Just say it, please!

For awhile I thought he had problems with the muscles in his mouth (Apraxia), because sometimes when he opened his mouth to say something his tongue would just dart around everywhere and words would fail to come. Now I believe he can say anything. Sure some of the consonants could use refinement and his grammar isn't the best. He always pronounces cookie as tookie, lion as wion, water as wader, but I look at these as 3 yr old kid pronunciations.

He has short sentences, most scripted but we all have to start somewhere. His conversations have few exchanges but we are seeing more and more back and forth.

He shows his teasing sense of humor at the dinner table while we eat. Putting his knees in his chair he puts the weight of his upper body on his elbows, leans sideways, looks at his Dad and says "I gonna fall!" in the cutest sing-song southern drawl.
"You're not gonna fall if you straighten up in your seat." Dad responds.
"I gonna fall!"
"No you're not, sit down right and eat."
"I gonna fall Daddy!" He screams and laughs. Daddy just can't help but smile because it is too darn cute and he said "Daddy."

I had swore that if he ever said "Mommy" I would probably faint from shock. I used to spend so much time teaching him that word, just to have him stare blankly back at me or say something totally different. He started talking never saying it and then when he did, he was only making noises. He wasn't talking about or to me at all. I was sick of all the evaluators and his OT calling me "Poor thing." when they found out.

One night at dinner we were playing a game of "who is that?". We would point to another person at the table and ask "Connor, who is that?" Finally one night I was blessed and he said "Mommy" and was talking about me! I didn't faint or fall out of my chair but sat there and cried a little, hoping that it wouldn't discourage him from saying it again.

It hadn't discouraged him and we are hearing it more and more. One night last week when it was Daddy's night to tuck him in, he sat up real fast looked around his room and asked "Where Mommy?" I was in the bathroom and heard him. Between you and me, that felt really really good.

Labeling

It's mid morning and Connor and I have chores to do. I have to fill the car up with gas and run to the grocery again. The gas station is at one end of the neighborhood and my preferred store is at the other forcing me to cut back through. This always causes a bit of a screaming session as he knows his way home from there. I get in the turning lane waiting on the light and a look in the rear view mirror tells me that he is getting ready to protest. He is looking around frantic. His mean Mother is going back home already! What about the store?

I have a moment of what I think is genius and decide since there is no traffic I will go to the next light and throw him off a little, screams and panic averted. I pull into the next light's turning lane and as we turn he starts to panic. This path has not gone completely past the putt-putt with the statues of elephants, giraffes, and zebras, but just barely put it within eyesight. I have not slowed down to talk about them and let him look or made any animals noises with him. This is not acceptable and will not be tolerated!

The tantrum is short lived and by the time we reach the grocery store he is perfectly fine. He holds my hand going in but releases it once we are in the first set of doors. The very wise people of this store put the gum ball and other candy machines at the doors as you enter instead the exit doors. I would think it should be the other way around allowing a parent to have a little foresight and gather change as they purchase their items. Knowing that this is how it is and little guy haven gotten into the routine I have my change purse filled with quarters. He stands in front of the one he wants and points "Ball"
"Honey, what is that?" I ask him because he is pointing at gum balls.
"Candy!" he says while making the sign.
He gets his earned treat and we do our shopping.

"Baby, Baby, Baby." I look to see where the baby is and see instead a little boy that looks to be a tad older than him. Connor is pointing at him and chanting "Baby"
This is something we have been trying to work on so I say "Boy" hoping that in getting him to stop calling children his own age babies, I might also get the added benefit of teaching him "Boy, Girl."

No matter how many times I say "Boy" I am answered back with "Baby" Afraid that we might hurt the little boy's feeling who is probably convinced he is a "Big boy" not a baby, I move on. We spend sometime in the pet department because he can see the sign from miles away.
"Wader" he points at the tanks.
"Whats in the water?"
"Feeesh!"
We move on to the hamsters "Squeak, squeak, squeak!"
Moving farther we come up on some Guinea pigs "Doggie! Ruff ruff!"
"Guinea pig."
"Doggie! Ruff Ruff!"
"No baby, Guinea pig" Oh damn, no wonder he calls kids his age babies.

I leave the pet department and check out as we make our way out he sees a soccer ball shaped balloon.
"Ball!"
"Good job, big boy!" Well what would you say?

Children songs now rated PG13

My little guy is very speeched delayed. He can say lots of words in form of identifying and in form of mands (asking for something), he can say some sentences or fractions there of, but these sentences are very new to the equation and are for the most part echolalia. I have sometimes wondered if he doesn't have apraxia, as sometimes he opens his mouth to say something and his tongue will not cooperate and just shoot back and forth in his mouth.

We had a wonderful OT until recently, her services had to end because Connor turned 3 and was no longer eligible for her program. She is very tactile defensive, so it was very funny to see her with my very tactile/sensory seeking son. But she came up with the best ideas. I suppose maybe she did this going off of what she herself couldn't stand. So when she said during one of her visits,
"I would love to see what he does with a vibrator in his mouth."

I have to admit that my first reaction was one of shock. So she explain to me that she was talking about a zip vibe, which is sort of like a battery operated toothbrush but has rubber tips he can bite on instead of the brushes. This was intended to make him more aware of his jaw muscles and such. Well this worked but a little too well or maybe my timing for it was all wrong. Long story short he had to bite something and when biting his own leg didn't produce satisfactory results he bit into a bar of soap. Chaos then erupted for a big part of the night.

We have since decided to stick with more low key tactics. Even though he does have a touch screen and programs he loves along with PCS cards and such, he loves music. He especially loves children's songs where you either have to do dances or hand gestures while singing. (Itsy Bitsy Spider, Wheels on the Bus, etc.) He can only allow one person at a time to sing with him, any intruder will find a little hand over their mouth. If there are more than one intruder on the sing-a-long he will flee. As has been the case at every birthday party so far. Hubby hasn't been allowed to join in on the singing very often, because he either doesn't know the right words or he messes up the hand gestures.

Last night as Hubby was lying down, Connor came in to play. He takes Hubby's head in his hand to make sure he has his attention.

"Asses?"
"What buddy?"
"Asses?"
"Uh..asses?"

Connor starts to jump on the bed and taking big bounces he sings as loud as he can.

"Asses, asses, we all fall DOWN!"