Saturday, January 29, 2011

Perry, the Speech Therapy Platypus

Before Joseph came along, I would have been happy to be a TV-free home. To some degree, I still would like that. The constant drone of a TV, the stimulation constantly flowing to my brain and the NOISE! are enough to drive me batty. I'm a chatterbox who likes her peace and quiet, something that is hard to come by with four kids. Add the TV noise into the mix and I want to pull my brain out of my ears and chuck it at Dora.

(Dora and her cousin Diego are banned in my house. They annoy the crap out of me, far more than normal kids' programming.)

By the end of the day, I have created a NO KIDS' TV rule. I ban the HUB, HUB BUB and Disney XD in favor of shows that we all like and can stand. Some of them are even kids shows, but rockin' 1980s old school shows, like Rainbow Brite and He-man and She-Ra.

Excuse me, I feel the sudden urge for a side ponytail and leg warmers.

The exception to all this, generally, is the Disney show Phineaus and Ferb. Everyone knows the P and the F, so I won't bore you with details. I will say that this is perhaps Georgie's fave show ev-ah, right up there with Thomas. With this in mind, his uncle gave him a stuffed Perry for Christmas. He LOVES it!


Of COURSE, being loyal viewers of the show, we have to ask Georgie on a constant basis, "Hey Georgie! Where's Perry?"

At first, he would look confused. As time went on, he would laugh at us and then indicated that he wanted Perry to make noise. After a few weeks, he finally said, "DERE!" when we said, "Where's Perry?"

Dere! Perry is dere! HE HAS A WORD BACK!

I swear, "dere" was his breaking point. Shortly after getting his Perry, Georgie came out of his shell. We've heard "Ma ba na" (more ba [milk] now), dogdog and "GeeGee" (Gee for my mother, Grams). He interacts with more people than just us. He clearly remembered my parents when they came to visit for Camille's birthday and became very attached to my mother. He loves, loves his speech therapist (the person, not just the platypus!) and calls her "DeeDee." And imagine my surprise (and tears!) when he willingly went on the marry go round with his godmother! He sees her often but was still wary of her (since she is not a member of TheHerd and all) until last week.

And then! He walked into the church nursery! Willingly! I didn't have to drag him in or leave him crying, hoping I didn't get a phone call that he wasn't calming down. He walked in, waved good bye and wasn't crying when I walked by the room to leave. He did the same thing at the nursery in Bible Study. He was a little more reluctant to go in, but played happily and ran to give me a big hug when I picked him up.

I hadn't realized how "in his shell" he had been until he broke free from it. Georgie had been in his own little PuddinPie world until now. The ability to communicate has opened up the world to him. Instead of mostly ignoring his peers, or grabbing from them, he does try and play and interact. Yeah, he still grabs, fights, pinchs and hits because he is mostly non-verbal AND two but he's getting there. He knows PEOPLE and wants to be with PEOPLE.

We've even heard some two word phrases- "baby ba!" when I was nursing Cole and "pee pee ni-ni" (pee pee night night). He said the latter when he crawled into bed nakey and later took me by the hand and dragged me into the bathroom, pointing at the potty! Yay!  Maybe potty training is close by!

We still have some concerns. He babbles now (yay!) and speaks some, but his words are mostly beginning sounds, like "ba" for bottle or "ma" for more. Dogdog, Daddy, Mommy, mememe and baby are his only real words. He stands very close to the TV and practically has a panic attack if you ask him to walk down steps or stairs. He can slide down but will NOT stand UP and walk down. We're getting his eyes checked soon.

Georgie PuddinPie, we love you and can't wait to complain that you never stop talking!


No comments:

Post a Comment