Speech Update

First of all, let me say THANK YOU for all of the kind e-mails, notes, and comments that I got in response to the "Delayed" post.  I was overwhelmed by everyone's support and love! :) 

Now for the fun part! :)  A report of ALL the words that P is using consistently!!! :)

Again, as of December 20, the only word that P used was "Mama."  No animal sounds, no imitation, no nothing.  My how things have changed! :)  We started weekly therapy sessions with an SST (specialized skills training) therapist on January 18th.  While I do think I'm learning a lot of good stuff about how to encourage language with P, as well as more "effective" ways of playing with him that foster and encourage creativity and problem solving, I also don't think that the therapy was the "magic key" that opened up the flood gates for P.  I really just think that it was "his time" to start talking...and go figure, just like everything else in his life, it was a little behind the curve, but he seems to be trying to make up for lost time. :)

Names: P loves to look at pictures of family members and even better - spend quality time with the real deal!  Recently he has been rattling off names of everyone he knows. :) (Please don't be hurt if your name isn't on here...we're working on adding to the list!)

1) Mama
2) Mommy (which started this weekend while I was out of town!  He sounds so big saying it!!!)
3) Daddy
4) Share Share
5) Papa
6) KiKi
7) B
8) u-dy (from Grandma Judy)
9) Pops
10) GiGi
11) -amps (for Gramps)
12) A-yee (for Ellie the cat)
13) A-kee (for Jakie the cat)
14) Elmo
15) Abby
16) Ernie (when he sees him in a book or on TV)
17) Bert (when he sees him in a book or on TV)
18) Jay - friend from church

Animals and Animal Sounds:  At times it feels like we're a walking zoo. :) P loves to mimic and identify animals.  I don't know if sounds should count as their own word or not...but he sure is good at making them!

19) Cow (his favorite)...Moo
20) Horse...neigh, neigh
21) Duck...quack, quack
22) Pig...(he does this precious snorting sound)
23) Cat...a high-pitched nee-ow
24) Dog...woof, woof
25) Shish (fish)...makes a fish face
26) El-phant...raises his arm and makes a trumpeting sound
27) Bear...roar!
28) Sheep (which was fr-eep for a while)...Baa, baa
29) Mouse...squeak, squeak
30) -affe (giraffe)...sticks out his tongue :)
31) -abbit (rabbit)...quickly breathes in and out of his nose
32) Frog (which currently sounds like another "f" word :/ )...(inconsistent with the sound)
33) Bird...tweet, tweet
34) Monkey...ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh
35) Goat...maa, maa
36) Owl...who, who

Food and Drink:
37) Wah-wah (water)
38) Apple
39) Na-nuh (banana)
40) Buburry (blueberry)
41) Ca-cker (cracker)
42) Peas
43) Cheese

Expressions/ Exclamations:
44) Boom!
45) Oh no!
46) Ow!
47) Whoops!
48) Oops!
49) Hi.
50) Buh-bye (high-pitched)
51) (Ready), set, go!
52) Up
53) Help
54) Peace (Please)
55) Achoo!/ Kerchoo!
56) Ni, ni (night, night)
57) Amen (P insists to pray before every meal :))
58) (One), two, hee! (beginning to count)
59) -ank ooh (thank you)
60) Hot! (like when I'm cooking)
61) Eat
62) Bible (he says this when singing Jesus Loves Me)

Around the house:
63) Shoes
64) Clothes
65) Tunes (music)
66) Ball
67) Phone
68) D.D. (TV)
69) Baby (no, we don't have another baby around the house :), but we do have lots of books with pictures of babies in them!)
70) Hat
71) -aci (paci...and yes, it sounds like he's cursing)
72) -ankie (blankie)
73) Bath
74) Bubbles/ Pop!
75) Headband (he likes me to put on multiple ones)

Transportation:
76) Car
77) Bus
78) Plane
79) Train
80) Bike
81) Truck
82) Boat

Oops, words I forgot, but I don't want to renumber the list :)
83) Fruit
84) Beez, beez (used to request Flight of the Bumble Bees)
85) Beep, beep (used to request Driving in My Car)
86) Cookies (used when we read the book The Cow Loves Cookies)
87) All done.
88) No.
89) -esh! (Yes)
90) Play.
91) -ay dough (play dough)
92) Dunk! (while playing basketball)
93) Shirt
94) Socks
95) Pants
97) Squirrel...chee, chee (according to the book The Cow That Clucked)
98) Snake...sssssssssss

Body Parts:
99) Nose
100) Eyes
101) Ears
102) Hair
103) Toes
104) Mouth 

The great part is, I'm sure I'm forgetting some!  In addition to adding new words almost daily, P is also imitating words and sounds left and right (although he doesn't always get them right, and he sometimes puts the end sound of a word at the beginning - like "pup" for "cup").

We had three goals for P after his first evaluation:

1)  To imitate sounds and simple words and utilize spontaneously in 6/8 opportunities during play activity. - WE TOTALLY DO THIS, NOW! :)

2) To attend and follow 1-2 step directions during an adult-led task for 10  minutes. - He improves on this every week and has grown leaps and bounds from where he was in January.

3) To utilize 25 simple words to express wants/ needs 75% of the time during structured play. - Do you see our list??? :)  Although I don't know that saying the word "elephant" really expresses a want or a need.  "Yogurt" or "carrot" might be more helpful. :)

It looks like we'll meet with a speech pathologist in a couple of weeks to see what our next step should be since he's making so much progress.  He does seem to have a hard time saying some words with "s" in them, and you can see his little tongue kind of turn to the side when he says those words, so that's something we'll need to watch...but overall, we just couldn't be more ecstatic at the progress he has made. :)

We'll keep you updated! :)