Receptive Language

Over the last week or so, I have been astounded by Keira's emerging receptive language skills (this is the language she can understand, such as following commands and being able to identify things in her environment).

For example, as we were playing on the floor with various toys, I noticed her Gymboree beach ball sitting a couple feet behind her. I asked her, "Where is Gymbo?" (the ball has pictures of Gymbo the clown on it) and she looked all around and when she spotted it, she crawled over to it.

Another example...we usually read books before bed and there is currently a big pile of books strewn around on the floor in both Keira's room and in Noah's and my bedroom. Keira and I were sitting on the floor where we read book after book; however, I noticed we hadn't read "Brown Bear" yet (her favorite). I asked, "What about Brown Bear? Are we going to read that one tonight?" Then, she looked around the pile of books and grabbed Brown Bear for me to read.

And, of course, whenever I say, "Do you see Jack?" or "Where is Jack?" she looks at our beloved dog and flashes a huge grin.

I am sharing these moments because you can be sure I do not take them lightly. For 7 years I worked with children with Autism and spent countless hours showing flashcard after flashcard of various common items, hoping to teach them some basic receptive language skills..."Find the cat"..."Point to the dog"..."Where is the spoon"...and so forth. These children were well past 8.5 months old (Keira's age), most of them approaching their third birthday.

Today (and pretty much everyday) I am well aware of the blessing it is to have a beautiful and healthy baby girl, who continues to develop by leaps and bounds everyday. Thank you God for this precious gift.