Word Explosion

About two months ago, Zane had a word explosion. He has been doing well with his sounds and communication for some time and we have been very pleased. Then at 28 months, all these words started popping out and he stopped using sign language. Everything he needed was communicated with a verbal word. I tried to keep track of each new word to report to the speech therapist who seemed quite impressed. Then a couple of weeks ago, I stopped keeping record because he can repeat any word you throw at him. It's not always pronounced perfectly, but when he's challenged, he corrects himself by repeating it several times until he hears that it matches our sound - it's amazing! Now he's rattling off short sentences! Keeping it real, we probably understand him better than anyone, but he's communicating to others as well and they're hearing it too.


The other day while driving, I yelled out, 'RAILROAD TRACKS!' Zane shouted back, "PICK UP YOUR FEET!" He's even saying things that we didn't overtly teach him. We go to Target, but not regularly and rarely do I announce that we're 'going to Target' or 'we're at Target'. We just go to the store. Anyway, we were driving by Target and Zane says, "Mommy, look, Target!" Under my breath, I said, "Oh my word!" And he yelled back with drama, "OOOOH MYYYY WOOOOORD!"

He can also spot the famous coffee logo from a mile away and say "Starbucks" too. I wonder how he knows that??? ;) Another favorite of his to spot and yell out is "Taco Bell". Truly, he has never eaten there. So go figure?


He loves singing -- The ABC Song, all the scripture songs from Hide ‘Em In Your Heart, various Bible songs and the Veggie Tales theme song (now his favorite video to watch). "Mommy, Bob and Larry, TV, please?"

Being cleft affected, we (including the speech therapist) are blown away. His sounds are great and his determination to correct sounds leaves us speechless. So one can imagine our surprise when he recently failed his hearing test - WHAT?! We've been to a couple of doctors since and we're just more confused. With several more doctor appointments ahead of us and then a cleft team meeting in a month, hopefully we'll have this figured out. I'm anxious - just want 'them' to say that 'everything's great'!

We have seen some great improvement in his swallowing which could be contributing to his ear problems. It's hard to explain, but he has an interesting wallow-swallow that he used in China. We believe it was a survival technique so he wouldn't drown when they left him flat on his back to manage formula spewing down his throat through a pea-size hole in his bottle's nipple. Of course he doesn't need to wallow-swallow anymore, but it's just a bad habit that he's capitalized on in order to prolong good food - like cookies, ice scream or anything he enjoys or doesn't want to be done with. We often remind him, "Zane, stop wallowing, swallow."


Zane gets a lot of food coming out of his nose, which we have contributed to his fistula and alveolar (gum ridge) opening, but now we're thinking that it's more likely that the wallowing is pushing the food above the palate and out his nose, as well as into his eustachian tubes, causing the ear problems. So we have really stepped up training and addressing his bad swallowing habit (to his horror!) and the food coming out of his nose has GREATLY decreased. Now we're praying that it will also have a positive result on his ears as well. The next weeks will be telling, so we pray for healing, that Zane stops wallowing and ditches this bad habit for good. He's a smart boy and he knows exactly what he needs to stop doing -- he only does it now when he's being stubborn. What? Zane, stubborn? Uh, yeah! :)

Also with his sweet voice, he tells us, "I love you." "Sorry, Mama." "Night, night, Dada." Ahhh, does a mama's heart good to hear such victory!

There's one more thing that I'm hesitant to write about, but it completely blew us away. We'll have to do some more experimenting, but the other day I was reading a simple reader to him and after finishing one page he pointed to a word on the page and said it! ?? So I read another page and then asked him to point out a specific word and he did. He got the next four out of five words correct. Hmmm....maybe beginner's luck. He does like being read to. He'll sit for loooong books, and book after book after book.

Elle is an excellent and patient teacher too. Zane wouldn't be doing as well with his speech if it wasn't for her!

I know, I seem giddy, maybe over-the-top, but speech challenges aren't new around here. So victories are like mountain top experiences. And speaking of mountains, Elle conquered a huge one just before Christmas on what we call, The Best Day Ever. Read all about it here.