our perfectly imperfect life: Love her!
All along, Payton's biggest hurdle has been speech*. Over the past few weeks, she has really been doing well at repeating some words that we ask her to say. Actually, I should say that she has done well at repeating them clearly. Namely, "Mama" and "Daddy", which actually sounds more like "Da-yee" ... but whatever, it is so cute and I'm so proud of her!
Every morning, after I do her hair, she points to a picture of our family that is in our bathroom. She points and says, "Mama", "Da-yee" ... and then some approximation of "Mason" and "baby" (the picture was taken before we adopted Nika, but Payton is the baby in the picture). We go through this routine every day ... and if we don't stand there long enough to say "Mama" and "Da-yee" about 5,000 times, then she gets mad at me. LOL.
Tonight, while I was cooking dinner, I let the dog out. She started barking out on the deck, and apparently Payton associated that with Kyle getting home. I'm not sure why, but she did. So she took off running for the front door, saying, "Da-yee, Da-yee, Da-yee, Da-yee!" Oh my gosh, it was adorable! I went to the front door to see if she was right about him being home ... and she was. Kyle coming home has to be my favorite part of the day ... for two reasons. Number one ... the kids are so excited to see him, especially the girls. Number two ... well clearly, it means I have help with the kids. Haha!
*I want to make something clear since some of you are probably thinking, "Didn't she just turn 3? And she is only now saying "Mama" and "Da-yee"?" Yes, that is right ... thanks to that extra chromosome. One of the biggest delays that kids with Down syndrome have is speech. While Payton has been a rock star in most other areas, her speech has taken longer to develop. So yeah, hopefully you can imagine how ecstatic we are to finally hear her saying "Mama" and "Da-yee" with consistency. She has a lot of jibberish and some other words ... mostly approximations ... but the point here is that she is saying these words consistently ... and it melts my heart!
You should really post a video of that. She is so precious.
I so remember the joy I felt when my daughter was understood by someone besides myself. It was heartbreaking when she had to repeat herself over and over. Sending her to school was the hardest thing ever!! Anyway I know how you feel.
Hey that's awesome, Elias' Speech began to come out also around his 3rd birthday, so i feel your excitment!
YAY!!!!!! I feel your exciement!
Awwww, that's so exciting! Yay Payton!