No therapy for this little man

Erin took Jacob to a speech evaluation today to determine whether he's delayed in language development.

He's not.

The therapist said his receptive and expressive skills are right where they should be. We had a feeling his language development was on par after his second birthday set off a spontaneous word explosion, but we wanted to get a professional opinion. No need for speech therapy, the therapist told us, though we need to continue to monitor his development during the next six months.

Just like everyone warned us, Jacob won't shut up. Our drives are filled with this sound:


"Dada." "Dada." "Dada." "Dada." "Look!" "Truck!" "Bus!"

"Mama." "Mama." "Mama." "Mama." "Look!" "Truck!" "Bus!"

And when we try to ignore him while we're talking to each other, he only gets louder.

"DADA!" "DADA!" "DADA!" "DAAAAA DAAAAA!"

"MAMA!" "MAMA!" "MAMA!" "MAAAA MAAAA!"

Now he can verbalize what he wants. No longer is he limited to pointing in the general vicinity of what he wants to eat or play with, leaving all three of us frustrated and annoyed when Erin and I can't figure out what he wants. He can tell us, for example, when he wants to see a school bus in our neighborhood, or ride the choo-choo train at the zoo. He can even tell us their colors. Yellow bus; his hair is red.

He can tell us if he wants to picked up or put down on the ground. He can tell what he wants to watch on TV (usually, Yo Gabba Gabba). He can tell us when he wants to go outside and what he wants to do. One of his favorite games is called "sky," where he and I throw balls in the air.

We can even carry on a little conversation with him... if you limit your end of the dialogue to a series of close-ended questions.

We're relieved his language development is OK. Now we can focus our worries on his weight.