A Word!

It seems so small, so simple. But it's not. Not when you're talking about a little boy who doesn't use them.

Today, Sawyer said a word.

It was clear and loud and completely appropriate.

It was lunch time, of course. We talk all the time about how much motivation matters to him. If there's no interest for him, he's generally not going to cooperate, at least not willingly. And lunch is one of his favorite things. He particularly liked this lunch day, which involved bread.

One of his teachers was asking him what he wanted. He was apparently gesturing and they simply kept asking him what he wanted.

"Bread!"

One word. So simple, and yet it isn't. He doesn't use words functionally at all right now. The only one he uses with any consistency is "Mama," and even that one is usually hit or miss.

But he said this one so loudly and so clearly that all three classroom teachers heard it. His primary teacher, Mrs. R even told me today that she turned around from what she was doing because she wanted to know who had said it as she didn't recognize the voice.

Sawyer said it. And the fact that he did, is truly amazing.

And we knew it about that very same day, because his teachers are also truly amazing. A bright spot in an otherwise off week at our house.

How Far We've Come

Today, Connor and I stopped in at the twins' school while class was still in session. As I drove past the preschool playground, I noticed Xander's class was outside for recess. This was not necessarily a good thing. He knows my truck. He knew that I was inside that truck. And he thought it was time to go.

He stood over at the edge of the playground fence, looking toward the truck. Connor and I got out to go inside. He stood there, staring at us as we made our way across the parking lot. I knew better than to try to hide from him, so I walked where he could see us until we reached the sidewalk. We were going to be turning in the other direction to go inside. He watched us the whole way, completely done with whatever recess he'd been enjoying just moments before.

When we were close enough for him to hear, I said "Hi, Xander!"

He grinned and said "Hi!" and started waving with his stiff little wave.

We still needed to go inside, so I looked over at him and said, "Bye-bye, see you!" as we started to turn and go the opposite direction (it's his script for good-bye). He said it back to us, waving even more enthusiastically.

The bad news is that he wasn't meaning that the way you would probably think. He was excited because he thought I was there to pick him up and take him "bye-bye," which wasn't exactly the case.

But we'll overlook that part. What was amazing about that moment was the interaction. He responded to both of my greetings, both verbally and with a wave. He was communicating appropriately and consistently.

A year ago, you wouldn't have gotten any of that. He might have stood by the edge of that fence and screamed and cried or even tried to climb over it to get to where we were standing. It's just another sign of how very far he's come in the last year.

As for why Connor and I were at school during the day ... well that's another post for later (once I've downloaded a picture or two to share).

Spell Boy

It's no secret that one of our little boys is a little bit obsessed with his letters. He's known them for quite some time, and he actually wanders around the house spelling things pretty much all day long. His favorite shows on PBS, Word World and Super Why, are where he picks up most of the words he knows how to spell.

Sometimes I think most of it is scripting. Because when he gets in one of his spelling moods, he often spells a series of words that go together (or are used together on a particular episode of the above shows). Things like "truck," "car," "boat," and "train" all in rapid succession. The words don't necessarily relate to anything you're doing or watching. They just come at random.

Today was different. Today my spell boy took one look at a real item, in this particular case a guitar sitting out in a house we were visiting, and he spelled the word "guitar" simply from memory. It was there. And so were the words "tuba" and "drum," which are from that same group on a particular episode.

But still. He spelled the word of the item that he wanted to play with at that exact moment. He was communicating, in his very own unique way. That's my boy.

First Time for Everything

Every day small miracles happen. Xander, my pickiest eater by far, surprised me today at lunch.

It was one of those days where I seriously contemplated bundling the boys up and taking them out to McDonald's for a picnic lunch in the truck. We've been in the house for three whole days now, and have at least one more to go. We also have about six inches of snow on the ground with the white stuff still falling (and that's a lot in our part of the world, if you're wondering). So that one more day may turn into three or four if the local schools stay closed.

But in the end, I decided it wasn't worth the risk. While I feel completely comfortable driving my four-wheel drive SUV on the dry snow (not wet snow and ice like earlier in the week), I don't have so much faith in everyone else. Usually it only has to rain for traffic accidents to spike in our city, so snow is a whole other level of bad things just waiting to happen.

