Thursday, January 15, 2015

And suddenly there were sentences!

"Come over here!"  Paul turned around from the doorway and repeated the words to me.  "That's what she just said!  She just looked at me and said 'come over here.'"

We're having a sudden explosion of language in the house, two and three word phrases being bandied about in a beautiful clear, crisp little voice.  She dropped something and looked at one of her favorite therapists and said "where'd it go?"

As I tucked her in last night she grabbed my hand and said "I want..." her voice trailed off.  I knew what she wanted.  I'd been saying "round and round the garden, like a teddy bear, one step, two step tickle under there" while making little circles on her hand before tickling her.  She'd said "Round and round" at least twenty times.  This time she stopped and thought while I waited for her to ask for round and round again.  Instead she said "Mama.  Happy!" before going back to asking to be tickled.

After a year of days sprinkled with one word at a time, those hard won words are now being fitted together into sentences.  Although the sentences aren't always so clear.

Last night after Patch got out of his bath and into his pajamas he made a mad dash for my room and threw himself into the 'big bed.'  Mae, who'd already been tucked in, yelled from her doorway to let me know that she had seen him sprint by and that it wasn't fair that he was in the big bed.  So I opened the door and she sprinted by and climbed up and slipped under the covers.  I climbed in between them, making sure each had a little bit of pillow (Patch was trying to take all the pillows in the bed for himself) and listened as Mae started to say a sentence over again.

"Ha bow ee ur ahff a ight."
"Ha bow ee ur ahff a ight."
"Ha bow ee ur ahff a ight."

Suddenly it clicked.  At least the first half did.

How about we.  How about we.  How about we.

As she continued to say the whole phrase seemed just out of reach.  The intonation and meter to the way she said the words tickled at the part of my mind that was trying to make sense of what she was saying.  I followed her eyes up to the light and fan in our room.

How about we turn off the light.  How about we turn off the light.  How about we turn off the light.

I listened as she said it again and again.  It was a perfect fit.

So we have phrases and sentences (although I may only understand a quarter of them) in sudden abundance.

Yesterday I spoke with her OT and she thinks that the sensory problems and frequent melt downs we've been facing could be linked to the sudden burst in language skills.  Sometimes huge steps forward are accompanied by difficulties in other areas (especially sensory areas) and that may be what that is.  Her little mind and body are working extra hard growing right now (she also seems to be going through a growth spurt) and haven't quite adjusted to all the changes, making this month and exciting and yet difficult time.

And I can hardly wait to hear what she has to say next!

10 comments:

  1. Great news.
    What a blessing little Mae is.

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    1. We're so excited! Every time she puts a few words together I'm on cloud 9!

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  3. Oh, this is wonderful! I'm so happy for you and for her, too! Boy, do we ever take clear communication for granted!

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    1. Thank you! And it's so true! I'm finding I appreciate how easy words seem to be for Patch so much more after the girls!

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  4. That's awesome! You must be so excited. I know I'm excited any time my three year old picks up a new word and just thrilled anytime she strings three or more words together in a sentence. I keep telling myself that one of these days she's going to start talking up a storm.

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    1. Totally! And these days when Sadie is in the middle of a long, long story about something random I remember those days when I was thinking the same thing! Once she started talking it was nearly non-stop!

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  5. I'm so thrilled for you! That's so wonderful. I've been following for a while and I just love hearing about the little progresses that happen with your babies. I'm also so impressed with all the love and energy you put into being their mom. They are so lucky to be your kids!

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