today was H’s first visit with the early intervention specialist who will be doing his “speech therapy”. not so much therapy but playing and singing in a way to encourage vocalization and sound recognition. lots of chatter about what H can and cannot do, what our “goals” will be. really, my only goal is that he doesn’t fall significantly behind his peers. playing catch-up is more work, so i just prefer to stay on top of things.

then this evening we were enjoying a wonderful dish of crock pot chicken and i asked him (via sign) if he wanted a drink of milk. guess what the kid did?! he reached for his glass of milk. i nearly fell off the stool. i hadn’t noticed any real signs of him connecting words / signs with real objects and meaning, but he did it! then i called KLM to verbally celebrate and as i was rehashing the not-so-long story, i said “i signed milk” and then henry reached for his cup again. wow, this kid’s on a roll!

i proceeded to tell KLM later that it was wonderful reinforcement – not just for H, but for me. sometimes i seem silly or like an excessively overachieving mom when i sign to him, especially in front of others. but to see him make a recognition – and to know that he wanted milk, not more chicken – is such a delight. we communcate so much in giggles, cries and jumping legs that to begin to see signs of verbal communication was very exciting.

and to top it off, he has been in a great mood all night. he even let me change out some of his clothes in his drawers. can you believe we’re moving into the 12 month stuff?? crazy. but what a sheer delight this kid has been today. (i guess a 3 hour nap will do that to you!)