Vocabulary Increasing

The kids' language is coming along great, I think, given that they've been home 'only' 3.5 months.  When they're in group situations where instructions are required (such as gym class or gymnastics), I notice that both kids still occasionally need some slower instruction, or a physical demonstration of what to do, but they pick things up almost immediately and are coping well...especially when Matthew takes them under wing and helps them out.  After Wednesday's gym class, where the boys were playing cricket, their gym teacher told me that Seth was doing great - in just a week, he noticed a huge difference in Seth's understanding and in his readiness and ability to talk when the teacher spoke to him.

Lizzie's sentences are shorter than Seth's, and her vocabulary isn't quite as extensive yet, but that's to be expected given that she's barely four and two years younger than Seth.  She often says things such as "Can I in?" when she means can I come in, but even in the last week she's started putting more verbs into her sentences.  Her pronunciation is fantastic - in the last few weeks, her enunciation of words has actually surpassed Seth's.  She understands soooo much and is very comical in how she uses certain phrases (such as "oh come on" when I ask her to do something she doesn't like, or when she asks me for something and I say 'no').  She's very dramatic in her facial expressions and blatantly uses them to try to get what she wants - for example, without any teaching on the matter, she started fluttering her eyelashes at me a number of weeks ago while asking me for something that she wanted.

Seth seems to understand pretty much everything we say to him at home.  His spoken language ability seems to come in spurts: for a couple of weeks at a time, he seems to hardly learn a new word; then suddenly, he starts saying new words and complete sentences that blow us all away.  Here are a few of Seth's phrase acquisitions from the last couple of days:

While impatiently waiting for Matthew to finish washing up after breakfast: "Hey Matthew, I'm going downstairs to play ok?  Are you coming now?  Hurry up!"

When I told him not to touch something...and apparently I'd already told him a couple of times: "Mommy, you tell me that two times already.  Now number three.  No more please."  Hmmm.

When Matthew demonstrated a new and creative use for playing with the air mattress: "Wow, that was very cool, Matthew. Very cool actually."

When I told the kids on Wednesday afternoon that I was going out by myself for a while in the evening:  "Mommy, you go in car two times by self.  No more in car by self.  Seth go too, or mommy stay home."

A phrase I taught him after getting a little bit tired of being ordered to wipe him up after a big bathroom deposit:  "Mommy, could you please come and wipe my bum."

Pointing to a spot where the boys were jumping and finding the landing a little hard:  "Matthew, we need more pillows right there.  Come on - let's go downstairs, get some more."

"Matthew, Mommy say clean up mess now.  Let's do it."

And a real treat, just this morning, a yell from another room:  "Mommy, Matthew pants off - and penis out - what's he doing?  Oh, pants up now.  Thanks Matthew....Mom, he's doing it again.  Gross."   I love the way he says gross, with an extensively rolled rrrr - adorable.

Just a few selections from this week...the phrases I actually wrote down so as to remember them.  I love that they're able to communicate more and Seth is learning to talk about why he gets mad sometimes, which is so helpful in being able to understand him more.  As tough as these months have been, I'm amazed when I think of how short the time has really been, to see how well their language is progressing and how well they are adjusting overall.