3 1/2 years

Daniel is 3 1/2 years old and he has changed so much since his third birthday. He became potty-trained over the summer which has been a great bonus for me. He finally got interested in his skuut (balance bike) and rides it so fast that he has to stop and wait for me and Kendall to catch up to him. He attends pre-school three days a week and loves his school and his teachers. His favorite things to do at school are ride the bikes and play in the sandbox. Last month for the first time he said he didn't want a hug or kiss when I said goodbye to him at school-so sad!
At home he loves coloring and using his imagination to build all sorts of things. He was boycotting naps for awhile but has thankfully returned to napping in the afternoon. Daniel has been growing so fast that he wakes up in the middle of the night with leg cramps. The novelty of having a baby sister wore off for him around September and he gets irritated with Kendall and complains that she is "Too loud!"
But by far the biggest change has been with Daniel's speech. After phasing out of the County's speech services program on his third birthday, Daniel obtained an IEP with the local school district. The new program left him without speech therapy for the entire summer until school started back up in the fall. Towards the end of the summer, he began to see a highly recommended private speech therapist named Wendy who is amazing. She confirmed that Daniel has apraxia of speech, which is what I had suspected for over a year. Since working with Wendy, Daniel has made leaps and bounds in his talking. He has been working so hard at his therapy sessions with Wendy and with his homework she assigns him every week. Since school has started back up, Daniel has also been getting speech therapy from the school district. I don't think I can fully express how incredible it is to finally have Daniel able to communicate the majority of his needs, ideas, and feelings with us. He has gone from being unable to say his own name, to being able to say advanced vocabulary. Imagine our surprise when he started telling us about the antibodies you get from vaccinations! We are so grateful to Wendy and his other therapists and especially to my parents who have generously paid for his speech sessions. There is still a lot of hard work for him to do but I am feeling so much more optimistic about the situation. Most of all, Brian and I are loving being able to get to know parts of Daniel's personality we never knew existed thanks to his blossoming speech.

This morning Daniel asked for me to get Kendall and put her in his bed and then he instructed me to get my camera.