Stupid Dog

Delayed in his speech, it has just been in the last several months that Hayden has begun to form a vocabulary we can understand and even more recent has he attempted to string words together to form simple sentences.

Realizing the stages of speech, thanks to Hayden's Birth to Three speech teacher, I find myself really taking note of his improvements and am pleased for each stage reached.

With this being said, I share with you the most recent speech development budding with Mr. Hayden; parroting. It's one of those things that, as a parent, you know will eventually come but even so, it takes you a bit by surprise when first it begins. It's the time that you realize that you really must watch what you say. *grin*

For me it came as an innocent little moment, Hayden and I were playing in his room. I happened to raise his blinds to notice a neighborhood dog squatting on my front lawn. I exclaimed, "STUPID DOG! It's pooping in our yard!" Just as I turned back to Hayden he says, with his long-drawn syllable word attempts, "St-u-p-id dog, p-oo-p!"

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Thanksgiving for little 'parrots' that quickly reminds us of how much our every day words fill their developing minds and impact their budding lives!