MOM! askyouquestion

We've signed up Jacob for speech school. Last month we had an EarlyOn speech therapist come into our home to assess Jacob's speech. Her prognosis wasn't surprising to us: expressive language delay and hypernasality (Mom VD and Laura's speech expertise has come in handy for us).

Basically, Jacob often doesn't pronounciate things well (though there doesn't seem to be an identifiable pattern) and doesn't often put words together, still talking at the one word sentence level.

He does, however, have a wide vocabulary. His moment to shine during the assessment was when his sock fell off while he was doing one of the activities. "Freezing" he said and then tried to put his sock back on. I do take full credit for introducing this word into his vocabulary as I say it all the time (living in an old house during a MI winter...I shall say no more).

In the past week or so, we've seen some improvement in his speech. He's been using more action verbs. He's talking in a few more two word sentences ("eat it" "shoe on").

He's also started responding to ANYTHING we say with "why?"

Me: Jacob, get your shoes on.
Jacob: Why?
Me: Because we're going outside.
Jacob: Why?
Me: Because it's nice outside.
Jacob: Why?
Me: Because it's almost spring.
Jacob: Why?
Me: Because God made it that way.
Jacob: Why?
Me: Because God wanted order and structure in our world.
Jacob: Why?
Me: Because God's creation reflects who God is...

OK. I usually never even get past the second "why?" because, to be honest, I'm not even sure Jacob knows what "Why?" means. I think he's learned that when he says it, he gets a response. And, as third kid, there is a small small chance that he might not get as much attention as say his older sister did. This also might explain his yelling, screaming and extremely loud talking.

The other thing he's been saying is "MOM"...I'll stop there, he usually prefaces everything he says with MOM, MOM, MOM (there is another small small chance that I don't respond right away to when my kids talk to me). Anyway, Jacob's been saying "MOM askyouquestion (one word).

We know he picked this up from Claire who has been saying this for the last few months.
Claire: At the dinner table, "Mom, can I ask you a question?"
Me: "Sure Claire"
Claire: "Mom, can I be done?"

Jacob's version is to string all those words together.
Jacob: MOM askyouquestion? (he even does the intonation)
Me: Sure Jacob, what is it?
Jacob: silence. Stares as me.
Me: Jacob, did you want to ask me when we're going to the waterpark?
Jacob: nods his head

Ah. I love this kid so much. His excitement for life is contagious. The little glimmer in his eyes when he discovers something new, the smirk on his face when he finds something funny, the feel of his arms around my neck when he's giving me a hug. The stories he could tell. And, once he starts talking more, I'm sure he will.