Where to start? It has been a very busy, very active, two weeks. I have no idea how or where to start. On January 5, James' new cousin FINALLY decided to meet his Mom and Dad. He's lucky that he is the cutest baby ever because his folks were instantly smitten and forgot all about his being two weeks late! I can say that as James is now the cutest BIG boy at age 6. And he knows it! Vacation was both good and bad, but in retrospect, we see that even the bad turned out to be pretty cool. For instance, we started giving James "time-outs" where he had to go sit on his bed and calm down. I have no idea how we started it. I think it was late, after bath, and James decided that he wanted to GO OUT and we said no. The situation slowly escalated into tears and screaming. So we made him go lay on our bed- and he couldn't come out until he calmed down. And it worked. WOW. Another time he wanted yet another lollipop and the answer was no. So into the bedroom he went. He came out a few times and yelled at us but in the end, we WON. Can you believe it? James understood us, we understood him, we held our ground, and HE relented. What a freaking GOOD KID. Similarly, we were having problems about bedtime. James wouldn't settle down. Finally we said, "Time for bed James." Tucked him in bed, kissed him, turned out the light,and "Good night!" James would cry and yell, but then, . . . then there was nothing, silence. Once it took 40 seconds. Sometimes it takes longer and there's a few more yells. So far, James has been able to self-regulate! We would eventually hear his happy squeaking and soon silence. Talk about a MAJOR change. James had emerged a few times from the bedroom. Depending on his behavior, we have let him stay up or marched him back in. So far, so good.
Okay now the laundry list of amazing achievements? Are you ready? James is talking. It's unclear, he mumbles, but there are enough correct sounds and syllables that he can be understood. "More Book" comes out as "Maw Buh." "Spray" is "Pay." "Lollipop" is "Olli-POP" "Bye-bye Grandma" is "Bye-bye bam-bah." James also repeats words on command for me. What makes this so exciting is that James had said words before, even more clearly, but never this consistently and frequently, this confidently. I hope and pray it doesn't stop. James has initiated playing with children at his sensory gym. He tailors his playing to the child too. Gently throwing for one boy and major hurls for a wilder guy. He even SAID "Let's Play" yesterday. His speech therapist was OVER THE MOON.
I know there's more, much more. I am so excited and terrified. God please, please, please don't stop. Please help James be the six-year old he is now. He's a big cousin now and has a lot of new responsibilities!
