Kanyon age 3: Language

What is it about 3 that seems so old. Like its the next level of life or something. This is late, but I still want to record some things. I feel like this year, and particularly the last 3-4 months klp has really started learning so much more and making progress a little faster. We are proud of our boy NO MATTER WHAT but watching him learn new things warms my heart like nothing I've ever known. I have so many things to document that I decided to break it up. You'll thank me for it. Today I'll start with his language. This will probably be the longest post, so maybe if you can survive this, you can survive the rest. Or just skip it. I'll never know.

Language

We feel like Kanyon has shown really great progress with his language. It might look like more of a Black Cat firecracker to others, but to us its a SONIC BOOM! These things have happened over time for sure, but that makes us appreciate it so much. We feel like the whole school thing is coming at a perfect time for this. He's naturally having a "language explosion" so now is the time to pour it on him and that is what happens at school!

He "talks" non stop. The Speech Therapist calls it Jargon (however you spell it) because it sounds like he's actually talking (we just don't speak the language). His tone and inflection are appropriate he's just making up his own words! Its pretty cute.

To say we are in a whining/begging/fussing stage would be an understatement so we are really really working on TALKING instead of WHINING. He will grunt or yell for attention or to ask for something and we tell him to TALK to us instead and he will immediately change his tone and start in on his sweet jargon speak. Too bad we can't understand a word! But we are glad he knows the difference. Now if we can just get him to use it instead of his whining!

There are lots of things that he can say when we tell him to...Dad "Daaaaaaa!", Mama, Paw Paw, Bubu, Bed "bbbb", Go "naaaaaa" it may not sound like our "go" but its the same sound every time. He learned this at Windridge riding his horse. He has to tell his horse to go. The therapists told me that now he does it without them telling him too. I can't hear him from where I sit, but I believe it!!

Some signs that he knows when we prompt him are dog, horse, help, yes, no, stop, drink/thirsty, eat, thank you,....that's all I can think of now.

There are a few things that he will say without us telling him to (this is particularly exciting!)

Cracker "ca-ker" or "cookeeeee" he rotates between these two. I'm pretty sure he things that means any type of food. When he wants something that we are eating that's what he says.

Light "Liiiiiiiii!" he LOVES to turn lights on so that's how he asks us (oh wait....maybe DEMANDS) to turn on a light.

Bye Bye he says this one well and a lot of times can pick up on the situation and know when to say it. He also says this anytime he's done playing with something or ready for something to stop...(or ready for his therapists to leave...he loves them, he just gets tired of working!)

Night Night "niii niii" when he's going to sleep. When I get him out of his high chair after lunch, he will say "nii nii" because he knows we are headed to take a nap. Smarty pants. This started when we were at eating camp and played on the bed a lot. I would say "night night" and we'd lay down like we were sleeping. He still loves this game.

Dad "Daaaaa!" We aren't 100%, but we're pretty sure he says that when he sees Kory. Its confusing because he loves to make this sound so he says it for lots of things, but he is pretty consistent with it when he's referring to his daddy.

Car "c" He just makes the c sound. That means he wants to drive. Unfortunately we don't hear this one as much because when we taught him the sign for car, he stopped saying the word as much. We make him say it but he usually uses the sign on his own.

Up "p" He just makes the p sound. This is when he wants us to pick him up or put him up on something...chair, bed, etc.

Bath "baaaaa!" He loves taking baths and will ask for them!

Jeopardy "Beee Beee!!!" Ok, this happened about 2 weeks ago and has happened a couple of times since then. One day he heard the music and said "beee beee" and scooted into the other room in front of the TV. I wasn't sure if thats what he really said, so I said, "What are you watching?" and he said "beee beee!!!" Haha!

If we whisper, he'll whisper and if any light gets turned off, he whispers too. His preferred volume is LOUD so we have to tell him to whisper a lot.

he signs "Please" a lot. That is his way of asking for anything or more of anything. He's good at this and it was the first one he did on his own. We see it at least 6 million times a day.

He signs "swing" and points to the back door when he wants to go outside and swing.

He recently started signing (well, his version of the sign) "movie" when he wants to watch the portable DVD player when he's eating (its a part of our protocol believe it or not).

Speaking of "his version" of a sign, most of them aren't exactly right. Pretty much any sign he is going to do is going to have to be one handed and since lots involve 2 hands, we have to improvise. He can use his other hand if it is needed to be a fist, so that works for us sometimes. We just use a sign that makes sense for klp.

There are patterns here. For one, almost all of his words have to do with telling/asking/demanding/begging us to DO something for him. Not so much identifying things, but being bossy!!!

Also, if you've heard him, you know the tone most of these words have. Its a LOUD excited tone with great inflection at the end.

We are teaching signs and words and just letting him pick up whichever one he picks up. Its funny how some signs he really seems to "get" and others he doesn't bother with. Talking is our goal, so we always make him SAY all words....at least attempt them. He usually is pretty lazy with that, but at least he's learning that he has to say something to get his point across. Even if it usually is the "t" sound or something like that. He's getting better at attempting the words we say.

He understands SOOOOO much and it seems like everyday he does something else that makes me laugh and say "wow...didn't know he knew that". You don't realize how much you base what a child knows on what they say. Since his verbal skills are so delayed, we are just waiting and watching as he SHOWS us what he knows. It may take longer and leave us in the dark a little more, but its fun to see those new things.

Like when he picked up a hair clip of mine and tried to put it in his hair, spit in the sink (he'd "helped" Daddy brush his teeth the night before and remembered that), points to the keys on the wall when he wants to go drive the car...I could really go on and on about those there are so many fun little things that he knows. He can point to people when you ask "Where's ____" and can do this with lots of pictures of different objects. When he gets to "drive" he buckles and unbuckles the seat belt (the big one, not his car seat one) and we think he can tell when we're on our street because that is when he starts asking to drive. I put duck tape over the speaker of one of his toys (it was TOOOOOO loud). He watched me do it and didn't like it. Since then (and its been several weeks) when he finds that toy, he tries to pull the tape off and points to the drawer where the duck tape is and signs "please". Translated: Put this stuff back in that drawer where it came from...I don't like it!!

He follows directions pretty well. I can tell him to go get a diaper and he will, I can tell him to where to go and he'll go, Ask him to go get a certain toy or item, etc. Not that he actually follows them all the time, but he is very capable of following directions.

He is just showing how many things he's caught on to that he watches us do. His little mind is soaking it up (and has been all along) and now he's able to show us a little more and its so fun to watch. We are constantly talking to him, identifying things, and I pretty much narrate our entire day in hopes of just drenching him in language so that he has lots to soak up.

We're having lots of fun with this aspect of his life right now and can't wait for him to just talk our ears off (in English....he already talks our ear off in his own language!).