So we stayed in. And I made the next best thing - chicken nuggets and french fries in the deep fryer (healthy, I know). I also made some homemade macaroni and cheese, because we hadn't had any in a while and it sounded good on this cold, snowy day.

And that's where the surprise came in. Connor and Sawyer usually eat just about any kind of macaroni and cheese, be it homemade or the kind from a box. Xander, however, never touches any of it. But I put some on his plate anyway, giving each of the boys the exact same thing. I'm nothing if not persistent, even after hundreds of refusals.

But then something amazing happened. He actually ate it.

To say I was surprised is an understatement. He's very particular about what he will allow in his mouth. I sometimes even have to force an unfamiliar piece of chocolate into his mouth just to get him to realize he does, in fact, like chocolate, even if he doesn't recognize the shape. He ate the macaroni like it was one of his usual staples - applesauce or yogurt. It just disappeared.

And then he looked up, said "More, please!" with the sign for "please" added on for good measure.

Wonders never cease.

The Letter Obsession

There was a time when I thought Xander's fascination with letters and spelling was cute. Who wouldn't? I mean how many three-year olds do you know that walk around saying the alphabet and spelling random words (perfectly, mind you)?

And it's still cute. And amazing, really. The kid knows his alphabet backward and forward. If you stop singing the alphabet song, he will cue you with the next letter or phrase. He can tell you what sound each and every letter makes. And he can spell probably a hundred or more simple words (think three to seven letters) and even say that word to you after he spells it.

But there comes a point in every day when the cuteness wears off. And you get really, really tired of saying letters and spelling words. Because it's all he wants to do. All day. Every day. From the minute he wakes up (after the "Hi! How are you? Good!" script) to the minute he goes to bed.

Oh, and his favorite bed time book right now? That would be The ABCs of Cookies - a little Sesame Street early reader he got from Grammy for his birthday. And yes, it has a big letter on every page that somehow relates to the process of making cookies. We go through it at least twice every night before bed time.

Did I mention obsessed?

Tall Tales

Of all the things Connor did while he was on vacation last week, his favorite seems to be riding the race cars. They did so many, many times. And the last time, he got to ride all by himself.

Grandma said he really liked that, though he did have a little trouble with the brakes when it was time to stop (nearly taking out the attendant as he made his way back into the pits). The Power Wheels don't have breaks, you see. You just let off the gas and it stops. Not so with race cars, apparently.

But to hear him tell it, he had quite an adventure.

"I got to ride race cars by myself. I went round and round, really fast. But then I crashed. The boy hit me, then I hit the wall and flipped upside down and landed on my head. And then it was a fire, and then a big boom! But then I drove back and the man held out his hand like this (making a fist) for me to stop. So I did. It was fun!"

Now, as I'm sure you've guessed, there was no crash or flipping upside down or landing on his head. And there certainly wasn't any fire or big boom. But Connor always includes these facts when he recites his story (which is often).

Regardless of what really happened, that's how he remembers it.

Spell Me a Song

My youngest child is fascinated (obsessed, shall we say) by letters. He randomly recites them, spells words (usually that he's seen on his favorite show, Word World), and spells anything he sees written (absolutely anywhere). Let's just say he loves his letters.

And he's even taken it a step further.

Back before I could convince the twins to sit still to listen to a book before bed (now a requirement for preschool, at least for one of them), I used to sing to them. Nothing fancy and certainly nothing that sounds very good, but just your typical children's songs. Our favorite (mostly because it was one of the few I could remember the words to) was always "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," which Connor used to request nightly. The twins would listen, but didn't really seem to care either way. They still don't.

But Xander has added a new request. And he cares very much. He doesn't just want me to sing it to him at night, he likes to sing it all day long if you're willing. It's the "ABC song." You know, just saying the alphabet in that sing-song voice, adding the line "Now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me?" to the end. That song. All day long.

One recital is never enough, either. It must be done over and over again until you finally just make him move on to something else. And if you happen to stop midway through, he will prompt you with the letter that is next (because obviously you've forgotten and need some help). He even prompts you at the end, saying "Now!" for the first part and "Ne-time!" for the latter (which should be "next time"). He knows the letters inside and out. He also knows that last line, though he will only prompt you with the first word(s) to get you to say it.

