What's that:: "What's This? "

Are you sick to death yet of me bragging about Oliver's blossoming desire to communicate? Well, too bad! Because, try as I might to not get overly optimistic about each new little thing, I just can't help it. Today, I was on the phone with someone interested in learning more about RDI (Yeah!!!) when Oliver brought me a book that he hasn't picked up in, oh, say, two years. It is all about different kinds of vehicles. "Book!" he said emphatically. Then, when I turned my back and tried to ignore him: "Read the book!" Then over and over again until I had to hang up the phone and comply.

So picture this: the two of us on the couch looking at a mostly picture book --me, pointing and naming vehicles with lots of pauses in between -- Oliver repeating every word after me and then taking my finger to various pictures and asking: "What's this?"

What's this?!!

Isn't that a WH question?

MY boy? Asking Wh- questions??

Is this some kind of dream?

So I've got one of my own: what the heck is going on around here?

A Meme!

Curiously: something I'm really in the mood for tonight as it doesn't require a whole lot of brain power, of which I've got in short supply at the moment.

Rooster's Mom tagged me for this five things meme, so here goes:

5 things found in your bag:

A little plastic elmo, a week and a half's worth of receipts that need to be thrown away, a bottle of sunblock, a mostly empty package of wipes, and the remnants of some un-eaten ginger snap cookies.

5 favorite things in your room:

A picture of my two favorite smiling boys, a picture of Nik sitting at a little outdoor cafe in Montreal, My worry monkey, a cup of coffee, A sleeping Sami.

5 things you always wanted to do:

learn another language, visit Morocco and Turkey, have lunch in that new little cafe downtown with the funky decor, dress stylishly, dye my hair another color.

5 things you are currently into: gardening, biking with my kids, autism remediation (that had to be in there, right?), the sound of my son's voice, the pleasure of his smiles.

5 people that you'd like to tag:

Ohhh, I'm SO bad at this so, yeah, I'm taking the whimps way out and not tagging anyone :-) OK, well, maybe just Gretchen because I have a feeling she could use the fodder for a light blog post!

Sweet little lies

I'm not sure but I think Oliver told me a lie today! We didn't have a very good night of sleep last night so by 2pm Nik and Sami were both napping in the boy's bedroom. I took Oliver in our bed to read to him a bit in hopes that he would soon fall asleep as well. After a few pages he turned to me and said: "I want potty." "OK," I told him, "go and then come right back." But he didn't even pretend to go to the bathroom. Instead he went to the toy bin in the hallway. So I called him back. Then, a few minutes later he tried it again: "I want potty." Curious now, I said the same thing -- go and come right back. And for the second time Oliver used the opportunity to make a grab for the blocks that were stacked in the corner of my room instead of actually heading in the direction of the bathroom. I was pretty amused at both his lie, his following lack of pretense, and my own secret thrill that my little sunshine boy Oliver was USING WORDS to LIE to me!!!

I'm trying very hard not to be overly optimistic about Oliver's sudden willingness to try and use words to communicate. There are still plenty of times when words fail us. For instance, there are still lots of times when I ask: "What do you want?" and he replies: "Want. Yes." But yesterday, after we went to the track he told Nik: "That was fun!" And when I asked him how his food was he surprised me by replying that it was good. He has also been very assertive when reclaiming things that his little stinker bother has taken from him: "That's my cookie!" or "That's my toy!" He has even started to make a little joke by asking for his brother, RT, every time we get into the car. "He's in school," I tell him. Then he asks again and again, laughing like it is the funniest joke ever.

I still really wish I knew how to help him understand language more easily. There are times when I am trying to communicate something to him, even something very simple, and no matter how I try I cannot help him to understand. But there are an equal number of times these days when I am surprised and thrilled by just how much he DOES understand. I fell into a several-day funk last week over an instance where I just couldn't make Oliver understand something. He had two items and I wanted him to bring them both to me. He kept putting one down and picking the other one up. Poor guy. He was really working hard to understand me and I was getting more and more agitated. It is hard sometimes for me to remember to celebrate what Oliver is ABLE to do rather than focus so much on what he can't. Luckily though, when I get down Nik is usually able to knock some sense in to me and then it isn't all that hard to appreciate just how amazing our little liar really is!

No.

Yesterday I had to revise and send a document to my dear husband by e-mail. When I need to be on the computer, I usually require that the kids stay upstairs until I'm done. My computer sits in a small, open area in the hallway of the second floor of our home and I figure that from here I at least have a chance of hearing them get into trouble if they are on the same level. But before I was finished Oliver started down the steps and the following conversation took place:

"Stay upstairs, please."

"No," he said looking right at me.

"Upstairs, please. I'm almost done."

"No."

"Oliver. Upstairs, please."

"No. I want the blocks."

This last was said with an impish grin on his face. And soon he was joined by Sami, who shouted out: "No, Mom!" while literally raising his fist in the air. He was so delighted by Oliver instigating a bit of anarchy.

So what else could I do? I let them go downstairs.

It took me a minute to realize what happened. Oliver has always been able to say "No." But this time was much different. He wasn't upset. I wasn't asking a yes/no question. He was asserting himself -- standing up to me -- in a calm way that was so very different from the "No, no, no, no, no" way that usually happens when I'm trying to get him to do something that he doesn't want to do.

There has been lots of language lately. Most of it has been instrumental -- Oliver expressing his wants and desires (I want to go inside. I want to go outside. I want to go down the slide. I want to run. I want in the bathtub) but I can't help but feel that little by little the doors to communication are opening. And in the meantime, what household can't benefit from a bit of anarchy now and then?