"It's broken, Mama"

Okay, a lot of parents out there might cringe at hearing this phrase from their child. Not me.

This morning Liam was playing in the bathtub, getting ready for school. He was stretching and pulling a plastic headband that he had found. I was brushing my teeth when I heard him say, "It's broken, Mama." Sure enough, it had broken in half. I tried to keep the conversation going by talking about fixing it. He put the two pieces together but that was it, no more talking.

This comment was HUGE for Liam because a) he has never used the word broken before, but has heard it used in context and he remembered that this context was appropriate to use the phrase and b) he used a pronoun, "it." He had a speech evaluation last Tuesday at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Center and somehow my foggy brain told the evaluator that he doesn't use pronouns. He does use pronouns pretty regularly, as in he, she, it. He does have a very difficult time with me and you. He is still referring to himself as "Liam." I'm trying to teach him to call himself me; but he gets confused and says "you?" Just thinking about it stresses me out sometimes, just imagining his little brain trying to figure out all of these labels when clearly he knows he is "Liam." Something to work on in therapy.

Today at school Kristie read a book to the class about the circus. She said that she asked them a question about the book (she couldn't remember what) and all of the kids said yes...except for Liam. When she asked him what he thought he said "no" and laughed hysterically. Perhaps he was laughing at his classmates for collectively giving the wrong answer. Maybe? He was very interested in the Curious George book when I picked him up, demanding that we read it right then and there. Luckily he listened to April, the assistant teacher, and put it away so we could leave. Beckett was getting a little squirrely and would not have tolerated story time.

This afternoon he's done a number of activities; puzzles, Play Doh, Leap Frog and his stacker. He played with his dollhouse again...he loves it. He made a horse out of Play Doh, using a stencil. He made it gallop and exclaim, "Wheee!" He was very proud of this creation.

Since it's circus week at Friends School, they had a circus bouncing tent for the kids. Liam has been jumping on the bed repeating bounce, bounce and falling down occasionally, laughing. The last time he fell he shouted "That was fun!"

He just told me he's not going to push me. Thanks, Liam.