Words! Words! Words!

It's not been a word explosion, it's been a Word Eruption!

At 18 months, Lenaïc was not talking. He appeared "normal" (i.e. meeting all milestones) in everyway except speaking. I wasn't too worried, as Angelina was also speech delayed, and he was hearing two languages, so this was within normal range. But, 18 months is the top end of that range, so we contacted ECI - Early Childhood Intervention, the state social services. They evaluated him, and declared he was 6+ months behind and eligible for services. So, for the past year, they've come to the house 3x/month (and in the past few months, about 5x) to work with him. He has loved it. But until a few months ago, he still wasn't speaking much. He had begun to say more and more words, but not consistently. His hearing had been checked, and it was perfect. 6 months ago we started going to a private speech therapist as well, but after 6 weeks decided it wasn't worth it and decided to persist with the public services.

He slowly started to add more words. Eventually he started saying "Mom-mom" (he never said "Mommy" though he'd been saying "Papa" for awhile). Now he just says "mom." New words continued to come, though he refuses to say "car" which is his favourite object. He was due for his 1 year evaluation, and as of a month ago, the therapists said he was still significantly delayed (more than 15%) so he would continue to receive services.

well, that was until last week. Suddenly, the words started to explode. He started saying everything he saw. The funniest part is that he says harder words like "swimsuit." Sunday, he pointed to my red shirt and said "rojo!" then proceeded to point to every red object saying "rojo!" and then every green object and saying "verde!" Oh, and instead of car, he said 'voiture!" And he calls Chico, our dog, "Taco." (He had a Spanish speaking babysitter for awhile, and he saw her Saturday night) So, not only has he had a word eruption, it's in three languages. he is now 30 months old. At his evaluation, he was only behind in communication (27months), cognitive skills were at 46 months and social skills? 50 months. That's more than 4 yrs old... Anyone who knows this kid will not refute that. He is Mr Social. With everyone. Kids, grownups, he loves them all. So no more therapy, but that's a good thing. Except, we'll miss his therapists. He's always so happy when they arrive. But he doesn't need it. Now he won't stop talking.....