We finally have some good babbling!

We are so excited -- Lauren has really started babbling consistently.  She is the real age of 17 months, listening age of 8 months.  Just this month, she has made good attempts at banana (nana), Maverick (our dog) (maa-buh), babababa, waffle, mmmm for M&M's and lots more.  She has been, for the most part, silent or pointing while yelling, so this progress is most welcome.  I am around a lot of other kids around the same age, and although I know it is not uncommon to be quiet or point/yell/grunt for a 17-month-old, we still hope for lots more!  We want to know those ears are working, and working well!!

A nose-wrinkling grin for her Daddy!

Her language comprehension seems to be progressing very nicely.  She will point out body parts when asked; eyes, ears, mouth, belly button, feet, etc.  Today, I asked her "what's in your mouth?" and she spit out a clip.  :)  Oh joy!  If I ask her if she wants to eat, she will head into the kitchen...  We are seeing so many good things.  

Now, we are going to work on really expanding her language comprehension. When Taylor was around this age, we did a program from Cochlear called Speech Sounds.  Every week or so, we would focus on a sound, and expose her to it with songs, toys, books, food, etc.  We are going to try that again with Lauren.  It's a good way to make sure that we are adding constant variety into our daily language.

As for Taylor, she is four and a half, and has her first loose tooth.  She is excited about that!  We are starting to think about kindergarten.  She is not using an FM system or speaker system in the preschool. I am wondering what the best approach for kindergarten in the fall will be.  The one known factor is that since Derek is in kindergarten, I can probably get Taylor into the same class and have a teacher who we already have a relationship with.  She has been great to work with so far.  Any recommendations or advice on this topic are appreciated as I approach the IEP renewal meeting.  

Taylor rock-climbing at YMCA