Thursday, October 22, 2009

Labelling and other Developments

When I went to pick up Jack at school today, he was so excited. He said
Nana(Imagine making the "n" sound kind of in the back of your throat and the
"a" sounds just like the a in Mama. It's the way Jack says Mama). I said,
"Hey Jack" and we shared a sweet hug. Then he backed up and with a huge grin
he reached down and said, "Rocks" as he felt the mulch. Jack is visually
impaired and I guess playground mulch might feel a lot like little rocks. I
said, "Rocks? Mulch" so he said "noch" (long o). Next he walked toward the
little playhouse and extended his arm to point and said "House!" Then as we
were leaving, he happily announced, "We go shopping!" as he pulled my hand.
We were actually headed to the park and when I told him he said, "Pok!
Pwgw!" (Park! Plaground!) We got to the park and he said "Gidut"(Get out--as
in get out of the car). I helped him out of his seat and he said "Pokn not"
(Parking lot) pointed at a wall and said "Tosh duwol" (Touch the wall). The
labelling continued at the park with a few phrases thrown in to get me to
slide with him, take him over to a bridge he likes to play on, run with him,
sit with him, help him swing, etc. He climbed up the playground equipment
and only once did he get anywhere near stepping off an open platform into
empty space. He's getting better about slowing down for his own safety. You
can actually see him trying to determine the height of things. And he's
getting bolder about doing things on his own. He's still in that check in
with Mama stage and Mama's my favorite playmate stage but he seems to be
quickly moving forward. Today, there was a little girl at the playground. At
first, she was quietly hanging around us and Jack did not see her. For some
reason Jack did see her when she was leaving with her mom. He noticed her
and yelled out "Siddow, siddow" (sit down, sit down). I think he was trying
to get her to stop and play with him. My little guy is growing up.
I'd love to hear. What are your kids up to?

1 comment:

Rachel said...

That's adorable! I love that stage where they're just learning so much about what things are - it's just amazing to see their minds work!