When Wes started preschool in September he wasn’t terribly vocal. His school year just ended, and I am amazed at the words he uses. Sometimes it takes me several days of hearing the same thing over and over until I realize what he’s saying. Some of his new words and phrases are:

“Um.”

(I love that he says this sometimes when I ask him a question. “What do you want?” He’ll look pensive and say, “Um…” If I were a public speaking teacher I would probably try to break him of this.)

“Don’t!”

(I don’t love this one. It’s new as of last week and it’s probably the #1 word he says, all day long. Kind of like when he mastered “No!” Everything I try to get him to do, he says, “Don’t!” To everything the cats do, he says, “Don’t!” Even poor Carissa has to hear him tell her, “Don’t!” Maybe it’s a phase…)

“I said no!”

(I’m pretty sure this is what he’s saying. Wes bosses the cats around, and I let him. Because it’s the only thing he can even pretend to be in charge of, and they just ignore him anyway. When he sees them sniffing his food or doing anything else Wes deems inappropriate, he’ll say, “No! I said no!” That might be a little mini-me coming out in him already.)

“That one.”

(He says this a lot. It’s actually a great thing, because for the longest time I couldn’t get him to identify what he wanted. Even pointing to an object was a long time coming. So for him to tell me “that one” is pretty great.)

“Pretzel. Show. Train.”

(Wes is still at the stage where he mainly identifies objects rather than speaks in sentences. He doesn’t say, “I want pretzels.” He says, “Pretzel!” He prefers to eat his snacks in front of a show when I let him. Frequently he’ll say, “Pretzel. Show. Train.” which means, “I want pretzels. I want to watch a show. I want to watch the train show [Thomas the Tank Engine].)

“and”

(I just noticed this today. I think it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him use a conjunction. He was transferring two pear halves from a Tupperware container to his bowl. He said, “One” as he put in the first one and then… “and, two!” I was kind of surprised. And proud.)

“Me!”

(He learned this at school. When he wants to do something himself he says, “Me!” I guess independence is a good thing. While we were in line at Walmart a few days ago he pointed to Carissa and said, “Issa!” then to me and said “Ahm” [“Mom”] and then to himself and said, “Me!”)

“Stuck”

(This sounds like “Guck.” A couple times he’s been caught and it took me a while to realize he was saying he’s stuck.)

“Out!”

(Wes has a bad habit of chewing on his fingers. Interestingly, two of the other kids in his playgroup for kids with Down syndrome do the exact same thing. I’m not sure why. Anyway, we’re always telling him to take his fingers out of his mouth. Poor Carissa, who is legitimately teething and sometimes chews on her fingers, has to endure him pointing at her and shouting, “Out! Out!”)

Wes can identify a lot of body parts that John taught him: cheek, ear, chin, neck, head, hair, etc. He knows the alphabet (and the sign language for each letter) and can count one to ten. He’s great at colors and their signs. He knows shapes and is learning prepositions like “in” and “on.”

My favorite thing, of course, is when I walk in the room and Wes says, “Ahm!”

(This is Wes obviously NOT ready for bed. He’s eating a late-night snack on the counter while I clean.)