canon's speech...

it's no secret that canon is behind on talking compared to kids we know around his age. he's verbal just not with actual words! his favorite "word" is "i". he says it over and over whether he's playing, trying to tell us what he wants, or laying in bed in the mornings. he's willing to try a word if we tell him to say it. he has a few words that are natural to him to say on a regular basis...help, up, down, no, yes, mama, dada, please, i love you. bless his cute little heart, he's so smart and knows everything we tell him, can show/get whatever we ask him, but for as cute as he is, he's equally stubborn.

at his 2 year check-up, the doctor heard him interacting with us and after talking to us about his norm, she wasn't concerned. i also have talked to so many people that have reassured us that he will just start talking one day and never stop. i mentioned to our doctor that we had a family friend in muskogee that was a speech pathologist, and she said it would be good for my peace of mind to have her evaluate him. since we've been in muskogee this week, my mom saw her at work and told her about him and asked if she minded looking at him. of course, she didn't.

she was able to come over last night. at first, canon got all bashful. it's his new thing. she looked in his mouth at his palette and said it was perfect. i told her about him being tongue-tied at birth, but that it stretched out. she was so thankful they didn't clip it. she got to hear him say a few words, plus hear him say his famous "i". his main problem that we've noticed is dropping the first consonant and picking up the word at the first vowel sound. she said he favors vowel sounds which explains his love for "i". typically, kids get the first consonant and then add the second later, but of course, he's backwards!

she was so encouraging in that she didn't sense any problems and he would start picking up stuff in his own time. she said if there was no change in 6-9 months to have him re-evaluated, but for now to just emphasize the first consonant and common words (example: t-t-toy). she said stay away from words that have a consonant blend like block and words that have s's and r's.

i was so thankful for the reassuring words. this is the same lady that helped lane learn to say his r's back in the day. i got to hear some hilarious stories of lane not talking right. i had tears in my eyes i was laughing so hard. thank you, miss susie!