Today while unloading the dishwashers Thomas asked for help finding his shoes. I told him I needed to finish what I was doing. His response was "I hep you finis de disses, and den you hep me find my saddals?" He then proceeded to help me unload the dishwasher and put away the silverware while I reloaded, asking me for help with a few pieces whose locations he wasn't sure of. After which we went upstairs together and found his sandals so he could go watch his dad mow the lawn. It was a sweet few minutes for us, but what really made my heart glad was that one little sentence.
Except it wasn't a little sentence. It is actually quite a big sentence. There are multiple clauses, if-then correlation, sequencing, tonal fluctuations, two subjects, fourteen words. A year ago, he had about ten sounds that had attached meaning. I couldn't even call most of them "words" because "ba" meant ball, bath, baby, water, up, etc.
we had him evaluated to see if he qualified for speech therapy with Early Childhood intervention, and at 24 months old he had the communication skills of a 14 month old. At 26 months he began working with a wonderful speech therapist. And now, a few days before his third birthday, he is speaking in complex sentences. I have seen him progress throughout this year, heard his rapid growth, but it wasn't until that sentence today that I truly realized just how far he has come.
I am grateful for the dedication and love from his speech therapist who worked with him, encouraged him, and gave the interest and confidence in speaking that I could not muster. Even though Thomas no longer receives her services, she will always be a huge part of his development. Without her help, he would be a different child.
I love listening to his sweet little voice, watching his mouth trying to form unfamiliar words and sounds. He still has trouble often pronouncing things perfectly, but he is now mostly intelligible. And there are times when I just have no earthly idea what he is trying to tell me, but generally he is able to show me what he is trying to say and we work on new words or better pronunciation. He is excited to learn new words and tries hard to be understood, whereas a year ago, he just didn't seem to care.
I am so grateful for the amazing progress that he has made. It has been wonderful to realize this growth in my little boy.
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