AMAZING!! Which means post #2 for the day!

This seems to happen so often...I will post an entry on the blog earlier in the day and then just a few hours later, Brycen will do something AMAZING that requires yet another post! Then, as I was signing in to write this AMAZING thing out, I realized that more AMAZING things happened yesterday and I completely forgot. How can I forget to tell people about these things??? Actually, I don't think I really forgot. My instinct with Brycen is that I don't want to "jump the gun" when Brycen does something new, since we never know if it will really stick or if it will be lost.

Today, I am going to forget all about that fear and share with you this AMAZING something! Then just for good measure, I'm going to add on the two other AMAZING things from yesterday.

Today:
As I was just typing an email for work, all of a sudden a green sippy cup presented itself in front of my face. I turned to that precious little face and asked him "What do you want?" He immediately did the sign for "I want" and then paused. I waited for about 10 seconds and just as I was about to open my mouth to ask him again...his sweet little voice said "ju?" Yes, with one indirect prompt/question to ask, he came up with a mix of sign/word to let me know what he wanted. He was so hesitant...despite knowing and having said this word for juice for over a year, but to put it together with the sign is absolutely AMAZING! Don't get me wrong, he has used his "I want" sign multiple times with "choo-choo" when he has wanted to watch a train video on TV or on the computer with prompts...but every single word he adds to the "I want" sign is a great accomplishment. Sometimes I wonder if we push him to use one certain phrase so much that he doesn't understand that the first part or last part can go with other words to make different phrases. Today, he obviously showed that he knows that!

Yesterday:
After speech therapy yesterday, his therapist was excited to tell me he used the sign and his word approximation "hup" (hup=help) THREE times with no prompts at all!!! While this is good news, she did point out that when he used the sign/word, he hadn't even tried himself to do the task. So it's a little bittersweet...he's using the sign/word in the right context and spontaneously, but he is relying on us to do stuff for him before he tries himself. Still good...no, GREAT news!

The second thing yesterday is this new phrase I have been working on with him at night when he goes to bed. I crave the day that he can say "I love you, Mom" to me. He doesn't even say "Mom", much less all of that together. So, I've been working on teaching him "I love you" every night with both words and actions. We've been doing this for a couple weeks now...and last night was the best yet! I said "I" while pointing to my chest, he then made a noise while pointing to his chest. I then said "love" while patting my heart, he said "uh" while patting his chest. Then I was about to say "you" and point to him when he said..."oooh" with NO PROMPTS! I guess he really has been paying attention each night when I go through it. That meant soooo much to me to hear all of those approximations and putting it all together like that. I immediately yelled downstairs to Mike to tell him what he did...but like in the past, it's always hesitation to share. Just in case!

So, that's it...another few things that may seem small but are really, really huge in Brycen's world. Brycen has really taught me to never take these things for granted...and I find myself even rejoicing in the things Aubree does that come so natural to her, but I know just how hard they can really be for a lot of children like Brycen.
Thanks again for reading and keeping up with Brycen and his accomplishments!!