Progress

I want to cry. I just wrote a long post about Timmy's latest achievements, and he erased the whole dang thing. :'(

Here we go again.

I have more to record at a later date, but I just wanted to record some of the new things Timmy has been saying.

Timmy likes to sing the ABC song. He sings it all the time. He also really likes Old MacDonald,  but he sings it E-I-E-I yoyo. Last night he found three plastic animals to sing about: a dinosaur, a snake, and an elephant. Who knew Old MacDonald collected exotic animals? (Oh, and just a side note: Timmy calls steak "snake.")

The other day he found a little box of nails. I asked him to please put them away, and he said, "OK," and did it!  He demonstrated understanding of my directions and use of a new word in one whack! :) He's also learned the word ugly, but I don't think he knows what it means. He uses it to describe people and things in pictures.  (It's ugly Mommy!")

Yesterday he was climbing on a bucket and knocked it over. He said, "Sorry," before picking it up. :) And today he told his Papa,  "I want a purple gum." (Jeremy has gum hiding in his dresser right now.) I believe he has said want before, but the use of pronouns is totally new for him! He usually refers to himself as Timmy, but it sounds more like "Teemee."

Also,  before he could have gum we got him to say please. Another first! I wonder if it's because of the "Please, Thank You, Sorry" song on Baby Signing Time.

And just this evening he told me, "Bubby loves Mommy." (Bubby is another nickname for Brom. Yes, I do really like nicknames,  especially for my babies. They all get several, but most don't survive babyhood, which is probably a good thing.) Yes, Bubby is a silly nickname, but I love hearing Timmy use it. So cute! I think he even told me one day, "Brom is Bubby."

Anyway, love is a concept I've been trying to instill in Timmy's brain.  I tell him that I love him and Papa loves him and Jesus loves him. Maybe it's starting to stick! I just can't wait for the day when he tells me, "I love you." That would demonstrate an understanding of what love is plus use of two pronouns!

I have given a lot of thought to Timmy's speech therapy. I honestly have ended up doing nothing about it. Part of me cringes about not getting him therapy because that's what everybody else does for autistic children with speech problems. But I have to shove that thought out of my mind and just remember that I'm not supposed to get him into therapy. I have a strong feeling about it. It has been such a blessing just having him learn by playing. He picks up all sorts of things. And I figure there is a lot in his brain that he just can't express. Timmy is often a challenge, but he's also a gift.

OK, I'm falling asleep here. One more thing to record. We have been getting everyone we could to the eye doctor just for a checkup because we can. We had Hyrum, Joshua, Benji, and me examined earlier this week

(Gonna puke. I just lost a bunch more that I wrote! Here we go again again.)

We we're all good. Michael and Jill got examined today, and they both had to have their eyes dilated. Jill was super upset about that, but they bribed her with stickers and treats. Anyway, Jill is good, but Michael is not. He measures 20/25 in one eye and 20/45 or so in the other. His depth perception is off, and apparently the bad eye is turning to far inward to focus while the good one just looks right at what he's looking at. So he is going to need glasses. He was worried about that. He kept talking about how people would react. He kept mentioning how Brookie (his cousin and pretty much his best friend) is going to react,  but I think he's more worried about other things like that he'll get teased. He perked up when he got to choose frames. There were lots of good boy ones to look at. I let him pick whatever he wanted, and, of course, he needed red ones. They are red and black plastic with rectangular lenses. And he chose that kind of lenses that get dark when you go outside. I wasn't sure if he'd like them, but he said yes, and,  apparently, Jeremy had some like that in like fourth grade and loved them. So OK.

Jenny will get his exam tomorrow. He had laser surgery years ago, but he says his sight is going bad at least a bit. I guess all eyes do with age. Anyway, we're curious to see if he'll need glasses again.

The end. Good night!