I guess the good news is he knows his letters at three and a half, right?

Quoted & Noted

When Connor was first learning to talk, he had some pretty cute "words" that he liked to say to us. My favorite of his was probably "tuck" for "truck," because he was fascinated with them and said it all the time.

And since Xander is the one who's coming up with new words these days, trying more and more to talk to us, he is the one who's starting to say those cute things. I hear my new favorite at just about every meal. Picky little things that the twins are, they eat the same things a lot.

"More!" Xander both says and signs to me, looking down at his plate.

"More what?" I ask, knowing exactly what he wants and where this is going.

"Eat!" he says and signs, then combines the two using both words and signs. "Eat more!"

"Eat more what?" I ask, still knowing.

"Apple-some! More apple-some!" he says, with a big grin for me because he knows that he is telling me what I want to hear and what I have been asking.

It's not perfect, of course, because what he really wants is "applesauce," but it's there. Apple-some. And I know what it means. He says it consistently, as he's digging his spoon into the empty spot on his plate where the applesauce recently was.

Small steps, but big moments. Appropriate signs and words. Attempts at new words. Responding to direct questions with appropriate answers. All good things.

Connor's World

Last night on our shopping trip, this was the bike that Connor kept coming back to over and over. It was the one that "looked like a motorcycle" and the one he enjoyed riding the most down the aisles of the toy section. It was reasonably priced, compared to other bikes the same size. Depending on how his interests go in the next couple of months, it (or one very similar) may arrive at our house for his birthday. He also spied a race car (covered) bike helmet that he "needed" to have, too. We'll see.

Fast forward to this morning on our stroller walk around the block. Connor is still big on taking his Big Wheels bike for these little trips, especially coming down the hill that is our driveway. It's a fun way to start, apparently. He's not so great on going up the slight inclines, but he does pretty well, all in all. He knows not to get too far ahead, and he knows to wait for Mommy or Daddy and to look both ways before we cross the streets.

So, we're just starting out on our first loop (with Buster along for his daily walk) when all of the sudden Connor stops on the sidewalk and turns around to look at me.

"Mom," he says. "This bike is getting pretty old, huh?"

I'm not exactly sure where this is going, so I agree. It is a bit old, considering he got it probably three Christmas holidays ago, when he was only two.

"Yeah," he agrees. "It's pretty old."

We keep going for a few minutes, and then he abruptly stops again.

"Mom," he starts again. "This bike is really old. I think I need a new bike, a bigger one, so the wheels can go faster and I can go better."

Ah, so that's where this is going. It seems our trip to the store and his test-drive have left a lasting impression. A whole day's worth anyway, which is a long time in little boy world.

Like I said, we'll see where his interests are in a few months, as his birthday gets a little closer. But I have a feeling a big boy bike and a race car (covered) helmet are in his near future.

Words

Language has been elusive for our twins. They babbled and started saying first words around their first birthday, but sometime in that second year the words just faded until they were all but gone by the time they turned three. For Sawyer, there are still no words. But for Xander, the words seem to be coming back.

It's been there for a while, a new word or two here and there. Not always consistent, and probably not always clear to those who don't know him well, but they are there. And they're heard more and more frequently. At one time, I could have counted the words he used consistently and appropriately on my two hands. But after the last few months, I probably couldn't even list all of the words he's starting to say.

Part of me was kind of waiting and watching, almost afraid to talk about how well he was doing for fear that it wouldn't last or that it would disappear just as those first words did. But every single day I hear new words. Not always articulate, mind you, but new words. He's saying the beginning sounds, trying to sound out things that he hears other people say. And he's putting a lot of new words together that I've never heard him say before. Of course, like so much with our twins, his words are only things that interest him, things like "bubbles" and "juice" and "want" and "throw" or something along those lines.

Beyond the words themselves, he's also learning context. He's been mimicking me, saying "hush" to Buster and "share" to Connor when he's not cooperating. So he's not only speaking, but he's using the words in appropriate situations.

And, perhaps most important, he is saying them consistently. He's trying, he's actually making the effort to communicate, out loud. That's huge.

