Dominic comes with us on Tuesdays to speech, and that is a little distracting for Jojo. It's funny how totally different he acts with his brother there. Last week Miss Kendra took into her room by himself and Dominic and I waited in the waiting area. He had no trouble separating and she said he did super. I didn't do that this week though, because I wanted to watch him. I think I may alternate each week going in with him, then not going in with him.....until Dominic goes back to school anyway.

He said one word spontaneously today, "Ba" (ball) when he wanted to play ball. That is rare, so Miss Kendra and I were very excited! When asked what he wants to play he will usually just point to something or say "Da". We are still working on the "eeee" and "oooo" sounds which are very difficult and take many tries before we hear them. We are trying to combine a consonant with a vowel such as for the word bee saying "buh" and then "eee". This is very challenging for Joseph. Most of the things he says are just one syllable, and if the word is too long he gets very frustrated. It's the opposite of how you would think when you teach children to talk. You usually try to not use a "baby-talk" type of speech, but that is exactly what we do for Jojo to break it down so he can manage at least one sound in the word. For example when we ask him to say blue we say "Jojo say "boo" and pool would be "poo." Miss Kendra also praised Jojo for how well he communicates non-verbally. She said that he sure does try to make himself understood for others. He has the desire to communicate. Little cutie pie looked at her near the end of his session and signed "all done" and said emphatically "a-da!" He was tired and was ready to go!

I've been having a little bit of a hard time the past week or so. Everything seems so fine and normal at home, because we are used it and that's how it always is. I can tell that when we go out it is harder on him. We were at the mall the other day and the sales girl asked him how old he was. It was so cute as he struggled to manipulate his fingers (thumb and pointer in the shape of an L) to show that he is two. Then she asked what his name was and he said nothing, so she asked again....he said "da" while looking down. She then asked him something else and I said casually "oh, he is still learning to talk" and walked away. He is self conscious and will point at me to answer for him if he feels pressured. He is a smart little guy. It is also harder for me, having to answer questions, hearing other 2 year olds and the cute little things they say, and trying to ignore the fact that others look when he says " DAAAAH" and then "A DAAAH" for everything. I'm not trying to throw myself a pity party, but I'm also not denying the truth of how I feel. At the end of the day it's not about me, it's about him and that's what I remember when it gets tough. I try to imagine what he must feel like.