Thomas has always gotten his point across, however maybe not vocally. Around the 18 month mark, I noticed he wasn't talking as much as Ben was at his age. I thought we
weren't giving him the chance to talk, so we encouraged him more. On August 30, 2009 we went to the doctor for his 18 month check-up and they agreed with our thoughts and ordered a Speech Consult. We contacted Stanley Jones in Rochester, and they were able to complete Tommy's evaluation on September 1, 2009. They found that he had a repertoire of 10 words (vocally) as well as some sign language. They found he had a significant delay within the bilabial sounds (sounds you produce with your mouth only--p-b-m) and that these are sounds that should be heard around the 6 month level. Tommy was also not pronouncing consonant sounds- sounds that are heard around the 9 month level- giving him a diagnosis of a "Significant Speech Delay." The prescription was for 6 weeks of Speech Therapy, along with home programming from us. So September 16, 2009 was Tommy's first day of Speech Therapy. We worked very hard with him at home too, doing all of our "homework" (and then some...you know me!) Almost immediately we saw-HEARD- the results of Tommy's hard work. On September 23, 2009- when Thomas was 19 months old, we heard him say "
Da-
da" for the very first time~you can imagine how excited John was! Not far behind that was "Ma-ma" on October 6, 2009! There were many other sounds and words to follow- and on October 28, 2009 (20 months old)- Tommy had another evaluation and scored at the 20 month level! Since he was "up to par" he also graduated from the Speech Program. He will go back in April for another evaluation to make sure he is maintaining his success.
It was great to see the cousins together and Ben, Tommy and Eleanor had so much fun playing together!! That evening was family time and gift opening...between Ben, Tommy and Eleanor...Grandma and Grandpa's living room turned into a toy zone!! The boys each got a bike helmet-which Tommy wanted to wear right away...there wasn't even time to take it out of the package! **Ben was busy wearing his new Peterson VIKINGS jersey** All the boys really got excited (including Jonny) over the remote-controlled digger! 
.JPG)
