):

• "astabah" (basketball)
• "oobah" (football)
• "asbah" (baseball)
• "oot" (shoot)

Wednesday 6/30

I'm not big with flashcards, but Aiden loves them. Every once in awhile I'll bust them out to get him to practice his pointing at the correct object and get him to imitate the sound/object name.

Out of 20 cards, he spontaneously said 12 of them PLUS added in a the animal sounds or signs. The one that surprised me most was DOG. I've been trying to get him to SAY dog FOR.EV.ER. He's always done a raspberry sound for some reason. Today he flat out said "DAH"! I nearly fell off my chair.

Those were the cards. Today, my little out of nowhere chatterbox,

• asked for a piece of "she" (cheese)
• FINALLY made a WONDERFUL /ee/ noise (without all the nasal nastiness) when prompted by an M&M (my new bribery tool)
• "ah don, et own" (all done, get down) after dinner - does that count as a FOUR WORD SENTENCE?!?
• and the BEST PART OF THE DAY ... while I cooked dinner he was playing with the dishwasher buttons. As he pushed each button, he'd COUNT! "UN, OO, (something random for three), O, I, SIs" He counted to SIX! We count all the time, but I've never heard him count without imitating me before! WOW.

I think I'm going to take the rest of the week off. The boy's a genius! (I can say that ... I'm his mom!)