...she has this autistic way of thinking...

...right now my daughter has a doll buckled into a booster seat. she just asked the doll a question. then, she made the doll say, "I don't like this buckle, mommy." I've never heard her doll talk to her before..the sound of imagination! my daughter reassured her doll that it was just a head-band she's wearing...the quick, random shift in topic...then she gave her a toy cupcake to eat. then she turned to her sister and asked if she would make some more cupcakes...interaction!

...after every question statement my daughter makes to her doll, she jumps several times and flaps her arms. she's just happy. her statements are usually repeated several times...but look, now she's hugging and reassuring her dolly...empathy, love! she just asked her sister if she could please have a pink cupcake...looking down at the table as she asks...always looking just below the chin or down at the ground...just a glance now and then at the eyes...that wonderful glance.. immediately at me just now as I tell her dolly is going to get a tummy ache eating that icing. this is special icing she explains. letting me into her play...

...a different normal...autism...shy...personality type...a way of thinking...fascinating...as are all my kids personalities...to me...

"Here are some things you will not find in your research on autism:
....You will not be told how it may fundamentally alter your perceptions of what is "normal," how it may change your view of human beings, how it can force you to question small talk and why we behave the way we do, how it will transform your outlook on life, how it will change you..." Read the whole article

the subtle, oh so important milestones...

...when she called me "mom" for the first time...

even if she was over 2 years old when it happened...

...when she told me for the first time "I'm hungry" or "can I have a snack?" because she felt hungry

...when she asked me for the first time "mom, will you play with me"

...or even better, "mom, can I play with my friend?"

...first time she put a spoon on her head and pretended it was a hat

...when I asked her at 4 and a half years old: "where are you going?" and she told me "I'm going potty"

...the first time she asked "will you help me, please?"

...when she told me the other day, "we look at what we are pointing at." and I didn't tell her that!

...when she said "mom, we don't say the word stupid." and she came up with that on her own: haha!

...when she asked today "mom, do you have your chapstick?" because she realized her lips needed it!!!

...I notice these things kiddo

...and I get so excited

...you are you

...you are so unique
...innocent and good

...I love to watch you learn

...I love to teach you in your way

...hand over hand

...over and over again

...then you get it

...and you excel

...this is your way

...dedicated to kids who learn this way

and their moms who notice the subtle,

oh so important, milestones...

EAT!

Baby H's version of the sign for EAT...sign language is normally quiet, right but when she signs EAT, she's so determined that I can hear it!
(just hope she doesn't hurt herself)

Express yourself through...WORDS!!!

One of our favorite Christmas gifts was this Fisher Price ABC zoo animals:
Two days after playing with it, Boo, my little no-talker, belted out the entire ABC song. WOW!

You didn't know the ABC song had an alternate French ending did you? Well, it doesn't. She's singing the last lines to the song the little children sing on "South Pacific" (Dites moi). THAT was the first song she ever sang by herself. It was coming back from our Thanksgiving vacation to Arizona. She'd been quiet for a long time, gazing out the window, and then, I heard it:
"Est-ce que
Parce que
Vous m'aimez?"
What?! Is that what I think it was?! She was grinning from ear to ear (she's got a great grin you know, and she can really do that, grin that big). I had sung that song to her, maybe six times total, and not for a couple of weeks at least. And now this! The first song she ever sings by herself. What an amazing girl!
Well, since that and now the ABC song, she's a constant singer and I love to hear it...another ordinary miracle in our home.

auditions

Boo did a little audition video for the "Signing Time" show. There were probably a million other little hopefuls auditioning so we don't expect much but are so happy to see how far she has come in communicating. Little Bay was watching it all and picked up on some signs that she didn't know before, so we made her own video.

Call me something! Anything! Please!

Say "Mama" ...say it, come on.... SAY it! Nearly two and a half years old, you would think she had this down! I can get her to say the sounds...bribed by chocolate. It’s a defining moment in motherhood, right? That sweet expression of love from baby uttering that word for you alone. Well, I've always wanted to be a "mama" anyway. Boo won't say "Mom" or "Dad" or call anyone, anything.
Then recently...out walking the kids in the wagon, Boo turned around and said something. Wait a minute....was that "hi"....or even "Hi, Deedee?" "Honey, I think she just said Hi to her sister!” I know it didn't sound like it, but those sounds were definitely directed to Little Bay and I know she said "hi!" I think she called someone, something! Spontaneously! Woo Hoo!
But wait...she's been calling someone else something. It came to me in the near dream/wake period of sleep last night. "Jeejeez." Boo calls Jesus, "Jeejeez." And has been for some time. That's the first name she learned and identifies??? That's cool. She is calling Jesus by name...identifying him by picture...calling him by name. She hasn’t done that for anyone.

On a trip to Las Vegas last weekend to see the cousins, we brought the portable DVD player to entertain during driving time. I’ve mentioned that Boo’s favorite videos are Baby Signing Time. Not this trip! “Jeejeez” she would ask for over and over again. Joy to the World. The Christmas video about the birth of Christ. It has songs by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in-between excerpts of the story of Christ. It’s well done, but not in any special way catered to kids. Boo LOVES this DVD. I think it’s the music. Home from the trip, we were running some errands and every time we got back in the car it was “Jeejeez, Jeejeez.” We weren’t even in the same vehicle and I had to keep telling her, no sorry, we don’t have the DVD here. This went on for the entire day and the next. I started to get a little concerned. “Are you trying to tell me something, Boo?” “Are you seeing something I’m not?” “Are you trying to prepare me for something?” I know, I know…but mom’s get a little freaked out when their kids do these sorts of things.
Or, I could look at it as Boo just being closer to that Heavenly world than the rest of us, and perhaps this is why she is taking so long to talk. “Oh the things I would tell you, Mom, if I only could!”

Kids express their love in other ways, aside from calling you those endearing, wonderful, completely normal things like…mom. Boo gives hugs. Awesome hugs. Little arms, full bodied, big grinning hugs. I’ll take that expression of love.
And this week, Little Bay clearly said “mama,” just for me.

Expression through Sign Language

Language has come at it's own pace for Boo. We began teaching her sign at a very early age, but she didn't pick up on it (or maybe we didn't?). When she didn’t even babble until she was over a year old, we started signing again, this time with more effort. At around 21 months she began to sign with "more" and "please" and language has taken off from there! Now she begins to recognize that speaking is even faster than signing and her vocabulary is building daily. (More work for me. I understood her rubbing her tummy for ‘please’ much easier than I identify the ‘eeez’ of ‘please’ from ‘eeez’ of cheese).

Baby Signing Time has been her choice (or is it really mine?) of the signing videos we've shared with her. She learns the signs quickly because it is set to music! (Or is it me that picks up on it more quickly because it is set to music?)
At Christmas time she was able to meet the cast and she was captivated. (She is signing "cracker" in the above picture.)