Well, Shit

Ezra has been working hard with his OT, and as a result, his speech is coming along spectacularly!

Turns out, both systems are linked in the brain.  I *could* explain it to you scientifically the way his incredibly patient therapist did for me, but no doubt, I will mess it up.  So, just take my word for it.  And when one part of the child's life begins to improve, in Ezra's case, his sensory input, so does the other part--in Ezra's case, his speech and vocabulary.

We are literally seeing an explosion of words, and even sentences.  We praise him for each new word, so much that when he recognizes he's used a new word, he shouts, "WORD!  YAY!"

Ezra still resorts to his babbling and vocalizing when he's tired or overwhelmed, but for the most part, is trying to use words more. What's funny about his vocalizing is he seems most comfortable with it, lapsing into conversations, using his hands to talk, nodding to us, often pinching his little fingers together as if he's an Italian Mafioso, "Caphiche?"  

Most important about his verbal skills is he understands the words, using them correctly and contextually.

The other night Ezra was playing with his toys while Shawn, Avery and I were busy with other things.  We heard, "well shit," come from the living room while he was playing.  Something hadn't worked his way and he'd used the word correctly and contextually.  Shawn and I looked at each other: Do we praise him?  Do we correct him?  Do we ignore it???

Then we heard: "WORD!  YAY!"

Well, shit.

We did what the situation called for.  The only thing we could do.

We praised our two year old for using a curse word, correctly and contextually.

"YAY EZRA!  NEW WORD!"