Tidbit: Cake

We went to church today, something we don't do regualary, but would like to. Anyway they were celebrating graduations and serving cake after the service. I grabbed a piece and we all headed out to the sandbox so Greyson could play for a bit. After the cake was gone I headed back up to the church to return the fork. I was about half-way there when Greyson started following. Michael asked where he was going and Greyson, the child who 6 months ago didn't talk at all, looked at Michael and clearly said "I'm going to get some cake."

Well, we gave him cake!

I'm amazed every day with how much he talks now. How he clear it is and how complex his sentences are. Totally worth the extra cake!

Chatter Box

Greyson is officially a chatter box. The kid who wouldn't talk less than 4 months ago, now won't stop talking. And it's not just that he repeats words, it's that he tells me things, in sentence format!

Here are just a few things he says with some regularity:
"Mommy lay down." (when he wants me to lay down next to him in his bed)
"Mommy read it." (when he wants me to read him a book, while laying down next to him in bed)
"Mommy play trains" (or blocks or cars. Whatever he wants me to do with him.)
"Greyson put socks on." (He really wants to be able to put his own socks and shoes on, we just aren't' there yet.)
"Daddy home yet?" (almost heartbreaking, but starting about 5:30 Greyson is on the lookout for his daddy!)

There are so many more. Really I can't get over it. The light bulb turned on and it is 100 watts when I was expecting 25!

Fun with my little man

Greyson is suddenly a lot of fun. Not to say he wasn't fun before, but now we can really DO things. We can play with play-dough, color, build blocks, set-up the train track, even watching movies together is more fun. He's moved out of "side-by-side" play and now he gets playing together. It's fun. I love being his mom and getting to things like making play-dough noses together.

It also helps that he talks more...SOOO much more. In fact my "strong and silent" guy is now officially a chatter-box. He narrates almost everything he does and has gotten really good about asking for the things he wants. The only issue is that sometimes we can't figure out what he wants. This morning he kept saying "kind". It was clearly "kind", but what on earth did he mean by that?! I finally figured it out! He wanted a specific KIND of cracker. Previously when I had opened the cabinet and asked him what he wanted to eat I said "Do you want this kind" and pointed to one of the many, many boxes of crackers we have in the house. Well now that kind has been linked in his little head with the word "kind". I'm not sure what to do with that, but as long as we can figure things out I think we are okay.

We have WORDS! PLURAL!

Nearly a year ago Greyson said his first word - Dada. We were sure that more would follow shortly. Then we thought that more words would come by the spring, then the summer, then the fall. 2 weeks ago his speech therapist practically threw up her hands in frustration. He's been seeing a speech therapist every other week for over a year now. No of her "tricks" have worked. There was simply no good reason for him not to be talking. He can hear, he understands what we are saying - he can even follow complex directions. He babbled, he signed, but the kid would NOT TALK!

Until this week. I don't know what finally clicked in his head but suddenly Greyson is talking! YAY!! It is making life SOOOO much easier. Now that he can tell me what he wants the head banging has decreased significantly. In fact I don't think he banged his head once yesterday - VICTORY!

So here is the current word list - with more being added all the time!

• Dada
• Mum-mum
• Juice
• Eyes
• Up
• On
• Off
• Out
• Broom
• This-One
• That
• Ice
• Baby
• Go
  
• "Oh" - for Open
• "Gah" - for Grapes

Plus he knows and can say the alphabet up through I!

I know that he's said more. We are working on Zip and Shoes too. He'll repeat them but hasn't said them on his own yet.

Everyday he is saying more and more! Finally, the words we've been waiting for have kicked in!

We have a word!

YAY! Greyson speech therapist will be so happy!

He's saying "JUICE" and meaning juice! It is great. We have never been big on giving Greyson juice, it just seemed unnecessary. But at the grocery store yesterday I found "VRUIT" and thought I would give it a try. I bought the Berry Blend which is just: Apple Juice, Carrot Juice, Raspberry Juice, Red Grape Juice, Beet Juice and Celery Juice (Water, Juice Concentrates); Natural Flavors, Vitamin C, Beta-Caroten. It sounded good to me.

I mixed Greyson a small cup of half water and half vruit and said "This is juice, would you like some juice?" He drank it all and then went to the fridge and said "Juice?" I made him repeat it several times to make sure my ears weren't playing tricks on me. Nope, he said juice and he wanted more juice. You can bet I gave him some more.

Since them he has asked for juice by name several times. YAY!!