If you have a child with verbal delays you will love this video…
If you know AnnaKate you will love this video…
My heart is singing…
AnnaKate dropped this bomb on us tonight! We have said “night-night” to her for almost 6 years and tonight out of the blue she said it back!!!! Her ni-ni was the sweetest sound I have heard in a while.
Way to go AnnaKate!
AnnaKate’s school is reading Eric Carle books during the month of March. They suggested that families read at home as well and keep a list of the ones they read. I have not read a lot of the Eric Carle books so this has been fun for us all. I collected quite a few and we are having fun working our way through them. AnnaKate loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? and Have You Seen My Cat?. I love The Foolish Tortoise and Papa, Please Get The Moon For Me.
What Eric Carle books are your favorite? I think he has written or illustrated over 90 books!
When AnnaKate was first diagnosed with Rubinstein Taybi syndrome my thoughts often obsessed over this question. I know family members think about it a lot and strangers ask it very bluntly.
Will she ever talk??????
AnnaKate will be 6 in April and I have truly stopped worrying about what I can’t control. (Insert my mother’s applause here…) I used to really worry about not hearing my child’s voice, her inability to tell me what hurts or what she loves, and not hearing her say I love you. But as AnnaKate has grown, she has learned to communicate. She signs, gestures, uses communication systems (iPad, books, pictures, etc.) and does speak a few words. AnnaKate has taught us that speech is not the most important thing, communication is. She has a voice, it just may not sound like ours.
We are seeing lots of improvement in the area of communication which is exciting to see. Her SLP had me compile a list of her words and I was shocked at how many she does have.
Frequent good quality words spoken
Apple
Eat
Arm
Eyes
Me
Hi
Byebye
Mama
Dada
T-T (grandmother)
Bubbles
Go
hole
up
pop
Wilma
kitty
poo poo
Approximations
Beau (ba)
yes (ya)
grandaddy (gadada)
walk (wawa)
t t (trot)
Caroline (Kuh Kuh)
Sheila (ela)
Earline (E)
Eli (E-Lie)
yaya (more or juice...to be determined)Letters (ABCDEFGHIKLMOPRSTW)
book (kuh)
crate (tuh)
AnnaKate (tuh)
potty (papa)
soap (o)
gymnsatics (tics)
yoga (ga)
AnnaKate has a huge signing vocabulary. She picks up signs very quickly (thanks Signing Times…) and sometimes even creates her own.
So, to answer the question…”Will she ever talk?”---Yes, she WILL communicate!
So I texted this picture to my sister tonight and she suggested that this was just the right picture to get me blogging again!
Context of picture:
While we were eating dinner tonight AnnaKate got up from the table and moved her chair to the desk in the kitchen. She then moved her placemat and then her plate. She climbed into her chair and began to eat her dinner at the desk away from us!
This is our life with this silly, stubborn, fun loving girl! I sure wish I knew what was going on in her head when she did things like this.
And I am not talking about being a bad blogger (which I am), I mean how can AnnaKate be 5 and a half years old? For so long I wanted her to grow, to meet milestones like crawling and walking and now I find myself wanting her to slow down. She is losing her “babyness” that she had for so long. Today we had some milestones that need reporting:
A loose tooth!
AnnaKate lost her first tooth about a year ago due to a trauma to the tooth. So this is her first “real” loose and wiggly tooth. It makes me sad that she is growing and her perfect baby teeth will be replaced with big silly oversized teeth.
We had a regular dentist appointment today so during the drama of the cleaning (and it is high drama with AK) I told the hygienist that it would be ok if it just”fell” out. After a little rocking it came out and the tooth fairy will pay AnnaKate a visit tonight. And by the way, there are 2 more loose ones….ugh!
“Show me your teeth AnnaKate”
Potty Talk
AnnaKate has been making great potty progress since May. If you put her on the potty she will go but she rarely initiates. So I have stopped pushing so hard and she seems to be coming around on her own. She has only done her “big business” in the potty once until today. She got out her little potty, sat in front of her mirror with a few books and voila…! I was so happy and danced around…she seemed a little confused as to why that yuckiness would make me so happy. I do see a light at the end of the diaper tunnel!
Communication
AnnaKate speaks, signs and uses a communication book to get heard. Her signing has boomed lately and we continue to hear new sounds as well. She just got the t sound which opened her up to lots of new words like, teeth and “TT’ (her grandmother). She can say Beau, eat, hi, up, bye, A, B, C, D, E, go, home, juice, dada, mama, pop, lala, and a lot of approximations. We are really proud of her progress and love “hearing” what she has to say.
AnnaKate started gymnastics last week. We are so lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive community. This amazing gym does this class for special needs kids and even has a Special Olympics Gymnastics Team for the older ones.
AnnaKate loved it so, so much!! She even had a temper tantrum when the class was over.
*These pictures aren’t that great since I was taking them through glass…sigh…
They started out with a warm up. AnnaKate did great following directions like, put the bean bag on your elbow.
Walking with the bean bag between her legs.
Now off to the gym…
AnnaKate did the floor trampoline once…it made her very nervous not to have a bar to hold on to.
Her coach did a great job trying to convince her to try it again….maybe next time!
It was great to see AnnaKate trying and LOVING something new. I know she can’t wait until next week.
Eden Farms had a horse show for their therapeutic riding program, Happy Hooves. It was such a great day for all of us!
AnnaKate anxiously awaiting the riders and the horses.
David is usually one of AnnaKate’s volunteers during her lessons. They have a special bond. He placed first today!
While we waited on her events AnnaKate played and ran and played and ran some more…
“Mary Rebecca” was one of my fourth graders years ago. She and her mom work at the barn now. I love that we get to see them.
AnnaKate and her friends from riding!
Getting ready to go in the ring.
Practicing jump seat…this will not be judged but you can’t blame her for being ready!
Rider number 112, assisted walk.
Hmmm….maybe if I wave to the judges that will get me some points.
Lining up in front of the judges. Fourth place for rider number 112!!
Clapping for fellow riders.
Wow…a ribbon!
We had such a special day! A huge thanks to all the volunteers for making the event possible.
Billy and I married in 1998 after dating for 6 years. In 2006 we adopted AnnaKate. We were lucky enough to meet her birth mother and take her home from the hospital. At about 4 months old, AnnaKate was diagnosed with Rubinstein-Taybi Syndrome. Through all of AnnaKate's struggles and delays she surprises and delights us daily! Thanks for marking this spot and coming back often to check in on us.
