"Can I call him?"

Grant just said to me, "Can I call him?"  him meaning Joel.  I've not heard him use the word 'him' before, so it definitely caught my attention!  Usually, he would say, "Can I call Daddy?"  So this is so cool that he is starting to use appropriate pronouns.

Yesterday, he helped himself to the little bit of leftover coffee and came to me with his coffee mug in one hand, "I like coffee!"  I asked him, "Why do you like coffee?"  And he quickly sweetly "Because it's tasty!" 

We are still working on words that end with T.  For many months he has been making a /k/ sound at the end of any word that ends with T.  It's been rather frustrating, to say the least, as it doesn't seem like we have been making any progress specifically in this area.  After talking with his speech therapist, we are trying a different angle and I am hopeful we will see progress soon!

We had VBS a month ago at our church.  The past two years I have been with Grant's group, but this year I helped in the kitchen with snacks.  I was excited for him to be on his own, but a few days before VBS started I began to be anxious and wondering if I made the right decision to not be with him.  Finding out who his leaders and helpers were going to be help calm my thoughts, but Monday morning I was filled with anxiousness again after leaving him with his group.  I was anxious he would misbehave, not participate with his group, not be understood by his helpers and peers, pick his nose incessantly, have a potty accident, be obnoxious.  I could go on.  It really was hard to leave him with his group - and as anxious as I was a few days leading up to VBS, I had no idea the feelings that would overwhelm me as I walked away from his group leaving him at the mercy of his helpers and leaders.  So I prayed. I released him to the Lord.  I prayed for his leaders and his helpers, for his peers, for him to have a great time and to behave.  This helped calm my heart.  And I was there the whole morning, so really, why was I so anxious?  I could check on him just about any time throughout the morning!

The week went really well and I was thrilled when he received the 'best boy' award on Thursday morning.  Both of his adult leaders told me he was really good, and that he was overall one of the better behaved boys.  Wow.  Boy, did this make me proud!  I am with him always, so I know just how rotten he can be, but I also know how sweet he can be at the same time.  I am so thankful that he had a great week.  He loved every minute of VBS!!

Other new things for Grant:
- He is playing with toys that he has had for months, if not years, that he has pretty much cared less for: his Buzz Light Year, his garbage truck, his tool bench.  He has been appropriately playing with toys intentionally, and it's so neat to watch.
- He continues to engage Kate and Joel and I: "Please play wif me" he will say. (Like right now as I am typing!)  He doesn't want to play in his room by himself anymore, as he has done for so long.  He wants and desires interaction, which is way cool, too!
- He is trying to read.  He will make up words for the pictures and "read" a book.
- He has been dressing up wearing his Buzz Lightyear costume...and you can tell that he is seeing the fun in playing dress up, and not just putting something random on (like a Cinderella skirt) just because sister is.
- I'm trying to teach him how to use my phone and allowing him talk to people on the phone.  He loves talking to Nana, Daddy, Aunt Christina, Uncle Daniel, Aunt Jenni, and anyone else who will listen to him. So, if you ever want to call and talk to Grant, he would absolutely love it.  He will talk your ear off, so consider yourself warned. :-)

In July, I was cleaning out a closet upstairs and came across picture cards that we used to use for communicating with Grant.  I haven't thought about those cards in a LONG time.  When I found them, I showed them to Joel and we both just shook our heads.  Wow.  What a long ways we have come.  Praise Jesus that our son can talk to us using words.  Praise Jesus for how far Grant has come.  This makes me completely humbled and hopeful as the same time. He has come so far; think of how far he can go!

I have something to say

Just a few journal entries to document a few things:

New speech from the past couple of weeks:

"I have something to say, Everybody"

used 'us' in proper sentence form

He asked me the other day if he could play on the iPad and said so sweetly, "Please me play on iPad? Me been really good...haven't picked my nose, my booboos, been nice to Kate.  Please, Mommy??"

Oh, ya. He gets it.  He gets it, alright.  And thank you, iPad, for motivating such wonderful behavior in my boy!

While painting his room, he comes in and admires the new color, "Amazing!"  (He has said that word before, but it's still really cool to hear him say it!)

The other night, I asked Joel if he wanted to go to "C-I-C-I" for dinner, as I spelled out CiCi's.  Grant was within earshot and right away said, "CiCi's pizza? I wanna go CiCi's tonight!"  Joel and I just looked at each other and shook our heads.  We haven't been to that place since December last year!  How does he know how to spell anyways???

Tonight, he was mad and said, "Everybodys dumb. Mommy's dumb. Kate's dumb. Daddy's dumb." 

