Monday, February 25, 2013

Update on Andrew

I (mommy) marvel continually when it comes to Andrew. He is such a soft and cuddly little boy. He loves to hug and snuggle. He loves to tenderly rub cheeks with me. He loves to be held close while giving and receiving affection. He loses himself in my affection.
I melt.
He seems to melt, too.
There are days he is in no hurry to move on. I feel like I could drown in his love. I am overwhelmed by the tenderness of this little one.

In some ways he is a “little one”. He is only about a year old in “family life”, so he often acts like a dependent little baby soaking up the love and affection of his family.

At the same time, he is almost three years old. Thus, we can see a little independent boy desiring to emerge. We give him the independence he seeks—within the right limits. He is blossoming.

Two other reasons he seems so young is that he is so small—still wearing some of his 18-month size clothing. Also, he has mostly been a silent child. Silent, I tell ya!
Not even a “Vroom, vroom” when playing cars.
Silent.

He was evaluated by a specialty group, and cognitively, he is a firecracker. Verbally, though, he is speaking at the equivalent level to that of a nineteen-month-old. Thus, he has begun speech therapy.

His therapist is quite strong. The setting is play therapy, so unless he repeats a sound or word, he does not get to play. Even if he can’t say a word, he has to make a sound or grunt the same number of syllables as the therapist does. For example, each session begins with “Hello!” The therapist expects two sounds (to match her two syllables), not one. Not a wave—which went on constantly until he understood her expectations. The boy has just simply been content to be silent.

However, now we occasionally hear him playing with his cars and hear, “Go! Go! Go!” We love hearing him!

Here are a few of the words we get to hear:
“Chair-Chair” (Cherish)
“Andrew” (I LOVE hearing him say his name!!!!!! He works so hard at pronouncing his name!)
“Oree” (orange—the fruit)
“Mick Mou” (Mickey Mouse)
“Choo-choo” (train)
“Up, up, up”
“Down, down, down”
“O-kay”

Did I mention we love hearing his voice!

And, he prays on his own!!!!!! “Dear God, food, -men.” LOVE IT!!!!

We. are. SO. in. love!!

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