One of his therapists always thought he was just being a bit stubborn and a bit of a perfectionist, that he was too afraid of saying the wrong thing so he simply didn't say anything at all. It wouldn't surprise me. It would actually explain things like him randomly saying, quite articulately and appropriately, things like "apple juice" and "garage" and "helicopter" one time after hearing it, and then not repeating it ever again. That was frustrating, to know that the words were there and he could very clearly say them, but it seemed like he just didn't want to.

Ever since the words went away, we've always hoped that they would eventually come back. We've always joked that one day the boys were going to surprise us by just randomly speaking in perfectly formed sentences. And while that would be nice, to hear what they're thinking and what they want and what they need said out loud, at least they're getting better with communication in general. They're both using gestures much more consistently and coherently.

And Xander, sneaky little Xander, is even beginning to use new words and familiar sign language to help get his point across. The words have not come easily for him, but I'm so incredibly proud and amazed each time a new one appears. It gives me hope, for him and for his brother, that one day those sentences will come, that we will be given the gift of seeing the world through their eyes and hearing it through their voices.

Totally Random

Often there are little things that the boys say or do that I think I will find time to write about. It doesn't always happen. Here are some of the better highlights from the last few weeks.

"It's cute-i-ful!" My four-year old has apparently combined the words cute and beautiful and made up his own new word. So last week when we were out shopping with Mommy's birthday money for a new swimsuit and summer sundress, he was in the dressing room with me. I would try something on and ask him what he thought. It was either "It's cute-i-ful!" or "No, I no like that."

"Mean Girls!" My four-year old's favorite anthem is apparently this song by country duo Sugarland. He doesn't know all of the words, but he certainly knows the chorus and sings along loudly (at the appropriate times, even) whenever the song comes up in my truck (it's one of our CDs). When you ask him what kind of music he likes, he's more than likely going to tell you "Mean Girls!" and sort of sing it rather than actually say it. Kind of cute.

As a three-year old, you obviously have very little embarrassment. Or at least my boys don't seem to. One day a few weeks ago, I was in the car pool line at preschool, waiting on the little guys. Xander came out first, which is rare, as his teacher holds him in the classroom until she sees our truck. Neither one of our boys do well with waiting for Mommy to move up in line. So I wonder what happened to Sawyer, who can usually be found waiting rather impatiently at the gate with the teachers. Apparently he had a little potty accident, because he soon came out walking in his tennis shoes with just a pull-up and a t-shirt. And he couldn't have cared less. If only we all cared so little!

Connor is notorious for running full speed at all times. He often has so much energy it feels like he's just running in circles in the house. (Just don't ask him to take Buster for a walk, or you'll hear "Shew, I tired!"). He also tends to be a bit careless. He runs into things, often because he's too busy seeing who's watching instead of looking where he's going. And he's actually learned Mommy's standard response, which is to simply "Be more careful!" The other day he was running around and slid across the laminate wood floors. He got right up, looked at me with an exasperated face, and said "I know, I be more careful!"

Most of the time, Connor is in a hurry to get bigger. Whether it's to play t-ball (actually baseball now, but Connor doesn't get that yet) like his big cousin Austin or to go to the big kids' school that we drive past every day on our way to preschool. He's always telling me that "I do that when I get a lil' bit bigger!" Like all of us, I suppose, in a hurry to move on to bigger and better things. But the other day he did a total reverse on me, and I couldn't help but laugh. The little guys have digestive issues, which means they get a laxative added to their juice every few days. It's a white powder that looks kind of like sugar. Connor always watches me as I'm pouring it in, and one day said very solemnly, "I have that I get a lil' smaller. One day I be smaller." Of all things to go back for, kid, that's not one of them!

One of the new signs that we've learned this year is the one for "wait," which the teachers use often and our kids certainly need. My boys are masters at using signs with sarcasm (and I can't imagine where they would get that trait from). They have long had their very own angry sign, which is essentially a short, hard clap with an accompanying short, hard sound. It seems the equivalent of a teenager mouthing off. Well, my little Sawyer, who doesn't usually even do the signs himself (he's far more likely to take your hands and make the sign with them), was taking a walk with one of his teachers down the hallway. They were getting close to the classroom when he decided he wasn't ready to go back just yet. So he stopped in his tracks and signed "wait" to the teacher, proceeding to go back in the other direction. He liked his one-on-one time much better, thank you.

