Words, Wonderful Words

All morning, Baby U (our 3 year old) has been talking about the "crooked" or perhaps the "cricket." I think it comes from a dream he had last night, and my attempts to identify it in real life have been unsuccessful. He's had a lot of time with me this morning, Samuel got up late, and I've sat and let him babble on and on like a stream of words and ideas. Samuel later joined us for a cuddle before being drawn into his favorite train activities.

I suspect that having a willing audience and the opportunity to form their thoughts contribute greatly to children learning to speak and recognize words in any setting (written or spoken). Today's world tends to cut this short. So many their age would have been hauled out the door at 7 a.m. and put into a bigger group of kids. Usually on Wednesday, we would have been taking Samuel to his speech teacher by mid-morning, then moving on to other activities. Illness both inside the family, and out, has prevented our rush-around Wednesday, and I'm grateful.

Homeschooling provides, perhaps, the best opportunity to slow down and engage in the simplest of human communications -- the hug, the smile, the flowing of thought that isn't being rushed into a quick sound bite. With a spectrum kid in the family, this isn't easy given the number of appointments, specialists and interventions involved in his care. But I've got to find this time ...