An Ordinary Saturday

Two activities were on the agenda for today: attending a 2 year-old friend's Birthday party and visiting Julie & Gabe's house to wrap Christmas presents.

The birthday party was at the Children's activity museum. Evan had a good time, although he really just likes to play by himself or with us (most of the kids there were in the 18-months to 2 1/2 age range, so they weren't really playing with each other either). He had the most fun in "the bubble"--there was an indoor play structure with a clear, half-sphere window. Evan knew enough about windows from previous experience that he was a little leery of this one--he would reach out to about where glass would have been if the window was flat and "feel around" in the air. Gradually, he leaned far enough out to find the solid surface of the window. From that point on, he was hooked.

The most exciting thing happened this afternoon at Julie's house. Evan wanted to play with her remote control. So I signed "want" to him. He made his sign for "want" (it's actually a pretty close approximation), so I gave the remote to him for a minute. Then I signed "mommy's turn" and took it back. After a bit, I asked him if he wanted it again, expecting him to sign more "want." Instead, Evan signed "yes"--he only did a couple shakes of the "yes" (if you are familiar with ASL, you know what I'm talking about) and I could never get him to repeat it. But it was most definitely a "yes."

This is a huge deal. Up to this point, I have only seen Evan copy a sign that one of us is making simultaneously. This time, not only did he make a sign that was different from the one I was making, it was contextually appropriate in our "conversation"! I realize that communication is still going to be a long, uphill road. But, Evan, you sure know when your mommy needs a little bit of positive reinforcement. It was only a couple weeks ago that I was questioning Evan's teacher, Kat, about whether she thought he was "getting it," and when it might be time to start looking at some other strategies. She was very positive, and assured me that although she had her share of doubts when she first started working with Evan because things were so slow, she had seen tremendous progress and felt that he was on the verge of things finally starting to "click." I guess she was right!

Just an ordinary Saturday, but I was again reminded of the extraordinary-ness of our son.


Our Bubble Boy



"Sing us a song piano-man..."