And last, but not least, my stubborn little twin. You know, the one who can and sometimes does use real words but does not do so consistently. Well, the other night he was apparently too tired to remember that he doesn't speak to us. He was the first to get sleepy, so I carried him upstairs to give him a bath and get him into his pajamas. As he was laying there on the floor for his pajamas, he started rubbing his eyes. I said, "Poor baby, Xander's tired. Ready for night-night." He stopped rubbing his eyes, climbed up in to my lap and said, "Nye-nye."

Slowly, But Surely

Though he does not choose to say many words out loud, we have long thought that Xander has many more words than he is willing to share. He is definitely less social than a lot of kids his age, but he is also definitely more social than his twin brother. He engages, when he wants to, and interacts when it suits him. We have never truly worried about him being quirky and cool, at least not with the classic autism that Sawyer has been diagnosed with.

Xander's delay is largely speech. He also stopped talking (or trying to talk) about the same time that Sawyer did - about 2 years old. For both boys, the one word descriptions they had mastered just slowly faded, as though talking wasn't worth the effort anymore. Did Xander stop because his twin brother did, because his big brother suddenly began talking non-stop and there wasn't a chance, or because of something else?

We don't know.

But the words are there. You will hear them, often mumbled unexpectedly or just under his breath as he's walking away. Sounds, words, imitations of things that have just been said. Sometimes they're simple things like letters or beginning speech sounds like "sh" or "ba" or other simple combinations. Sometimes they are outright words, like "apple juice" or "garage" or "juice" or "more". Sometimes they are random, but more often than not they are appropriate. They are muttered after you have described the object or just after you have finished playing with an object. He knows what the words mean. He knows when and how to use them. He simply chooses not to.

Today, while playing outside, he spontaneously and appropriately said "Hi!" and waved. I had gone inside for a minute, and Josh and I returned to the deck and stood there watching the kids play on their new playground equipment. He happened to look up and see us there, said "Hi!" loudly and clearly, waved his hand with a grin, then proceeded to climb the ladder up to the slide.

There it was, so simple and so easy. Yet clearly it's not, because it doesn't happen all the time. It happens maybe one time in twenty. There is so much there, knowledge and understanding, he just isn't always willing to share it.

School has helped. We see a big difference in where he was just a few months ago compared to where he is now. We see progress, slowly but surely, in both of them. New environments, peer experiences, one-on-one teacher instruction, small group therapy - all good and helpful things.

Both of my little guys, coming along in their own time and in their own way.

Quoted & Noted

"Mommy," my four-year old says, waiting for me to stop what I'm doing and look at him before he continues. He needs my full attention, apparently. "I need to tell you somethin'."

"Yes, Baby?" I ask.

"Someday," he begins, looking down in that bashful way of his. "Someday soon we go to the beach!" As he says this last part, he raises his eyes with hopeful expectation and his little voice rises with each word, as though he just cannot contain himself anymore.

You see, last summer Grammy and her family took a trip to the beach. They invited Connor and he went along to become the life of the party. He remembers that trip. He usually names off every single person who went with them, as though reminding me which trip to the beach he's talking about (we sometimes go at Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa, too).

But he knows this trip was during warm weather, you see. Kind of like what we've had the last few weeks. So every day, at least four or five times a day, since the weather turned warm, we have this conversation.

"Someday soon we go to the beach!"

Perhaps he thinks that if he says it often enough, it might come true. So, if anyone is going to the beach in the near future, I know a little stow-away who swears to be a good little boy. He does hope there is a pool though, because that's equally as (perhaps even more) important than the beach.

Special Birthday Wishes

You can see more of baby Claire on her blog here.

New Word, New Friend

Today was family story time in Xander's preschool classroom. Once a month, the teachers invite family members in for a special reading by someone from the community (or sometimes just the teacher) and a copy of the book is sent home to add to the child's collection. Connor and I have made several of these visits, knowing that one of these days I might actually make it back to work and not be able to fit in all these little extra moments of seeing the kids actually at school.

After story time, I had a chance to talk with both of his teachers. It seems Xander has made a good friend, a little boy named Jacob. He even said his name today, out loud, on the way back in from recess. He does that, from time to time, saying real words out loud that you may or may not hear again for months. Time will tell on this one, of course, but it's the first name I think I've ever heard (or heard of) him saying.

