Social Breakthroughs

Liam continues to develop by leaps and bounds and amaze everyone who meets him.  We have had two social breakthroughs recently.

First, Liam has a female friend from school....one he made on his own without my help.  It is reported she saves seats for him at lunch and she has gotten him to play Barbies.  I took them to the ballet and to say they were adorable to watch is an understatement.

 

 

Second, Liam initiated a conversation about something that interested me.  He tends to talk "at" you and not much wait for you to respond.  He also has tendency to ask repetitive questions and to focus on only things that interest him.  I was shocked Friday morning when we had the following conversation:

 

Liam: "How was your beer tasting last night, Mommy?"

 

Me: "It was a wine tasting, not beer.  I had a wonderful time.  Thank you for asking."

 

Liam: "How many wines did you try? 5?"

 

Me: "No, I tried 7 wines."

 

Liam: "Oh, 7 wines!  Which one was your favorite?"

 

Me: "My favorite was the Pouilly-Fuissé."

Liam: "Oh, the Pouilly-Fuissé (I giggled inside as he said that like he knew what I was talking about).  Was it the number 5 wine?"

Me: "No, it was the 2nd wine."

Liam: "Well, we should buy some if it was your favorite."

Me: "That is a wonderful idea and I did bring some home so Daddy could try it."



Overheard in these parts

Some things we have heard lately.

"Liam is the social leader in the classroom." from Liam's special education teacher....about Liam who refused to play with other children.  WOW.  I don't have words.

"I wish I had video of Liam last year to show how far he has come." from Liam's BCBA, his ABA therapist.

Liam's teacher assistant at his Montessori preschool also told me again that Liam is brilliant and told me to have him tell me what he did with her yesterday, but with Liam's pragmatic language delay, he cannot tell me anything more than that he did alot of words and some were hard.  I don't know if he read them or spelled them or wrote them.  I am guessing he was reading them, but Liam cannot seem to tell me exactly what he did that was so impressive.

Things heard from Liam:

On the night of November 30th as Dave tucked him into bed, "Goodnight Daddy; I'll see you in December."

This morning on learning that Christmas is on December 25th, "That means there are only 24 days until Christmas!"  However, when asked directly to subtract are how many days until a date, he claims not to know the answer.

When seeing a photo of the Elf on the Shelf in a Target circular, he asked "Is Christopher Pop-in-kins going to become a toy after Christmas?" At the moment, he thinks our elf, Christopher, moves by magic, but he seems confused about elves being pictured for sale and has an idea they might not be real. He is 4 years old!

Ben has started private speech and OT and is doing great and is even able to do his therapy without me present.  His tantrums are increasing in intensity however, and I am remembering how difficult they are to manage, especially as Liam gets upset  and says Ben is too loud and covers his ears and then begs me to make Ben stop.

Running away to Australia

This is what weekends look like around these parts; don't judge me for the wine.

This week Liam proposed that I run away to Australia with him.  He actually said "Mommy, can you and go far away?  Somewhere Daddy isn't?"  I asked if he meant he wanted to go away with Mommy but without Daddy.  Liam said "Yes, we can go to Australia."  I asked about Ben and he said "Baby Ben can come, but not Daddy."

I hate it when my kid proves Freud right and my graduate training wrong.

It looks like Liam and I won't be leaving for Australia anytime soon.  However, the military will be moving us again.....this time back to Alabama.  I will get to see again the wonderful friends I made when we were there before and Dave will get to attend ACSC in residence, which is a huge honor.