Speech Therapy Day 8

Just as Cindy saw on Thursday, Elizabeth got to see a calm and centered Jake today. "A completely different child." She said. We just never know what state Jake is going to be in and these phases last for weeks or months sometimes. And truly he is like a different child. After 7 sessions of completely wildness Jake sat with Elizabeth and played with the shape sorter and a puzzle. She got to hear him speak more than she'd ever heard.

I was sad to tell her that Jake will be going to school and that we'll possibly be dropping the speech therapy at TIPS in favor of the speech therapy through the school system. It will save us about four tanks of gas worth of out-of-pocket expense each month. I assured Elizabeth that it has nothing to do with her, its more of a convenience and financial based decision. Of course all of that is contingent on Jake liking school. Even if he doesn't like it, I can continue to do speech therapy with Amber.

Jake is using phrases like "What's the baby doing?" and "I want..." more and more often. I can get him to say "Please" and "Thank you." much better as well. Not that it has to do with speech, but we have been working very very hard with him to keep him from touching strangers and their watches, and he is at a point where he will walk up to people and say "Hi!" and then lean over and inspect their watch without touching. Not quite what I would call 100% socially acceptable, but its a great first step. Besides, its cute as hell. Maybe I'll teach him to say "Heeeeey, nice watch!"