Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Three Years Old; Brand New Year

Ah, the New Year. Wonder what it holds for us.
                It has been about a year since I started this blog, right around Wylie’s 2nd birthday. I get so caught up in the fact that we still have such a long road ahead of us that I forget how far we’ve come since his last birthday. Wylie turned 3 last week, and he has grown up so much.
                A year ago I was obsessing over the amount of words he knew. I was definitely hoping that in 6 months he would just—poof—catch up to his peers, and we would start to gear up for preschool. He has always been so vocal. He never shuts up. I mean, he does… but his mouth is moving a lot. Ha ha. The only thing, tho; most of the time what comes out of his mouth is not quite the English Language.
                We joke that he is speaking Mandarin or something. He seems to talk with intent. With focus. He says the same jibberish over and over again, like it means something to him. Shit, we assume it does mean something to him. Unfortunately, we’re not really comprehending.
                However, he has come a long way from the dozens of nouns he knew at age 2. I wouldn’t be able to keep count of the amount of words he knows—he flew through the pictures on his Language Builder cards in no time. He knows all the characters on his favorite shows, and his list of favorite shows is growing. No more nonstop Spongebob- by the way, when Wylie’s nephew referred to “Ba-Ba” the other day, we realized Wylie hadn’t mispronounced it in a long time. Spongebob is simply “Spongebob” now.
                And “Grandma” and “Grandpa” are simply “Grandma” and “Grandpa” now. That was a shocker. Wylie started off saying “A-ma” and “A-Pa” but it quickly evolved to “Mu-ma” and “Pu-pa.” It was very endearing, but rather suddenly, as in, overnight, “mu-ma” and “pu-pa” disappeared. I wonder what it was. “Mu-ma” and “Pu-pa” always tumbled out of his mouth rather clumsily, as if he got the main consonant sounds in each word, but had a hard time planning how to form them before saying them. Suddenly he got it right. My parents are rather sad about it, haha. No nicknames for you!
                What strikes me now is how he has easily grasped any tangible concept thrown at him, language wise. He gets his shapes and colors and he LOVES numbers. Animals, plants… he’s been really into this series on the Earth and he watches it with my dad. His sense of humor cracks me up, but I suppose as his mother, I’m biased. He’s just too damn funny. He’ll watch a shark swimming on TV and smirk and call out “Puppy!” He squeals when I tickle him and respond “That’s not a puppy!” And the running Toy Story joke, omg. He is kind of exasperating switching from “Toy Story 1!” and “Toy Story 2!” and “Toy Story 3!” My dad (can you tell that they are very close?) started joking with him. “What about Toy Story…5?” Now Wylie thinks he’s so cute. “Toy Story… TEN!” “dublee do ba da Toy Story ELEBEN!” (that’s not a typo, he pronounces “eleven” like he has a cold or something, hehe.) Yeah, okay, maybe it’s only funny to the people who have heard his cute little toddler voice in person. But honestly, my son is freakin adorable.
                But what is escaping him right now is more abstract concepts, to him, such as “What city do you live in?” and “How old are you?” The city thing trips me out. We live in a city that has 2 nouns in its name. Nouns he knows. But in a new context, he won’t answer “What city do you live in?” even with a verbal model. You can tell on some level he isn’t really trying his hardest; he’s just not too interested, because he’s not really following what we are talking about. “What city do you live in?” means nothing to him. I’m kinda… uh. At a stand still. I don’t know how to go forward, other than to follow the advise of his therapists and continue to demand the answers from him.
                But hey! Remember when I was anxious about getting him into another semester of “pre-preschool” through his ABA school? Omg, he’s in. He started the new semester right after his 3rd birthday. Oh, what heaven! I’m so happy, I know he’s in good hands. He LOVES the kids there. Omg and he’s eating quesadillas for lunch time. Okay, not health food or anything, but he’s never eating quesadillas before.  I’m so excited about the new semester. The director- the woman who made it all happen, the Generous One- stopped me in the hallway to gush. “He’s doing so well! We will need to talk about the next steps after this semester. LOVE that little guy of yours!”
                So this year is off to a good start. As he get older, I’m anxious about the decisions I have to make about the future. I think about blowing off state early intervention services and how there are new services now that he is 3. Pfft. And what about kindergarten, and first grade? Am I kind of assuming we will be fine by then? Do I have this vision that I will get to skip over all the fighting over IEP stuff others go through? That he can handle regular education without any supports and all will be A-OK? I don’t know! Is it just that I am procrastinating because I am intimidated? Argh. I can’t get my head around my own feelings yet. I sort of have this…disdain for any treatment goals and implementation strategies that I have to relinquish some control over. The idea of some a-hole I pay taxes to telling me what they can offer my son for support kinda rubs me the wrong way.
                Argh. Thoughts for another day.