22 Words

                 Lately I have been noticing that David has become quite the chatterbox.  :)  As I reflect on where he was last year my heart smiles at how far he has come with his speech. He is still pretty significantly delayed in speech but he has worked hard and has come far. Last year I don't think he even said 5 words. He was only signing for the most part or gesturing. He had just started to wave but not consistently. He would look at books and engage but now he "reads" them with such great expression! He gets excited and lately I have noticed that he has started to "sing" songs with the characters when he watches Veggie Tales. He is starting to make animal sounds when prompted and can be so cute. He has a friend that also has ASD and some speech delay and when he gets together with him they just chatter away. We have no clue what they are saying but it is so cute and quite frankly WONDERFUL to watch them communicate and clearly understand each other.... It's like they have their own language. It makes my heart feel so good! I'm thankful for the friend he has made. (His mom is a beautiful friend who knows who I am talking about).  :)
                Tonight I am sitting here listing 22 words that David has said in the last month or so. Some have been consistent and some have not. The point is he has said them. Each word is precious. Each moment is precious. I praise The Lord that David has had wonderful speech therapists and special ed teachers to teach him and work with him. They have been wonderful! I hope if they are reading this they know how valuable they are and how thankful we are for all the hours and hard work they have put into helping David.

They are the biggest reason David has spoken the following 22 words and I celebrate each one:

Uh oh
There you go
Mama
Socks
Off
More
Please
Curious
Book
Open
Drink
Yeah
Moo
Baa
Shoes
Tickle
Truck
Bubbles
Hi
Bye
Ashes
Choo choo



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