Speech Update

Tate has his third appointment with the speech- language pathologist this week. Since we started, his vocabulary has at least quadrupled in size. He had even started mimicking more. Some days he says so many new words, I have trouble keeping track! We have been keeping a list and if we are in view of he list, he will point at it wanting you to write it down. Yesterday, he even got a hold of the list and added to it himself.
The biggest change had to come from those of us around him. Even though he was communicating with us, we were giving him the easy way out by asking yes or no questions. We have all had to change the way we ask the questions in order to present the model we would like him to say. For example, we would usually ask, "Tate, would you like a drink?" But now, we try to say, "Tate says 'I would like a drink please.'"
We have also had to change the direct approach. Instead of telling him, "Say 'drink,'" we would again model what we would like him to say, "Tate says, 'drink, please.'" I guess it doesn't seem as demanding and our stubborn toddler will at least say one of the two words. Sometimes if we repeat ourselves again we will get the other word. I have even found myself telling him that he can say something. That usually works too.
It is so exciting now that he is finally using words! I have always babbled on and on talked to him about the most random things and now he actually answers back. The other day he actually answered, "What?" when I asked, "Do you know what?" I started laughing, which really encourages him! Another example: he likes to shut himself in his closet and knocks to get out. The door sticks and I have trouble getting it open, so I yelled, "Michael!" The little voice in the closet repeats, "Michael!" He had done it before, but my mom was there and had never heard him say it. Tate could hear her laughing, so he had to repeat it about five more times. He is learning the power of using his words. I have even gotten the dreaded toddler word, "Why?" a few times, but it has been random occurrences.
We have also officially had Tate tested for a dairy allergy. He had blood drawn a week ago. Michael said he didn't even whimper when they stuck the needle in! He was really proud of his bandage and was mad at me when I took it off. They had to send the sample to Kansas City to have it tested. We are trying to be patient waiting for the results and are optimistic that maybe we have just been overly cautious. We are really hoping the results will be negative. *fingers crossed!!*