The three of us 'dumb' people just ignored him and continued playing Mario Kart. ;-)

Come on, Kate!

Earlier today, Grant was impatiently waiting on Kate when he said, "come on, Kate!" that's a new phrase and made me laugh. While we were at Home Depot today, Gant said to a sales lady who was helping us, "hi, ma'am." lol A few other things I didn't think of to mention in the previous post: Earlier this Spring, Grant has started singing. He sang Happy Birthday to me (with help) on my birthday in March and of course it brought me to tears. He is singing words to songs he knows right on time and actually getting it. He loves music so much, and it is way cool hearing him trying to sing. Sometimes he will say a phrase to one of his favorite songs randomly during the day n a sing song voice. Other new phrase: "stop it" :-) Often his new words and phrases crack me up, and often times they make me cry tears of joy!

June 11, 2012

I started this blog with the original intent of documenting victories and milestones that Grant makes day to day, week to week, and month to month.  I also blogged about Kate, of course, and our family in general.  I have been thinking for awhile that I should start blogging again, but what has held me back is pictures.  It takes awhile to post specific pictures that correlate to each blog post, and I may be slightly crazy, but in my humble opinion, a decent blog post should have a few pics to go along with it.  But then time goes on and looking back, I do my best to remember, but I can't always remember all of the little things that Grant has said or started doing.  These little things are important.  They add up to great things over a long time, and what a long ways Grant has come in the past few years!

So, all this to say, I am going to try to start blogging again, but I'm starting out small with just posting about Grant's recent bits of progress he makes each week.  I may not have any cute pictures to go along with it, but at least I will be able to some day look back and see just how far we have come from.  It really is only by the Lord's mercy and grace that he has made the progress he has, and I want God to get the credit for the victories Grant makes whether small or big.

There is so much joy to be had in being a parent: seeing your kid do something new for the first time, gain maturity as they grow older, say cute little things that only a kid would come up with, experience their natural curiosity for life through their eyes...these things Joel and I experience with Kate, and being a parent is so sweet.  With Grant, we don't experience the same joy.  It's a different kind of joy that we experience with Grant.  Hearing him say a new word or phrase for the first time, seeing him do something he's never done before, watching him interact with others like never before, having strangers understand his speech - all of these things bring great joy to our hearts, as we don't take for granted how far he has come and how hard he has worked to get there.  I don't take for granted the 'sweat and tears' that I have poured into him through his home therapy program which has led to constant developmental progress and growth.  Often times, I am brought to tears when he does something new.  Like today, the kids started swimming lessons, and I watched in utter amazement as Grant was doing 'big arms' (arm stroke) while kicking.  He was really swimming! And only after moments of Miss Tina working with him.  With Grant, you just never know what he will 'get' or pick up.  Sometimes its right away, but often times it is days or weeks and sometimes even months later that he will 'get' it.  So, to see him coordinate kicking and arm stroke was a huge victory in my eyes and watching him got me all choked up!

Now onto documenting recent progress.......

New words and phrases Grant has started saying this past month:

"Uh huh"

"Yes" and "Yes!" <----huge!  If you know Grant, you know 'yes' has been "hup!" for YEARS, so him saying "Yes" is so sweet and makes my heart smile every time I hear him say it!

"Can I?"

"I will"

"I have a question."

"I have a next question."

"This is a big guy."  (said to a big guy at the grocery store a few weeks ago!)

"I do"

Other recent progress:

He will ask Kate or me or Joel "will you play with me?" This is huge, too!  For so long, he has been content to play by himself or be coerced into going along with what Kate and I are doing or what the rest of us are doing.  Sometimes willingly, sometimes not.  He hasn't ever sought out playing with any one of us, so this is really cool!  This morning I was going to start a few weeks of summer school, but Grant said so very sweetly, "Mommy, will you play legos with me?"  How could I say 'no' to that??  So we played.  And he sat next to me either building with me or building alongside me, and it was glorious.

Articulation is getting better: People that don't know Grant are understanding most of his speech.  They still give me funny looks, but its becoming more entertaining to me because they are understanding him and it is SO cool to watch the back and forth interaction between him and a 'new friend'.

Things we are working on:

aggression towards sister when not getting his way
spitting when mad
sleeping through the night
obeying the first time
appropriate behavior towards our dog, Roxy
eating meals independently

This post was rather longer than I originally intended, and for future posts I may keep it to just new speech, other recent progress, and things we are working on. I really want to use this blog as a way of keeping track of these three things, so that I can have a means of documenting Grant's new growth and progress.  And who knows, maybe I might just get a few pics in here and there! ;-)