Conversations with Ava

Oh how far we have come with this whole speech process! I can say with 100% confidence that I am not worried about Ava catching up with her speech eventually. I still catch myself comparing her to kids her age at the playground, or telling a parent her adjusted age instead of her birth age when we come across Ava's peers. I guess I'm still self conscious for her, even though it is completely silly. She loves her classes at her school, and now even participates willingly. She even let me go to the bathroom by myself while she played with her classmates. Needless to say, she has come a long long way from where we were 6 months ago.

The other night, after a long weekend of being away mostly from the kids, we unwound in front of the TV with a movie of Sophia's choice. Ava sits back next to me, her legs crossed at her ankles. She turns to me and says, "Mommy, popcorn?" (Sounded more like "Mommy, pahphorn?") and I tell her, "No Ava, it's too late for popcorn." She furls her brow and says, "Hmmph. Noni, popcorn. Noni nice." And right there I burst into laughter and tears because not only did I have my first real unprompted conversation with her, she was totally trying to play me against her grandma!

What Ava doesn't communicate with words, boy does she express herself.