Max Update: Joy and Pain, Like Sunshine and Rain.

I don't write about my daughter Cameron very much. What is there to say? A lot, I suppose. She is incredible, has a huge personality, is talking up a storm (as in, full sentences), and she will be 2 years old in exactly one month and has already earned her "terrible" stripes (times ten). She is cute as a button, has an attitude that is both hilarious and a colossal pain in the ass, and I love her so much I could eat her up. People constantly comment on how smart she is too. For some reason, that really bothers me.

It isn't that I don't think she's smart (please excuse the double negative). I do. She's brilliant. She's gifted and will likely be the Prime Minister of Canada one day (dog help us all). But it feels like an insult to Max, because it is rare for him to be complemented on his intelligence. In my gut, I know that he is brilliant - every bit as smart as his sister. It breaks my heart to think about how frustrating it must be for him to know and understand so much and not be able to express it. It kills me to think he will be overlooked and underestimated, when he works so hard for what comes so easily for regular kids.

Cameron is able to tell me exactly what she wants. She tells Max "feet on floor Max!" (yes, she's already bossy and a tattletale). She asks to have her picture taken when she sees a camera, and makes observations like "daddy cough" and "Max sick!". Scott and I are constantly shaking our heads in amazement. It may be "normal" development, but it's all new to us. Yet as exciting as her rapidly expanding vocabulary is, it still doesn't blow me away as much as Max's breakthroughs.

I took Max to Erinoak this morning for an assessment before he starts his fourth and final block of speech therapy at Erinoak. In the session, his speech therapist, Michelle, was thrilled with the progress he has experienced since she last saw him. (Amazing what having two private speech therapy sessions a week at blueballoon does for a kid.) Michelle was able to get Max to articulate the letter "b" in the word "bye" over 50 times. This is huge as when Max says "bye bye" it usually comes out as "eye eye" because he doesn't use his lips when he speaks. The work he is doing with this speech therapist Amy with horns and straws is strengthening his lips and building awareness. It's one little letter, but it means he can now say "bumble bee" and "Bumpa" and "boat" as clear as a bell. He may not have the vocabulary of his little sister, but one day he'll catch up. Slow and steady, right?