Would you believe that one of my nearly three-year old twins actually knows some of his letters. Yes, that would be one of the very same twins who are largely non-verbal and who rarely use the sign language that they know and understand perfectly well. Those twins, but I digress . . .
Xander has been fascinated by letters and numbers lately. He loves to point at them, one at a time, and have you tell him what they are. We've been handed books and magazines and anything else with letters for weeks now, with that little stubborn (and insistent) finger pointing to things and that cute little face turned up in expectation. He does not like to be denied either, if you're wondering. His usual tantrum (angry sound and/or angry sign, and then running away to beat on something, like the door, in frustration) follows.
But, back to the progress. Today, we were sitting in our usual corner spot with Miss Kellie, who actually comes to work with Sawyer, and he was requesting his new favorite game - Mommy writes letters on the MagnaDoodle and then he points to them and Mommy tells him what they are (best gift ever, he says, with a big thanks to Uncle Brian, Aunt Andrea, and cousins Austin and Kyndal for his early Christmas present).
I mentioned the stinker mouthing the letters under his breath last time Miss April was over, but today with Miss Kellie he actually said the letters out loud! And they were mostly correct! He started with the MagnaDoodle, but actually did better with the wooden blocks that Sawyer got from Grandma and Grandpa at early Christmas. He said about 12 different letters as he picked up the individual blocks, only confusing the "B" and the "D" - which even Connor does at times! And when he got to one he didn't know, "W," Miss Kellie whispered it behind him and he actually repeated it! Letters and sounds - that are correct!
Of course, it could be fleeting, as many of his words are. He will say a complicated word or phrase once, usually under his breath or away from you, and then you cannot make it reappear. No amount of prompting, pleading or even bribing will work. He's stubborn and adamant in his refusal. But today he was vocal, receptive to encouragement and modeling, and even repeating things on request. He even asked for "juice" numerous times with the word!
Today was a good day . . . right up until Sawyer stuck the M&M in his nose. That story will come tomorrow.
