He may not talk yet but he is full of personality

I started this blog post a few months ago because I wanted to record all of the ways that Jordan can and does communicate with us even though he isn't talking yet. Since the start of this blog post he has finally started talking a little bit when prompted but is still very much happy to not say a word except for some pretty consistent babbling of mamamam, dadadadada, nananana, papapapa. We have been seeing a speech therapist since January and she is really proud of the progress and so am I as I feared he just might never talk! Can you imagine a child of MINE that didn't talk?!?!

Even though he doesn't actually speak words to us he is very aware of what is going on and understands completely what you are saying and doing around him.

A while back he had a bedtime routine that just cracked me up every night. I would ask him if he wanted me to sing a song for him and he would shake his head yes and then for EVERY single song I would start to sing he would look at me, smile and just wag his finger back and forth at me indicating that in fact no he didn't want THAT song. Then I would look shocked and horrified and then he would burst out into a giggle. Now we've progressed to his saying "ooohhh" when he wants me to sing Oh Canada to him every night and now he'll hum along with me while I sing. I have to get a video of it because it really is so cute how 3 separate times during the song he throws his arms up in the air because he thinks its the end of the song, even though I know that he knows it isn't :)

For months now we've been saying I love you to Jordan by pointing to our eye and saying I, then to our heart and saying Love, and then to him and saying You. Now when we say it to him he will often point to his heart and point back to us and then lean in for a big hug and kiss. I remember one night snuggling with him in my bed when he should have been sleeping but had a rare wakeup and he poked me in the eye and got my attention, then touched his heart and grunted at me (another form of his communication). It was totally unprovoked as I was just laying quietly watching him and it made my heart soar knowing that he was able to communicate, even if he couldn't say any words yet.

This kid is as independent as any child I've ever seen. If he wants something he doesn't want to ask for it, he will just grab a stool and climb up to whatever it is that he wants. He is a great pointer and grunter too and as long as he signed the words Please and Thank You he was able to usually get what he wanted. We have progressed in the past 2 months to some semblance of those two phrases so we've come a long way! Now it's "eessseee" and "ta" which the speech therapist said is great progress.