December 18

I believe that even though this week I only got a few hours in one-on-one we are still making notable progress, in part because the Son-Rise ideas are behind more of my interactions all the time. I've been trying to get in an hour or so a day even when Amy is also awake; this doesn't work as well but is better than nothing. A friend commented that Sarah was saying more sounds faster than she used to. I noticed the same thing this morning. It seems like the time between her thought and her speech is getting shorter and she is gaining confidence with attempting words.

The wonderful thing is that Sarah delights in saying words and learning them. I celebrate hugely every time she says something well or tries something new and she always has a big smile. I think this fuels her wanting to talk more and more. She has added to her repertoire of stories about people bumping their heads to now include Elmo bumping his eyes on the floor (stuffed animal elmo). Sometimes she is laughing so hard about it that she can barely get her story out.

Tonight when I was in the playroom with Sarah and Amy I was able to solicit a couple "A- mm-eee"s  This is huge because normally Sarah says "mm-ee" for Amy.

In general I want to steer away from tv and ipad use as much as possible but with the busyness of the holidays I've been letting Sarah watch much more than usual. Her new favorite movie is Mickey's Christmas Carol. The great thing is that even when she is watching a movie she is talking about what she is watching "duck vvvv" (duck movie), "zzzzzzzz" (scrooge).

One more fun thing is that as I praise Sarah's eye contact and say how much I like her eyes, she has begun coming eyeball to eyeball with me. Most days I am wearing my glasses so after she gives several kisses to my glasses (hilarious to keep my eyes open for) then she leans in and gets her eye as close to my eye as she can so we are only separated by my glasses. It is adorable.