Old MacDonald

Breakthrough!

Ben has had a major breakthrough with his speech.  He is saying 1-2 new words almost every day.  We are up to 29 words and I'm not counting words where he just says the vowel sound!  He frequently drops the last consonant but most of the words are pretty close.  He has gotten so much better at mimicking although there are some words he won't attempt.  It has truly been amazing to see how far he's come in such a short amount of time.  It was just 3 months ago that he started to say vowel sounds and just 3 weeks ago his only words were Dadda and yeah.

The best part is that he can share some of his thoughts with us.  Last night he put two cheerios next to each other and said "eyes".  Then today we saw a friend of his who has twin baby brothers and Ben pointed at them and said "doo!" (two).  He was making sure I realized there were two babies and not just one!  He also has his first phrase - "help me".

More words

Ben has had a burst of new words this week.  He's trying SO hard to say more and it seems like he's really enjoying trying out new words and sounds.  This week he's started to say:

Help (helwf)
House (hou)
Uh Oh (he says this very nice and clear)
Apple (aa-uhl)
Eight (eigh)
Meow (ow)
Hot Hot Hot (ha ha ha)

There are many more where he just says the last vowel sound.   I heard him counting to himself today (I didn't realize he was counting until he got to the eight).  He will also sing along to Hot Hot Hot and Josh heard him singing along to the Ooh and Aah song (monkeys that used to be on Playhouse Disney).  The "i" sound has gotten very clear.  Now we need m, b, p and t!

New word!

Playing the recorder

Our Little Magician

Tonight towards the end of dinner I was trying to get Ben to eat some tortellini. He's had it before and liked it but the last couple times I made it he's refused to eat it. Tonight he refused it again. I told him he had to eat one piece and if he ate it I would give him a cookie. He picked up the tortellini and looked me right in the eye. He put his hand to his mouth and then in one movement took the tortellini around the side of his face and put it on his shoulder under his ear. I couldn't help but laugh at him. Where does he learn this stuff?! And he never did eat that tortellini!

Ben at 2 1/2

It amazes me how much Ben has changed in the past 6 months. When I look at pictures from his birthday he looks so much younger to me!

There's no 30 month well-visit so I don't know how tall Ben is or how much he weighs but it feels to me like he's gained several pounds since his last appointment. He had ear tubes put in in November and he currently has his second cold since then so we'll see how well they work.

Ben finally got the last of his 2 year molars in late February (almost 2 years to the day from his first tooth). Hooray! Those last molars disrupted his sleep for 2 full months. He is back to sleeping much better. He's napping pretty much every day in his crib and sleeping well at night.

We haven't really started potty-training because I'm not sure Ben has enough control, but we do put Ben on his potty before his bath and most nights he uses it. He enjoys the special potty song we sing and likes to put a sticker on a chart after he uses the potty.

Ben loves to go to the playground near our house. He likes to play on the equipment and also likes to run down to the football field and the farm. He especially loves it when other kids are at the playground and he gives hugs to anyone who plays with him. He's a little overzealous with his hugs sometimes but the other kids never seem to mind. He's also becoming more adventurous on the equipment and wants to try everything even if he's still a little too young for it. He recently started jumping. He only gets one foot off the ground but it's so cute!

He is obsessed with all things Winnie the Pooh these days. He calls him "ooh". His favorite toys at the moment are his Winnie the Pooh figurines and a set of Winnie books.

Ben knows all his numbers, letters, shapes and colors. We're going to start him in preschool in the Fall and I think he's going to love it. He currently attends a "social group" at an elementary school once a week. He has done really well in his school group and follows directions and participates in all the activities.

Ben has been such a happy little guy lately - a couple of his therapists have mentioned to me how happy and smiley he is lately. The cashiers at our grocery store have nicknamed him "Giggle Boy" because he laughs when the groceries go down the conveyor belt. He also has a very funny sense of humor and he likes to tease me. He does the sign for cookie when he's eating breakfast and then laughs and laughs.