Words, words and more words
Nathan is on the verge of talking. I say this because he is starting to use words or parts of words to express himself as opposed to just yelling or squealing. It's very limited speech-- "tha" for "that" or "no" or "tea" (to describe what I had in my hand) but I'm so excited, I can't wait to see what he will do next!
Nathan is the baby and you can tell quite quickly that he knows it. I don't know how he knows but he does. Part of the reason I knew something was wrong originally was because he wasn't maturing as quickly as he should have (both developmentally and emotionally) and I was getting frustrated with how baby-like he was acting when he should have been acting more like a toddler. I find it strangely funny that the more I want him to act his age the more he acts like the spoiled one. So I can't force him to act his age, I can only encourage it in as many situations as possible.
Don't get me wrong, Nathan is an absolute sweetheart and I love him tremendously but for someone who can't speak, he can certainly let his opinion be known. Granted a lot of his behavior comes from his lack of speech and his desire to assert himself despite it. My husband sums up Nathan's opinion on toy possession, for example, with the phrase,"what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine, too." Of course it doesn't help that the natural give and take among siblings is stunted by the boys' social skills-- particularly Peter's. So Nathan takes and often doesn't give but we're noticing that Peter is starting to "fight" back by saying "no" or "I'm playing with this." And we're trying to remember to remind Gabrielle that she doesn't have to give up something the minute Nathan shows an interest in it.
Nathan is the baby and you can tell quite quickly that he knows it. I don't know how he knows but he does. Part of the reason I knew something was wrong originally was because he wasn't maturing as quickly as he should have (both developmentally and emotionally) and I was getting frustrated with how baby-like he was acting when he should have been acting more like a toddler. I find it strangely funny that the more I want him to act his age the more he acts like the spoiled one. So I can't force him to act his age, I can only encourage it in as many situations as possible.
Don't get me wrong, Nathan is an absolute sweetheart and I love him tremendously but for someone who can't speak, he can certainly let his opinion be known. Granted a lot of his behavior comes from his lack of speech and his desire to assert himself despite it. My husband sums up Nathan's opinion on toy possession, for example, with the phrase,"what's yours is mine and what's mine is mine, too." Of course it doesn't help that the natural give and take among siblings is stunted by the boys' social skills-- particularly Peter's. So Nathan takes and often doesn't give but we're noticing that Peter is starting to "fight" back by saying "no" or "I'm playing with this." And we're trying to remember to remind Gabrielle that she doesn't have to give up something the minute Nathan shows an interest in it.
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