And although it shouldn't surprise me at all, it did a little bit. Jacob, like Sawyer, has autism.

When it came time to register the twins in preschool, we decided to separate them so that Xander might have a chance to be around more traditional peers, more talkative peers. His biggest delay seems to be speech, without many of the social limitations that Sawyer seems to have. But of all the kids in the class to befriend, Xander picked the one who is most like his twin brother (although his friend is more verbal). For whatever reason, Xander is comfortable with him and that's just fine. He's moving forward. Friends. Words (names even), out loud. Listening and participating. Transitioning. All good things.

Connor's World

After yesterday's misadventures, I'll go with something a little more fun today. My four-year old is full of lots of random thoughts and directives. And yes, he expects all of them to be followed. That's a product of being our "have suitcase, will travel" child (usually with grandparents or other people who love him and spoil him).

"I do that, when I get a lil' bigger." This is his answer to absolutely everything, especially if you tell him not now. He's decided if he's not allowed to do it when he wants to, then perhaps he must wait until he's a little older and a little bigger. Today he said it as I was driving. As in, he'd like to drive. "I do that, when I get a lil' bigger."

"Someday Grandma and Grandpa get a big house," he muses on our way home from the lake. I chuckle, because Grandma and Grandpa already have a very big house at the lake. But I also ask why, just because I'm curious where this is going. "Then they put a big houseboat in the garage." Ah, that explains it. You see, most of the boats on the lake this time of year are either fishing boats or houseboats. He'd seen a lot on his visit and thought his grandparents needed to get one. But they can't have one until they get a bigger house, so it will fit in their garage. You know, with their other boat and the cars and the truck.

"I not picking my nose!" he proclaims, completely out of no where and without being either looked at or spoken to. That would be the first sign that he is, indeed, picking at the sore he's scratched to death on the inside of his nose and now has blood running down his face.

"Hush, Louie. Hush!" he shouts. "No bark!" Clearly he listens to his mother sometimes. Because she's been saying this a lot this week, as he barks at everything and nothing and drives the neighbors crazy!

"Not today," he says, completely decided. We hear this one a lot. If he's not ready to do something, even if it was not a request, he simply says it. "Not today."

"I do it by myself!" This one is usually shouted in frustration. Whether it's trying to take his clothes off or put them on, whether he's trying to get out of the car seat and the truck, or whether he's simply working with some toys. He's very independent at times.

"You help me?" he alternately asks. He can also be very needy. If he's feeling particularly ignored (say the last few days, when little brother has been sick and pitiful), then he needs help with everything from opening the bathroom door to sitting with him while he goes potty.

So, now you know what our world sounds like these days. There are, of course, many, many more. But these are the ones we hear the most right now (and that I can think of as I type).

It's Hard to Be Me

Race cars. Every day. Swimming pools. Every afternoon. Popcorn and Coke (or actually, Pepsi, if I know Grandpa). Every single night. Undivided attention. All day, every day.

It's hard to be Connor right now, isn't it?

He's spending Spring Break with Grandma and Grandpa, having the time of his life and barely remembering us back at home. He spent a few days at their cabin at the lake, now he's in the mountains for a few days (hence the race cars and swimming pools), and tomorrow he will head back to the lake. He's definitely our world traveler, at all of four years of age.

He did condescend to say hello to his mother for a few minutes tonight on the phone, but only after some serious prompting from Grandma. His first response was,

"Not today."

Talking to Mommy is the first step toward coming home, you see. And he's not quite ready for that. Not today. Maybe not tomorrow or the next day. School doesn't start back until Tuesday, you know. He might be ready to come back for that.

Quoted & Noted

"It's share time!" he says, very forcefully and exaggerating the "share" part of it. "No tell me hush, time to talk, it's share time!"

Somehow, some way, he's using "share time" from school - where the kids bring in an item to talk about during circle time every day - to justify his need for non-stop talking. I don't even want to know how the connection was made. Perhaps because he's not nearly as talkative at school as he is at home. Or perhaps because he's asked and expected to talk at that time.

