Elliot got the boot. Was told to hit the road. Don’t let the door hit you on the heinie, little guy.
He’s officially an early intervention graduate today.
Eight months ago my nearly-speechless baby would head butt me for attention. He still head butts me, but at the same time he will yell, “I bonk you, Mommy!” So, progress.
He also says things like, “Alden take my rocket ship!” and “I shoo the kitties. Shoo shoo kitties!!” and “I bite you nose? I bite you nose!!!”
Now that he can talk, he likes to narrate.
— I look at that race car, Mommy?
— I take it?
— I vroom it?
— I frow it?
He’s going to do those things no matter what I say, but he enjoys the Q&A.
We get so much joy hearing all the crazy things that have been swimming around in his brain. Now that the impediment has cracked open, it spills out all day every day. He called me at work the other day to tell me there are “zhombies in the dollhouse.”
His sensory issues faded to almost nothing over the time we were focusing on his speech. Sandy feet was a reason for a meltdown a year ago. Now, total non-event.
He still has some oddities that I expect to unfold and change, maybe coming on stronger and maybe fading away. Some of them, like military-precision toy aligning, feel comfortable to me because I know I did the same thing when I was a kid. His speech therapist offered to re-evaluate him in a few months to make sure he isn’t stalling or slipping. I’m going to take her up on that. The University of Tennessee speech therapy lab has been a wonderful resource for us.
Speaking of, Tennessee Early Intervention Services was the source of all this important assistance for our family. It’s free and all Tennessee families are eligible regardless of insurance or income. I had a heck of a time finding them, though, so let’s let Google help them help people.
For speech delay evaluation, speech therapy, developmental delays, motor skill delays, early intervention, cognitive delays, communication delays and adaptive delays, you can contact Tennessee Early Intervention Services (TEIS) at 1-800-852-7157
More information on eligibility can be found here.
jaysaint 
Posted by Brian Patrick Flynn on February 8, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Now that the scary unknown mumbo-jumbo is history, I hope you can start to LOVE the funny pronunciations of things. My 5-year-old nephew is rapidly losing his impediments and it’s making me sad because I wuv hee-wing fings like Unkle Bwian and Uncle Ho-wiss instead of real names like Brian and Hollis. But I will tell you what does not make me sad, yet instead makes me grabby for a vase to throw at the wall: whining and temper tantrums. #timeoutwithunklebwian #grabbycrabby
Posted by jaysaint on February 9, 2012 at 8:36 pm
The things I want to remember the most are the near misses like, “Can I bite a chocolate milk?”
I don’t understand why whining and crying doesn’t make you want to have 25 kids of your own. I thought everyone loves that.
Posted by Amelia on February 9, 2012 at 2:03 am
Oh lord he’s adorable. Good words little man!!
Posted by jaysaint on February 9, 2012 at 8:36 pm
Thank you!