Things I Love About Michael

• The way Michael tries to put his shoes on (sometimes over a pair of shoes he's already wearing), then gets frustrated and hands Ben or me his shoes, plus our shoes, and then takes our hands and drags us to the door when he wants to go outside.
• When he climbs out of bed when he's done with his nap and I run into him coming out of the bedroom when I go to check on him -- I'm still not used to him getting out of bed on his own!
• The way he walks around with a bag of dried blueberries or a box of rice cakes/breadsticks and then shoves it in my hand when he wants a treat.
• His new nightly ritual:  take a shower, brush teeth, read Goodnight Moon, nurse, give Mommy raspberries.  (He's getting disturbingly good at it, too.)
• How Michael "dances" by stomping his feet whenever he gets excited about something.
• When Michael leans over and reaches for his toy cell phone as soon as I strap him into his car seat.  It's his special car toy!  Thanks, great-aunt Adrianne!
• The way he stops, stares, and then abandons Mommy to chase after a doggy.  (Michael is greatly influenced by his patron, St. Francis -- he loves animals and being outdoors!)
• Michael:  *sneeze*  Me:  "God bless you!"  Michael:  *hysterical laughter*  Works (almost) every time.
• Michael's "hoarding"--he stashes blueberries and soy nuts down his bib or in his high chair, he hides socks in the bed.
• The way he "helps" with chores:  taking laundry out of the dryer and putting it in the basket, then out of the basket and back in the dryer, repeat ad nauseum while I slowly whittle away at the pile putting away clothes; sweeping the carpet with a broom after seeing me sweep the floor; seeing me put away one shampoo bottle that we're not using, then finishing the job by putting away all the rest that we're still using.  He basically sees us doing something and then continues with the next logical progression, even though it's usually not all that helpful!  But it is ridiculously cute.

Michael's ECI appointment

We finally had Michael's ECI (Early Childhood Intervention) appointment this morning at 8:30.  Ben and I were joking in the morning that Michael should qualify with flying colors ("Zeroes across the board") because he still doesn't say anything--not even "Mama" or "Dada."  (The "cheese" incident appears to be a fluke, I am sad to say!)

After spending an hour and a half with the case worker and speech therapist assigned to our case, I got a total shock:  Michael didn't qualify.  He needed "33%" to qualify, and he was at "22%" (I put it in quotes because... percent of what?).  The tested him on a number of issues and his speech was the most troubling, but apparently the next worst was his sensory processing.  His pediatrician made a note that she was worried about his sensory skills, which she never mentioned to me, and they were asking me if he doesn't like the feel of certain things.  (He always kicks the bed sheets off himself, and doesn't like touching grass sometimes.)

Anyway, despite the fact that he doesn't say anything yet, apparently he still got some high marks because he communicates with gestures.  (He takes Ben's hand and walks to the door when he wants to go outside, or he hands me his bucket of snacks when he wants something to eat, or he pats me when he wants to nurse.)

They apologized profusely that he didn't qualify and explained they tightened the restrictions because they were told to take on less cases.  "Call again in three or four months if he's still not talking and we'll reevaluate."  But don't worry too much--he's still communicating, just not with words.

I'm going to look into private speech therapy though.

My little boy is so sweet.  They kept handing him toys to see how he interacted with them, and he kept handing them back because they weren't his.  After about 40 or 50 minutes he got comfortable with the idea of playing with their toys and impressed them with his stacking-cup prowess.  Michael is a clever little boy who just happens to be very quiet.  He can go hours without a peep!  He didn't utter or babble a single thing the entire time they were here.

Random anecdote:  we went to Kohl's today (they periodically send $10 gift cards in the mail) and we got in line behind a very kind woman, Mrs. Hudson, who was enchanted by Michael.  I asked her about her family and we talked a little and then she said she was going to buy Michael one of the stuffed animals by the register.  (I tried to get Michael to pick one out, but he kept handing them back to me, since, you know, they weren't his.)  We got a baby bear designed from Eric Carle's "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?"  She was so sweet and she said a blessing over Michael!  What a lovely woman.  Her son and daughter-in-law are suffering from kidney and liver failures, so say a prayer for her family.

Michael Splish-Splashing at the Easter Party

We went to Houston for Easter and Grammy and Gramps's friends held an Easter party by the pool, so Michael had a blast in the water.

Nose!

Ben and Michael have a game where Michael will grab Ben's nose and Ben will repeat "nose... nose... nose" while Michael "honks" it.  Sometimes it goes the other direction -- Ben will ask "Where's Daddy's nose?" and Michael will grab it.  This is a special, no-mommy game.  For some reason, my nose doesn't work as well.

Michael has taken to grabbing Ben's nose at very random times.  Last night, Ben leaned into the crib to check if a very silent Michael was sleeping, and Michael turned over and grabbed Ben's nose.  Ben's wake-up call this morning was a honk on the nose from Michael.  And tonight, Ben was holding Michael and asked me "what happened to his nose?" (it had a little cut on it) and Michael turned around and grabbed Ben's nose.