In passing, I once asked his teacher if she had trouble keeping him quiet during class, thinking this might be an area where he would need work. She stared at me blankly, as if I had said something so completely ridiculous she wasn't sure she heard me correctly. She recovered, then told me that they didn't have that problem with him, that he actually had to be prompted into talking. Prompted! This from the boy who never, ever stops talking at home, or in the car, or in the grocery or anywhere except school, apparently.

And don't think that I don't see the irony. I absolutely do. One child who talks as though it's more essential than breathing. Two who are completely uninterested in talking (at least with words). One child who we constantly beg for just a few minutes of peace, only to hear things like this . . .

"No tell me hush, time to talk, it's share time!"

And two who we would give almost anything to hear words from.

Not a lot, mind you. Just a few, every once in a while, that would be nice.

Spell Boy

"Es-sa!" (translated, "S"!)

In terms of actual words, he still doesn't say a whole lot for his age. You hear the occasional "No, no, no!" and "Yes, yes, yes!" (which are extremely cute in their own way, especially now that he's using them in the appropriate context, you know, if repetitively counts). You also hear a random word here and there, often one much more complex than you would expect for someone who doesn't really, well, talk.

But, here lately, he's been fascinated with letters (obsessed, really). He knows all the upper letters by sight and some of the lower case letters, too. He can also say them in order, on days when he is so inclined, all the way from A to Z.

Here lately, he's been doing something else. He walks around spelling words. Out loud.

It's nothing to hear "sh-S-H-O-E - shu" or "F-R-I-E-N-D-fa-nd" from him. He also says / spells "music" and "canoe" and "boat" and "pie" as well. He doesn't try to say all of them, but does try to say some of them. "Shoe" is far and away his favorite. He spells it all the time. I'm sure people think it's odd, hearing him spell shoe as he walks in to and out from school, as we go though the drive-thru, as we shop at the grocery, as we walk around the block, and just about anywhere we go.

And while we will claim some credit for his new ability (not much, really), because we do encourage the spelling and the trying to speak on a few levels. We almost always repeat them back to him (which he demands, in his oh-so-impatient way). And we do things like making letters on the MagnaDoodle for what feels like hours, and we even get out the magnetic letters (that end up all over the house) for the boys to play with on a pretty much a daily basis.

But the majority of the credit has to go to PBS - and his two favorite shows of all time - SuperWhy and Word World. If you have toddlers, and your not adverse to television, these shows are actually kind of cute. And clearly they have some educational value. My three year old knows his letters. And it's the first thing that's interested him enough to actually try to speak.

Small steps . . .

I'll Get It

The other day, I was taking some trash (meaning dirty diapers) out to the trash container in our driveway. It takes less than a minute, but that was long enough apparently. Josh just happened to call while I was outside, and I didn't hear the phone ring.

When I came back in, there stood my four-year old in the middle of our disaster of a living room - you know, couch cushions all on the floor, pillows thrown everywhere, and toys as far as the eye can see - and he was "talking" on the phone. Not the play phone, but the real one. I heard things like . . .

"I talking to Daddy. Yes, yes. I know. That's right. Ha, ha, ha. Okay, then. (Random jabber that made no sense). Mommy's not here. Yeah, I see you later. Bye!"

My first thought was "How cute is he," having a pretend conversation that makes quite a bit of sense (minus that middle part of jabber). My second thought was "Why does he have the real phone" because I know that he knows better and he's never really tried to play with it before.

I walked over and held out my hand, explaining that we do not play with the real phone, and he quietly and obediently handed it over (which surprised me). I looked down and noticed that he had, indeed, pushed the talk button because the timer was still counting. I clicked "End" and set it back on the base.

Before I had taken two steps away, the phone started ringing.

I thought, "Oh, no, who has he called and what has he done now?"

Turns out he was not playing with the telephone, he was merely answering it because it rang and Mommy was not there to get it.

"Is Connor your new secretary?" my husband wanted to know. It seems he had actually been talking to Daddy, not just having that pretend conversation I imagined, and I had hung up on him without bothering to check! Oops.

So, do we see why our front door has a key deadbolt on the inside? My four-year old is a bit too friendly. He opens up doors, answers phones and just starts chatting away!

So, if you call our house, you have been warned. If a small voice starts saying random things, you might want to hang up and call back later! Asking to talk to Mommy won't help, according to Josh.