Naturally, when I asked him, Nick refused to repeat the word "bib" so I just decided it was another pop-out word that I probably wouldn't hear him repeat again for a while, and didn't push him any further. But later that night, I heard him make the "beb" sound a few times, which eventually turned into "bebe" and then gradually into "bebeee". I was so excited and started asking him to say it repeatedly, and every single time, he confidently said "bebee!"
I attempted to morph his "bebee" into "bah-bye" for "bye-bye" and occasionally he would change his vowel sounds to match my "bye-bye".
I was super excited and couldn't wait to show the babysitter the next morning. Naturally though, in true stubborn Nick form, when I dropped Nick off on Tuesday and asked him to say "baby" for her, he essentially refused, and ran off to play.
But when we got home yesterday afternoon, Nick again started saying "bebee!" over and over. I was so proud, but my heart about leaped out of my chest when Whinnie walked into the room and Nick looked right at her and said "Puh-pee!"
Certain I either misheard him, or he just had a fluke pronunciation of 'baby', I said "that's right, Whinnie is our puppy!" to which Nick started repeating over and over "puh-pee!" Clear as day - no mistaking his 'p' sound for the 'b' sound. (I should note here that we never call whinnie a dog, and just as much as we call her "whinnie" we also call her "puppy" - so it's pretty certain that he picked it up from us.)
In the last 8-10 months, Nick has not been making any 'p' or 'b' sounds -- and he rarely, if ever, puts together consonant sounds followed by vowels. But yesterday he had a HUGE breakthrough. He was not only attempting the words baby and puppy, but he was completely owning them!
I was concerned this would be forgotten overnight, but this morning, before he'd even had a chance to wipe the sleep from his eyes, the first thing I asked him was "Nick, can you say 'baby'?" and he yanked his pacifier out of his mouth, grinned really big and said "bebee!!" So I followed it up with "can you say 'puppy'?" and just as clearly, he said "puh-pay!"
Once we got to daycare this morning, I again had him repeat the words several times for the babysitter, this time using the 9 month old baby at daycare as "bait" for the word, and Nick was so awesome, he looked right at her and said "bebee!!", and then repeated "puh-pay!" when we asked. SO FREAKING AWESOME. I can't even explain it.
I thought I was proud before? Not even close to how my chest was puffing out this morning.
I came home and immediately emailed our speech therapist to tell her about Nick's progress. I can't wait for him to show her tomorrow!
Next up is to work on the 'm' sounds a bit more so we can get him saying "mama". As much as I can't explain how much it hurts my heart that I've never heard him call me "mama", I equally can't even put into words how proud I am of the huge strides he is making with his language.
Don't ever take your child's language skills for granted. The next time your two year old is pulling on your last nerve and repeating over and over again "mommy! mommy! mommy!", think about how somewhere there is a woman that is aching to hear those words - whether it be due to language delays, missing her child, or not having a child at all - some woman is desperate to hear it. And I promise it will put things into perspective.
Just because it was so cute...helping Daddy do push-ups after yesterday's family jog
No comments:
Post a Comment