Wednesday, May 1, 2013

a switch flipped.

Three weeks ago, we were still exactly where we had been with Lorelei's speech delay. No new words, no new sounds - just frustrations and worry. And then, suddenly - a switch flipped.

Yesterday, my little almost-two-year old was running around the yard with her father, yelling "Da-do-dew, da-do-dew!" at our new daffodils just starting to open up in the garden, pointing at the sky demanding "hummina, hummina" even though it's still too early for hummingbirds to be here yet, and exclaiming "Wow!" to herself every time she went down the slide.

I know it's what most toddlers are supposed to be doing, but it feels like a miracle to us. Every time she imitates a word or fills in the blank in a book we're reading out loud, we look at each other and hold our breath a little bit.

It's still an uphill battle, and she needs a lot of prompting most of the time, but Lorelei seems to have turned a corner on verbal expression. Besides the two longer words I mentioned above, she's still stuck on one syllable words and is missing a lot of consonants plus one or two vowel sounds. She still refuses to say words that she's already learned signs or approximations for (which is a lot, since she used that as a crutch for so long) so we are working on figuring out ways to encourage her to change that habit. But hearing her say "Bye, Daddy, bye" at the door every morning is making the tricky stuff seem a lot less daunting.

A few pictures of what we've been up to, since I've been away for so long (still no computer, still working my fingers to the bone to get ready for the Na-Da Sale...more on that soon!):


(scrunchy face - bird watching with Dad - playing with her dress-up box - saying "pour!" as the lid fell off her teapot during a little impromptu party)

11 comments:

  1. That's so wonderful! So exciting to see progress - such great words too!
    Very sweet pictures. The birdwatching one makes my heart hurt it is so sweet.
    I've finally remembered to bookmark your blog so I don't miss your posts.
    ~Alyssa

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  2. Happy, happy, happy! The pictures are gorgeous, and I'm so glad you're feeling positive about your sweet girl and her development.

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  3. I'm not a parent, and I'm no expert on language and speech, but your touching previous post about this (as well as this one) reminded me of a little girl I used to babysit at the church weekly. Her parents brought her to me from infancy probably until I left the job at which point she might have been 3 or 4. Around a year and a half I realized that she never spoke. I'm wrangling anywhere from 3 to 10 kids any given morning and you see all kinds of kids, so a child that doesn't vocalize isn't that big of a deal. At first I figured she was just shy and not a "talker". Her parents would actually drop her off during Sunday school so I had her an additional hour and I never said anything to her parents about it. We would read books and play and I knew the gears inside were all working correctly. I never doubted that when the time was right she would speak. That's easy for me to say, not being her parent. After reading your posts it made me wonder if her parents were also concerned. Needless to say, probably around 2 years old she finally started talking, but you could just tell she was just more reserved and never was a gabber.
    We have this family story where one of my grandmother's 7 siblings didn't speak at all until he was probably around 6 years old. His older brother was climbing a fence into a bull pasture and his first words were "watch out, the bull's gonna get you." Stories like that and others where you hear that Einstein supposedly didn't speak until he was 4 years old just provide evidence that all children develop differently. Once again, I know it's easy for me to say, not having any of my own.
    All the same, I am so happy for you guys. Knowing that words are your passion, this has got to be such a victory. I love the pictures and can't wait to hear more stories to come about her verbalizing that sweet personality we already know she possesses.

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  4. Omigoodness does this girly of yours continue to get cuter by the minute! I'm so glad to hear that she's continued to improve - it must just melt your heart to hear those words (I know it warms mine to hear about it)! Doing a happy dance in Minneapolis for you!

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  5. PS - Did you make that adorable dress she's wearing to her teaparty? (only asking because it looks like the patterns you were considering earlier). Either way, cute cute cute!

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  6. So sweet and very exciting! Now that L is doing great I'm going to start asking for more preggo belly pictures PLEASE :)

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  7. Oh there is some serious adorable here on this page. What great words she has! I'm glad she's finding her own way with her speech, she's a lucky wee thing to have you for her mama!

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  8. Oh my goodness. I'm not sure how I missed this post. Such good news. Also that photo of her with the wand is amazing. I love their imagination at this age.

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  9. Just had a few moments to sit down and catch up on your blog..and with you virtually. So happy to hear this about sweet little L.

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