I have been blown away by SJ’s recent progress with speech. This time a year ago these were the new phrases she said

Daddy has keys
I want chocolate milk
Snack for later
These short sentences were huge breakthroughs for her at the time!
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Aiming high in this photo from last summer.

These are the latest things I have heard her say. Of course there are countless others, but these are ones I managed to write down.
Daddy, I want shut this because I am hot. This was referring to the sunroof.
Mommy I found missing piece under bed. This was referring to a puzzle.
One minute. I am trying to put all stuff in my bag.
Ezie won’t get out of bathroom mommy! There are two people in bathroom! Two people is bad choice.
That not kitty cat. That Hello Kitty. See he has a bow on his head and he has pants on. 
There mommy car over there next to daddy’s car.
I like go to Chuck E. Cheese with my family.
Obviously she is still leaving articles out of sentences, but we are moving right along.
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Her preschool graduation program. Some children are wearing a cap and gown because they were graduating from the school and will begin mainstream schooling.

She had less than a week off before starting summer school, but the summer program is only half day and at the end of last week she came home wearing a straw hat with a lei and drinking the milk from a coconut.
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The end of beach week at summer school.

So there is no shortage of fun. It’s like camp for her.
In other exciting news she is officially a Kindergartener! I honestly didn’t know how they would place her considering her speech percentile is so very low, but she will be in a credited kindergarten program at her deaf school. The curriculum will certainly be modified, but she has already transferred to the kindergarten classroom with her new teacher. So far she really likes it.
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A silly pose in front of the sign at her school that she has attended for just over 2 years now.

I have had some total tear jerker moments lately hearing her talk to other children at the park, or even just saying the title of the movie “Frozen” and the names of the characters “Elsa, Anna, and Olaf”. There was a time not that long ago that only dreamed of her being able to say the names of movies or things that she enjoyed. She loves to talk about the baby and how mommy is growing and growing.
 I’ve had so many people give me such encouraging reports about how they heard her talking for the first time or just acknowledging how far she’s come. It’s been another big wave of vocabulary. It does tend to come in waves and summer is usually a plataue, but I am really, REALLY hoping she continues to ride this wave and show growth throughout the summer, even as therapy slows down.
I’ll end with the best compliment of all which comes from my 4 old niece who will be 5 in a couple weeks.
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SJ with her cousin last weekend.

This is what I was told she said to her parents after spending Sunday afternoon with SJ
“Guess what!? I almost forgot to tell you the good news!
SJ can talk almost as good as me now. She says hi and can say other things sounding just like me!”
Little kids don’t sugar coat details, we know that. There is no doubt that at 5 years old other children will notice that SJ is different, but to hear her cousin give this update is legit. She is slowly, but surely starting to catch up. 

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I curled her hair for church and it lasted two seconds of course. It was already flat by the time I took this photo.