This adorable little boy said "Mama" and "Dada" yesterday!
We were walking down the stairs, Dan was carrying Nathan, and we stopped to look at some family pictures hanging on the wall along the staircase. We do this ALL the time. We ask Nathan who each person is and since he never names anyone we then name each person. Yesterday evening Dan stopped, pointed to my picture and said "Who is that Nathan" and Nathan said "Mama". I know it sounds silly both Dan and I both teared up right then. He said it! Those sweet 4 letters that mean so much..."Mama".
Dan then pointed to his picture and Nathan said "Dada"! We got so excited and told him what a good boy he was and that he was the smartest kid ever! this made Nathan happy and he said "mama and Dada" several more times to see our reaction. Believe me, we did not disappoint him with our praises!!
He has said it several more times today too!
When we tell people that our over 2 year old does not have more than 5 words we get a mixture of responses. Everything from " Boys are late talkers", " Just wait, when he starts talking you will just wish he will hush (my least favorite remark), "my son did not talk until he was 3", "oh, umm... well, have you considered speech therapy?" and last "My kids say "mommy this, mommy that " all day long and it gets old!"
I am not knocking any of those comments, I just feel like I won't get tired of hearing "mama" all day long. I have a greater appreciation for the word now. I have been waiting to hear that word for over a year (based on when kids normally say "mama")
If Nathan needed us or was trying to get out attention he would say "uhh, uhh". Now I am hoping that will be replaced with "mama or Dada"!
We started speech therapy with him last week. They are going to see him 2 times a month and give us "homework" to work on his speech. The Therapist said that kids that had multiple ear infections between the 9-12 month age are later talkers. She also said kids who have more interest in music are later talkers because the music part of their brain is overactive and therefor the speech center is under active. Also, she thinks he has a short frenulum (under his tongue) and therefore does not have good coordination with his lips and tongue for speaking.
All interesting information.
He has been babbling so much more even in just the last week, so I am hopeful we will start hearing new words frequently!
In other news, we now have a full fledged sitter! She just decided 2 days ago that she was ready to sit without falling over!
This has been a happy last few days for us. Last night, the kids were entertaining them selves, just like we have imagined, for awhile in the playroom. We had set Amber in the playroom in front of some toys and turned on Nathans music. Dan and I were cleaning up from dinner and noticed that there was nobody crying, no one standing under out feet in the kitchen. We peeked in the playroom and Amber was sitting up and actually playing with her toy (instead of trying to eat it) and Nathan was sitting a few feet away playing with his train set. It was a beautiful moment for us.
All the hard work of having a toddler and baby is starting to pay off!
I am not saying I want them to entertain each other all the time so Dan and I can watch TV or be on the computer, but I am so glad to see that they can entertain themselves for a period of time.
This went on for over 10 minutes!
Then today, we went ot Firehouse subs for lunch and just a fun time as a family. Usually we do not eat out with the kids because it is to stressful for us. Amber will throw all her toys on the floor and start fussing. Nathan will take tons of coaxing to eat and makes a huge mess with any condiment he gets his hands on, so we just avoid it.
But today was different. Nathan sat in a big boy chair and ate all of his food without a single fuss or any purposeful mess and Amber sat in her high chair chewing on straws and eating her baby food. Nathan was laughing at Amber most of the time as he found her chewing on the straws hilarious! Dan and I got to enjoy our food while watching our beautiful children laugh at each other. It was such a wonderful moment and really got me excited for all the fun times we will have as they get older!
Indeed, it has been a productive few days around the Hill house!