Speech, and the lack thereof.

Still has his baby blues, you see.

While he's been picking up a few more words lately (boo, gee, o-eej: can you guess the translations?), Jim is still definitely behind on the verbal communication front, so off we went today to see the speech pathologist again. Noah even got to come along this time, since it fit conveniently between several of his complicated military obligations.



Aaaaand it went really well. Jim was adorable and charming, as per usual, and the SP (I'm too lazy to type 'speech pathologist' every other sentence, so bear with me) was terribly nice. She was suitably impressed by Jim's impressive attention span and language comprehension (both of which are apparently advanced), and even more impressed that he knows his colors, animals, counting (to five, on his fingers), etc. Apparently he's totally ahead of the game in everything except actually, y'know, getting the words out.



Turns out, however, that the gap between his comprehension/knowledge and speaking ability is worrisome. I suppose we kind of figured that, which is why we were there in the first place, but it still sucks to hear. He's still not really using many consonents, and the ones that he does have don't seem to be totally at his command. The SP thinks the problem is somewhere between low muscle tone in his his facial muscles, as evidenced by him sitting with his mouth open quite a bit, and just a general lack of ability to make consonant sounds at will. He can make the sounds, but not necessarily whenever he WANTS to make them.



So, ol' Jim's got some homework. She gave us some flashcards and a list of consonants to practice, and we're supposed to help him learn to say one-syllable words beginning with b, d, t, and m, with the idea that building up his vocabulary of words with those sounds will help him form those sounds more easily and say more of the words that he already understands. We'll be going back to see her every 2-3 weeks, and she'll be giving us bigger scarier phonemes (look out for *drumroll* fricatives!) in the future, plus more complicated exercises once he's old enough to understand them, if he still needs help at that point. Hopefully the problem will be taken care of by then, but I'm glad we've got someone with a lot of fancy degrees to help us if we need it.

One year, two years.

Left to right: ten days before birth, the day after birth, around a year old, exactly two years old.

It's funny to see how babyish one-year-old Jim looks to me now. I remember thinking at the time that he looked like a big grown-up kid already. Wonder what two-year-old Jim will look like to me next year?

Anyway, you guys remember those seated-with-bear pictures I used to take of Jim every month? I took (or tried to take) a few of those on his second birthday, and I completely forgot about them until I was browsing through my pictures just now. Have a look:


This is one-year-old Jim, looking suitably maniacal while sitting with his bear.


Now here is two-year-old Jim, looking equally maniacal.


His only attempt at looking cuddly.


Getting impatient with this sitting crap.


Seriously, are we done here?


Diving to freedom.


One-year-old Jim standing.


Two-year-old Jim standing.


Look how long his legs are.


Bonus 1: He hugs an unwilling Doofy cat.


Bonus 2: He squats with much more ease than I can.


Bonus 3: Aaaaangry eyes.

Stats.

It's been a couple weeks since I did any record-keeping, and I need to start doing it regularly. Mostly just so I can compare with last time. I figure if I keep good records, I just need to have about a hundred more pregnancies to get a decent sample size, and then I can draw some conclusions.

How far along? 10 weeks (and three days)
Total weight gain/loss: Two pounds down. Appetite = gone.
Maternity clothes? I dug out my maternity clothes this week, but I just wasn't prepared for how gargantuan I look in them. It's too early to look that big, dammit. So I'm holding off for at least another couple weeks.
Stretch marks? No new ones.
Sleep: Better. Well, the sleep isn't better, but I'm not as tired, so that's okay.
Best moment this week: Having several consecutive moments of not-being-sick.
Movement: Nope.
Food cravings: Orange creamsicles, fresh lemonade. Remarkably close to my ten week update with Jim (see below) - maybe it's another boy?
Gender: Thinking boy.
Labor Signs: Nyet.
Belly Button in or out? In. Permanently. I hope.
What I miss: Getting my heartrate up.
What I am looking forward to: Being far enough along that I feel okay looking pregnant. I want stretchy pants. :(
Weekly Wisdom: None. I am devoid of smart things to say.
Milestones: 10 weeks is 25%. That's... a lot of percent. Nooooot ready yet.


For comparison: Ten Weeks Along with Buckethead

Water baby.

Outside, Jim discovered his other present: a leetle pool.


He liked it.


He especially liked filling it.


Also: balloons!


He was terribly impatient for these and kept huffing and puffing while we blew them up for him.


But once he had them he was duly grateful.


Yellow balloon is best balloon.


Oh no, where'd it go? If you look closely, you can see the lower lip trembling.


Noah retrieves.


He looks sweet enough, but really he's just planning to throw it out again.


Full complement of balloons.


Noah loves balloons as much as Jim does.


We're laughing; Jim is dumbfounded. I don't know why. (ignore the boobage, can't be helped)


SPLASH.


Splash cont'd.


Noah tried to get Jim to partake in some flutter kicks until we started pointing out the shapeliness of his legs.


But he still persevered, and there was much splashing, and Jim was quite proud.

The End.

Jim's BIRTHDAY.

So, uh, Jim's birthday was what, two and a half weeks ago? Yeah. And I, procrastinating soul that I am, have yet to post pictures. Well, here, have some. Have a lot, even.


Jim doesn't know what's up, but he's excited anyway.


Jim dedicates himself to his task.


Joy and happiness, mostly due to paper-ripping.


Voila, a present.


Just imagine the "BRRRRRRRRMMM" noises.


Emmy is less good at sound effects than Jim.


Lo, another present! Jim brandishes it triumphantly.


Noah does not understand the packaging.


Jim attempts to follow instructions and wear it as a hat.


He also attempts to eat the camera.


Cake time! From-scratch yellow cake with lemon cream cheese frosting.


There was some debate about candle arrangement, but this is what we decided on. Jim blew them out better than some grown-ups I've seen.


Jim's preferred eating method: fork in one hand, food in the other.


Does he like it?


He does!


New shirt required post-cake. He looks like he could use a gold chain and a couple more buttons undone. Stay tuned for more pictures of Jim's OTHER presents.