As I described yesterday in the “One Syllable At a Time” post, we’re getting some great mileage out of breaking everything down into these syllable-by-syllable exchanges, going as far as dividing one syllable sounds into even smaller parts as needed.
So, much to our eternal and unending delight, the J-Man has two wonderful sentences he likes to say, provided you do the syllable exchange with him.
We have an “I Want” picture board where he can grab a food picture and stick it at the end of the “I Want ____” part (thanks to the velcro). Then we do:
J: “I”
Us: “I….”
J: “wuhhh-uh”
Us: “want….”
And then he tries to say whatever food it is he picked. It’s getting more common for him to put it together without us and say “I wuhhh-uh” before we have to chime in. Yay! When you think about it, you’ll realize what a fundamental part of our development it is to be able to ask for what we want.
But, of course, our favorite is this (said in a rather dramatic volume):
J: “I”
Me: “I”
J: “luhhhh”
Me: “luhhhh…”
J: “vvvvuuuuuhhhhh”
Me: “love….”
J: “yeeeehhh”
Me: “yeee….”
J: “eeee-oooo”
Me: “you!”
J: “Dah-deh”
Me: “Daddy!”
J: “ah”
Me: “and…”
J: “Ma-ma!”
Me: “Mama!”
Believe me, I’m choking back tears just writing this.
At first, this was one part of our nighttime liturgy of stuff we had to say before bed – in the right order, of course. But now, at some random part of the day and out of nowhere, he’ll come up to me or Mary and just start saying it. Just melts you where you stand.
I could comment on how much effort we all had to give for him to be able to put all these syllables together, but those of you who have been there know that it does not matter a damn how much it takes us to get to “I love you Daddy and Mommy.” We’d mortgage our house 17 times and cut off an arm if that’s what it took. And the overwhelming feelings that come from hearing it in his own voice are, well, beyond any words I have.
Even if your child doesn’t say this to you now or ever, we’ve known all along that he loves us as we love him, as I know your child feels about you. This is an article of faith as far as I’m concerned. Hold on to that with everything you have and keep going, one sound at a time.
Posts that hopefully are similar:
- One Syllable At a Time
- A Tale of Two Speeches
- In Dreams Awake
- “What if he never talks?”
- Daddies, Mouses, Social Interaction, and a Dash of Zorro!
- My Name is (WHAT?)
- My God, He IS Reading! (Special 200th Post Edition)
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bella watches Barney everyday (fav being elmo ),’ I love u ‘song.but during daytime randomly she will come to me n say ‘Barney’ so i will sing the song to her, the theme one .than she will join in n sing ‘i love u u love me’ etc etc n hug me .in fact she hugs me when I just look at her angrily.
sterday she was singing song 2 her dad , than stopped and came 2 me and said ‘ ai yo u’ and hugged me i dont know if she knows the meaning or just imitating barney .
The night before Adam had dental surgery, we were hanging out with him just doing things he likes to do together as a family. He crawled up on top of me on the couch, hugged me, and said, “I love you, Mommy!” His words were clear and completely unprompted, and the sentence was complete—the first time ever we’ve not had to pull him slowly through the expression. Then, as I was still basking in the beautiful moment, he looked up at Kevin and said, “I love you, Daddy!” with equal clarity. I remember the days when we pulled him through every syllable like we were walking through cement. You’re so right…it doesn’t matter how long it takes, it’s worth the effort. Keep the faith…:)
Elysa – that made me teary. How wonderful is that!
It seems like as the weeks and months go by, every achievement feels sweeter and sweeter to me. You’ve walked a lot more miles in these shoes than we have. I imagine that makes it even that much more beautiful when these moments come.
It was great to meet Adam, even if it was only a quick ‘hi’ from us as he passed by on his way to the bathroom.
I love seeing the kids in the grades above us. I hope we get to do that more!
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