Bella has made some amazing progress that I wanted to share.
Bella has begun waving! Not only is she waving, but she can now say “hi” and “bye” while she waves. Why is this so amazing? Well, the fact that she is using gestures along with words means that she understand the context of her speech. Now, to clarify, her words aren’t perfectly spoken, in fact, they are far from it, BUT, you can understand and definitely tell what she is saying.
I don’t mean to offend, so I apologize ahead of time if it does, but the best way I can to describe the way she sounds is to compare it to someone who is deaf. We were told that there is a small chance that her speaking voice will improve, but although her words might get easier for us to understand, she may always have an impediment in her voice. We were also told that because we are around her more than anyone else, we might understand her better simply because we’re used to hearing her. Either way, we’ll take it.
Secondly, and even more amazing is the fact that Bella is COUNTING. Yes, I said counting. Now, it started a couple weeks ago while we were all watching “Mickey Mouse House”. It’s an episode about counting. Rayne would sing along and count out loud and eventually Bella would vocalize along. At first, her vocalizing didn’t sound like anything, but after a few days, and a lot of “Mickey Mouse”, Bella began to sound more and more like she was saying the numbers too. I sat her on my lap one day and started counting with my fingers. To my amazement, Bella did it to. She even tried to hold up her fingers as she counted along.
“On”. “Foo”. “Fee”. “Or”.
She was counting!
I’d tried to get her to do it in front of others, but she would just shy away. I think that sometimes they thought that I was just being one of those mothers full of wishful thinking. Then, a week ago, Cy heard it. Then last night, my mother and sister caught her counting onions. Yes... onions. All the kids who go to my mothers house have a ball playing in her cabinets in the kitchen. They take everything out, then put it back in. They pretend they are grocery shopping. They have a jam session on the pots and pans. Well, Bella got a hold of the bag of onions and took them out one at a time, counting them as she went. So, we have witnesses now!
She’s doing well in school too! She doesn’t cry as much when we drop her off, she’s doing much better on the bus ride home. She’s not avoiding the other kids as much, although she’s still not interacting with them. She’s feeling more comfortable with her teachers and speech therapist.
Cy and I couldn’t be more proud of her. Even Rayne seems overjoyed that her little sister is finally talking to her. She doesn’t seem to care that it’s a few simple numbers. Rayne will count to four with Bella fifty times in a row.
I can feel it in my heart already.
I know it’s coming.
It’s only a matter of time before I get to hear her say “Mommy”.
(“Daddy” will be a very close second)
And with enough time and patience, I know “I love you” is just around the corner.
