Speech and Spelling updates

Alright. I have been trying to "write" a post in my head about Tooter's speech progress. And I've been attempting to write it concisely while still being nicely descriptive.

I just can't.

While I'm sure he isn't unique, describing his progress requires lots of explanation, it seems. Shortest version is he is doing just fine and is adding words to his vocabulary. Period. Longer version is more muddled. When a child is first learning to talk, they'll just attempt a word, the parents will get all giddy and it's all the coolest thing ever. Ca ca for cracker is the smartest thing they've ever heard, and eventually ca ca turns to cacker and of course, eventually gains that final "r" to become cracker.
Toot hasn't quite worked that way. For example: He wouldn't say his sister's name. Hasn't until about.... oh, I don't know..... about 3 weeks ago. Granted, he can't say the "r" in her name (it's a "w" when he says it), but he says her name quite clearly now. Thing is, he never tried to say her name, until he could say it just like he is now. Never tried making the first letter a "w" sound also, like SHE did when she was learning to say her name.
He's also done the same thing with his own name.

It's that kind of thing that makes his vocabulary seem to take longer, and when he says words, it's almost anti-climatic, even though it seems like it wouldn't be. It's very hard to explain. We get excited to hear new things, but he is so extremely unimpressed with himself when he talks. I guess we sort of take cues from him? It's so weird. Anyway, the biggest differences now are that 1) he will try to imitate almost anything you ask him to imitate. That's a huge step forward. And, 2) he's started within the past week to point to things and people and give their names if he knows them. That's been fun. When he started doing that was when we realized that he was able to say his own name. He had never used his name before then!

He'll count out objects up to 20, and "thirteen" is incredibly cute. I doubt I'd know it was the word "thirteen" if he didn't say it between 12 and 14. It has a few extra syllables and some random unintelligible sounds. But it's really cute. Sort of like when he says "apostrophe". :-)

AND, on Saturday, he really tried to say "put shoes on". That's the first time I've heard him try to use a 3 word phrase. It wasn't clear, and his eyes proved that he was unsure about what he was saying. But he tried to say it without any prompting, and that a definite step forward!

So, while he isn't carrying on conversations exactly, he is most certainly progressing towards better speech. It's good!

Now, for our spelling update. Poodle was "doing letters and numbers and words and stuff" on the computer. What that means is that I open up Word, and she just types stuff. Sometimes it's gibberish, sometimes real words. And when she does real words, it's usually "mommy", "daddy", her name, Toot's name, etc. Well, a few weeks ago, she decides she wants to spell "Suzanne", which is the name of her beloved puppy dog that her Aunt Amy gave her eons ago. So, without help or even letting us know she was doing it, she types out "SOOZAND". We thought it was, of course, terribly cute. But then, we are a tad biased. :-)


p.s. Eli - thanks for that call. It's nice to be "normal" with friends like you. :-)