Proud Parent Post

After a few months of wavering interest in writing his own name- and the occasional proof-of-principle- Big Bro had a flurry of name-writing this afternoon. It was as if suddenly something clicked- this wasn't just one of those weird parental suggestions (like "eat some salad") but might actually be useful! Suddenly he mastered the first name, and whizzed off a good representation of our last name. (My decision to make this a semi-anonymous blog sadly prevents me from showcasing these achievements!) I spelled out a few short words (eg "moo") that could be made with some of the letters which Big Bro had just mastered, and then offered a blank sheet with the suggestion that he could write his name and we could stick it on his bedroom door. Big Bro decided he'd prefer "[Big Bro]'s room" so he wrote his name, I provided an apostrophe, he provided an S, I spelled "room" and on request assisted with the R ("like a man dancing"*), then he produced the OOM, and a picture of a snake and a moon. And I was the proudest Mama on earth :)

*no idea if it's a kosher method, but I've taken to explaining how to write letters as pictograms: A is a mountain with a road, S is a snake, T is a telephone pole...

In other language news, Little Bro is in the midst of a linguistic bloom. At the same age, poor old middle-ear-effused (ie, deaf) Big Bro had still been assigned to the "in the normal range", "boys are slower with language" (delete my opinion of this) category with five "words", three of which were "da" (for dog, duck and Dada). So it's a huge thrill for me to have a child (and a boy, no less!) who can pick up words from a single hearing or from normal conversation. Tonight's offering was "ba-ba-yu" for the outdoor device that cooked our sausages and corn ("kohn", a favourite). Little Bro certainly has the practicalities of speech worked out: I haven't yet had the heart to refuse his insistent "mama, bahbools" when I start running the bath, while if I haven't fully woken up by breakfast time, it's a bit handy to be directed, "bohl... eee-bee (weet-bix)... (sul)tanas...". And close to my heart are words like "garduhn", "flowa" and "(c)ooki(ng)". It's a
gorgeous age, and so much fun to get my first glimpses into Little Bro's thought processes. Did I already nominate myself for Proudest Mama of the Year?

As a postscript, if you ever suspect your child has a potential hearing problem, ignore all the wellwishers, shed any anxieties about being an overly anxious parent, and get a hearing test!! (I can write more on the subject if anyone is interested!)