Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Ball, Bye-Bye, Up, Nose??

A switch has been flipped in our little Eli. The monkey went from having mature jargon and speech at a 9 month level a month ago to all of a sudden adding words at lightning speed. Sunday Eli learned that he could communicate and get what he wanted faster if he used words instead of screaming, grunting, pointing, or babbling. WOW. What a realization this was for him. He hasn't stopped since. This morning his speech therapist was blown away at the progress he had made. Debbie ended up evaluating him again since his skill level had changed so drastically from a month ago. After about 45 minutes of play and teaching, Eli tested and performed at a 15-18 month level.

If I wasn't so drugged up on Percocet and immobile from my hysterectomy I would have jumped for joy! Eli started clapping right on cue when Debbie was telling me how well he was doing and you could not find a more proud mom than me. All in all today Eli probably picked up about 10-12 new words including a few two-word phrases like "push here", "up please", and "bye-bye dog".

Going from only saying dada and dog three days ago to this new language explosion is such an exciting time. Most parents can't wait for their children to say those first few words or to learn new skills. Most parents also don't have a 25 weeker. Eli has beaten the odds and it is such a gift just to see him be able to learn to speak. Al and I didn't know if we would be able to watch him ever say his first words so these moments are even more sweet.

6 comments:

Jess R said...

Congrats to Eli! That is great:-) Kellie- I hope you are feeling better soon. Sounds like it was pretty painful...

Jessica- and preemie buds Isabella, Savannah and Isaac:-)

Maggie (Sarah's mom) said...

Way to go Eli!!! I can only imagine how proud you are of them.

Can he come teach Sarah to talk? She only says 'Dada' and 'bah bah' for bottle.... I keep hoping we are on the verge of something but it never pans out!

Hopefully Eli can rub off on her!

Sarah said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sarah said...

Hooray for Eli! It took my Genny forever to talk too and now people are amazed that such big words can come out such a little person. Your boys are so cute!

(ETA, sorry I deleted my first post b/c it's late and I can't spell)

Lisa said...

Eli is the king of skills explosions! I remember when he had that huge gross motor skills explosion a few months ago! Preemies are amazing little creatures.

Sometimes it seems as though they get us as worried as possible and then bust out with the advancements... just to make us that much more appreciative.

(I have a feeling that spelling isn't my strong point when I'm on demerol!)

hallegracesmama said...

What a miracle boy! He loves to surprise you with new skills, doesn't he? :) Hope you are feeling stronger every day, Kellie. Take care.

Julie (Halle's mom)