Devin's Journal

Aaannnnnd....we're back! The boys' websites have been down for quite some time but Cat finally got them up and running again. Wooo!

So, here's a little Devin update.

We started him at Montessori a few weeks ago and he LOVES it. We love it, too. We were a little worried it would take him some time to adjust so I had worked out a fairly complicated "ramping up" schedule. I should not have bothered. He was ready to go full time from day one. That was both unexpected and awesome.

He's been thriving there. We've even noticed huge changes outside of school. It's like he's found HIS thing and it is making him feel more confident in general. Again...awesome.

And! And, he's learning so much and the actual school year hasn't even started yet. Today he came home and told me he had learned about the solar system. "I learned about the planets. Like Jupiter! Jupiter is made of gas and liquid!" He went on telling me more about other planets. "First there's Mercury and then Venus." Cat and I were floored by how much he retained. We are so excited for him and we can't wait to hear about what he learns next.

On Wednesday he is the "Helper of the Day" which means he gets to share during circle time. I have no idea if he will actually share or not given that he is still very shy (and has gone entire days without uttering a word to anyone). He wants to take our talking globe, though, so maybe it will do the talking for him.

Devin starting his first day at Momma-sori. (July 5, 2011)

Yesterday two very lovely women visited our home, wheeling giant suitcases full of toys up the driveway, to spend some time with Devin. No, we are not going to be on any of the Nanny shows. No, there are not any modern day Mary Poppins taking over the neighborhood. It was Devin's speech and development evaluation day and it was BIG FUN!

The put puzzles in front of him and he solved them in no time. They gave him a peg board to see if he could figure that out. He did. They gave him blocks and asked him to stack them and to "build a choo choo" and he did. They gave him a baby doll and told him she was hungry and then they gave him a spoon and he pretended to feed her. He then found a bottle and pretended to feed her that. Then he tried to drink from it and shoot me the stink eye because, "Really woman? You mean it when you say no more bottles for me?"

After he played with toys they asked me about other things he can do. Can he go to another room and find something? Can he follow instructions? So I had him go to the kitchen, get the red ball, and give it to Ann. And then I asked him to bring me a diaper and some wipes so I could change him. He did both with not problem because this is the sort of thing Devin does. Yes, he will pitch a fit because I have given him the wrong color of sippy cup (or some other mystery reason) but he will happily do things you ask him to because he looooves to be helpful. At one point he spilled a little milk and started jabbering wildly and pointing and I sort of off handedly said, "It's ok, Dev, just get a towel and wipe it up." So he waddled over to the laundry basket and rummaged around until he found a small hand towel and he took care of the mess.

Apparently, most of those things are a little bit advanced for a 19-month old. They are activities appropriate for a 23 to 25-month old. Sweeeeet.

But remember: this was about his language development as well. The boy doesn't talk much. And now I have an actual measurement to help you understand what I mean when I say this. His expressive language is that of a 9-month old baby. He is a full year delayed on talking.

So, to recap....waaaaay behind on talking but advanced on receptive speech, cognitive understanding, gross motor skills, fine motor skills, and social skills (HA! I know. Devin....social?). So he will be getting to do speech therapy once a week until his language is age appropriate at no cost to us. He'll have a single person who will come see him at our house which will help a lot with getting him comfortable with them.

Excels at pointing and stacking but does not want to talk about it.