Pretty Cool 24 Hours

I have had a pretty amazing 24 hours with Isaiah. Last night, Tony took Micah and Elise to soccer practice and Isaiah and I hung out for a couple hours. I decided not to do any housework and to just play with him. He thought that was a great idea. We sneak therapy and "work" into Isaiah's play time whenever we get the chance. Last night he was obsessed with picture flashcards. I would say the letter sound on the card and then point to the pictures on that card and say the word. To my complete surprise, he decided to imitate me with every sound and word he could make so I began to challenge him more. It is usually at this point that he moves on to something easier, but he stuck with me. He even tried to make his lips form the "ooo" sound which he has never been able to figure out. He wasn't successful, but he sure tried. His speech motor planning is difficult when it comes to sounds that require closing his teeth or shaping his lips. I tried to get him to say “sh” last night too and he gave it his best “hhh,” but couldn’t quite get those teeth closed. Yes, we aren’t talking about total success here, but we are talking about a child who will finally sit still enough to try. Woohoo!

This morning, Isaiah only had 30 minutes before the bus came to pick him up after he woke up. In that time, he said “Hi, Mama, bababa (banana), dirty, doll, yuck, bu (bus), ilk (milk) and three.” It took me until after he left to realize what had just happened. I went to pick him up from school today and his teacher said “I just want to tell you that your son has completely captured my heart.” What a great place for him to be! As he walked out of the school, he said “Mama, hi and backpack.”

Then to top off everything, when I arrived at his private therapy facility today, his speech therapist directed me to a different area of the building and we were greeted by about 10 staff members singing and clapping with a photographer snapping pictures. I thought he was snapping pictures of Isaiah for publicity and I knew I had a “crazy person hairdo” going because of the wind so I stepped out of the pictures. His therapist told me this singing and picture taking was actually about me and that I had been selected for an award that they give out to parents every once in awhile. She read off a page that she had written as to why I deserved the recognition and then gave me a gift certificate for a pedicure or manicure. What a nice blessing.