[Ed. note - This boy loves his keyboard!]

Z v bb …n

uiuuuuuuuwkkfffkkukkkkk22wkjyuuuuuuuuuuwwwwuuukkkkdwwuwuuukkkkkkkk oyuwyuuuuuko9o777uywuuyku

w2wwwwwwwwwwwwruuytytytyyyyyyyyuuyuuukkkky6ueqwuuuuuuukkkkkkko’y n5wukhuu rrrrruwukkkuyuiukkikkijkkk45wwukjonaswwukkkkkl.uwukldsoiskifciuidxihfih Unmuukiuuukkkjuuuokki,kkkkkkky

Our little bundle of vestibular sensory issues decided this past weekend to say, “Forget that mess! I’m going down my slide!”

To which all God’s people said, “You know that’s right! Come on down, brother!”

We put him on top of the slide, and he sat there all by himself. First time he ever did that without holding on to one of us. Then he grabbed each side of the slide at the top like he was preparing for a luge run and pulled himself forward and down the 8′ run with the 4 1/2′ vertical drop. (Kinda steep)

Since he’s never even thought about doing this before, you’ll notice there’s nothing but ground down there - no mulch, no nada… Bad daddy…

You win a lot of small victories in therapies, but then you get days where he just busts out a home run of an achievement of something he’s never even contemplated trying before. He did it all by himself, and then he went and did it again, and again, and again.

These are the days you jump up and cheer until you throw out a shoulder from pumping your fist in the air.

His expression in the 2nd picture is absolutely priceless.

When the going gets tough, just remind yourself how freakin’ cute your kid is!

J-Man’s Easter Report:

The Easter Bunny doesn’t bring candy because, well, I won’t eat it. I only eat snacks that are in the tortilla chip food group. I loved my book. I was pretty whatev about the Little People boat and extra pirates. The plastic eggs looked pretty while flying off the couch.

Daddy looked sad. He said he asked the Easter Bunny for a Little People Noah’s Ark with the extra Pirate Pack instead.

Arrrrrrrrr!!! We’re being attacked by a freakin’ giant monkey!

Our occasional walk through the pictorial history of our pride and joy.

In other words, “show me some dang baby pictures!”

[From a couple of years ago]

Thank ya, thank ya very much.

There is no spoon…

His word just before bed tonight - “love”.

He’s been trying so hard to say it. He decided that kissing us was going to be his ’sign’ for it in the meantime, but you could watch his mouth try to make the word. I don’t care how it comes out (”luh” with a slight ‘v’ sound on the end, in this case); he said it.

If you’re going through speech issues with your child, you know what one word can do to you. Some words - especially one word - go beyond what any of our own words can express.

Sleep well. I will.

J-Man has always been a music lover. For a long time, it was the only thing that would help him calm down and relax when he was upset or couldn’t sleep. Singing still helps with certain things, like attempts at teeth brushing, but songs or anything lyrical (like Seuss books) also help engage him into paying attention and doing a little talking.

We have a ridiculous number of music channels on our digital cable. One of them was playing James Brown’s “Living in America”. I would imitate (badly) James Brown’s trademark “ow!” and Little Man started saying “ah-ow” after me. We had a blast! Then came some serious father-son bonding.

The next song was “Brickhouse”. I would sing “Brick! duh, duh, duh, duh… house!” and he would say “ow!”

Mary was in the kitchen rolling her eyes. I was in the floor howling. J-Man thought the whole thing was hysterical. Now all I have to do is say “brick” and he busts out laughing.

There are days you’ll do whatever it takes to get your kid to talk. Might as well have some fun doing it.

Ow!

Daddy finally got the swing set and slide pretty much finished. Go me!

Pictures are worth a thousand words. So, here are 3,000 words.