With Leilani's communication delays comes other developmental delays that one might not think about. It's hard to teach Leilani to do things that she should be learning because she doesn't understand what we're trying to communicate to her, for example, potty training. But today we saw a nice little milestone that happened completely organically.
She was sitting in her feeding chair in the living room with a plate of cut-up chicken nuggets and her sippy cup (which we gave to her in a futile hope that she may actually use it and not scream for her bottle). I had also accidentally left a fork on the plate. When Mike and I glanced over to her eating a few minutes later, she was mastering that fork and drinking from her sippie like a champ and with no complaint.
This may sound like things that any 19 month old can and should be doing at their age. But teaching Leilani to do these things has been a challenge because she doesn't seem to understand what we're trying to get across to her. She has been reluctant to learn how to use utensils and hates to drink milk from anything but her bottle. So to see this happen all on it's own and without any influence from me or Mike was incredible. This was huge.
They have a way of surprising us, don't they? Great job Leilani!
ReplyDeleteAnd don't worry about potty training yet. Ry didn't "get it" until she was two and a half and Kai Boy will only go in the toilet before his bath. He's two and a half next month.