Hello

This is why I haven't blogged for a while:



Hello. The fifteen month old has his wheels under him. He has a strange fascination with lip gloss, lip stick, nail polish, and anything else he wants to learn how to "open" such as Gatorade. We stopped counting at 55 words (which no one will believe, thankful for my Masters in Gifted Ed so I understand it is normal for people to call me a liar) which include:

1. Momma
2. Dada
3. Ellie
4. Maverick and/or Mav
5. Ripley
6. Hot dog
7. water
8. apple
9. get down
10. up
11. more
12. juice
13. bye-bye
14. hi
15. no
16. yes
17. dog
18. Pop
19. Juju
20. Adda (for Addison)
21. Mimi
22. Gigi
23. cracker
24. Jesus
25. bird
26. hot
27. ugh-oh
28. poop
29. yeah
30. go
31. ball
32. thank you
33. bite
34. baby
35. bubba (for Ross)
36. Bella
37. bottle (ba-ba)
38. night-night
39. peek-a-boo (or peet-a-boo)
40. bear
41. all-done
42. butt
43. mine
44. Ming Ming (his Wonder pet bird)
45. monkey
46. this
47. shoes
48. Jade (Ellie's American Girl Doll)
49. there ya go!
50. Gotcha (during hide & go seek)
51. chocolate
52. Gade-a (for Gatorade)
53. Moo (does that count as a word?)
54. Happy Bir-day to you

55. Itty-Bitty

56. Ross - that was a hard one!

And then we stopped counting.

Okay, people, if you've read this far you probably hate me for bragging on my sweet babe. The truth is, the only reason I tracked this is because I know the challenges gifted kids face and I was a little alarmed by how early this was happening. Normal vocabulary for a child this age is three to six words. No one ever believed me when my big kids knew their colors and I didn't have the info I do now. Now I know that tracking is important because facts mean more than my opinion.

It was an honor for me to help three families this week who are struggling with the issues that come with raising a child who is intellectually different from normal. Sensory issues, perfectionism, dealing with boredom, responsible acceleration, alienation, parent exhaustion from endless mind-blowing questions, emotional sensitivities, asynchronous development, under trained teachers, I could go on. The point is, I have found great joy this week in implementing what I've learned to bring relief and a plan to some kids who might otherwise be in a behavior-disorder class very soon. Pray for these sweet babies!

I know it is not popular or politically correct to admit publicly that your kid has a freakishly abnormal brain. Maybe that's why I ended up with a Masters degree in Gifted Education, for some covert under-cover validation that I was not a crazy person when the Parent's as Teachers lady called me a liar. The people I consulted with this week all wanted to stay under the radar, confidential and strictly cloaked in anonymity. I used to take this approach. Now, I speak up because other Moms need to know what I know. Come and get me if you need me.