Thankful Thursday

Happy Thankful Thursday!  And Happy First Day of Spring!  Yep, I woke up singing Little Bill today.  I'm super excited at the hope of warmer weather finally being on the way.  But I'm a little bit sad as well because it's grilling season and y'all already know the story about our missing grill.  

Nevertheless, I am thankful that Spring is indeed here.   What I am most thankful for this week is the progress that JJ has made with his speech therapy.  So, last week I mentioned that he wasn't repeating the sign language I had been teaching him.  And on Monday, during one of his weekly sessions, we couldn't get him to repeat them either.  Fast forward to later on that night and the Mr has decided to take the day and and treat everyone to their favorite snack.

Well, it dawned on me that maybe, I could use the snacks as an incentive to get him to do the signs.  And what do you know, he did them all!  He came to me for another Twizzler and I told him he had to do his signs first.  So, he signed out the words hungry and more!  Talk about a proud mommy moment.  I was over the moon and wanted to cry, but I showered him with kisses and gave him the Twizzlers instead.

The fact that I didn't have to show him the signs first for him to know which ones to use, let me know that he's paying attention and that he's learning.  There was some concern that his comprehension skills weren't as sharp, but his therapist has since reassessed and determined that he's actually probably smarter than what he can communicate.  Of course, I've always thought that because he can follow simple directions, knows how to operate things like the remote and is a great problem solver.

I've been looking into investing in a membership to ABC.com because a few moms with children who have autism have claimed to have seen excellent results in less than a year using it.  At this point, his therapist and caseworker agree me that anything is worth a try to finally push him over the edge to speak.  We know that he's capable of learning and learning quickly, but now we need him to work harder at practicing  his verbal skills.

And can you guys believe that my little man is going to be 3 in less than two months?!  Y'all know how emotional birthdays make me.  I'm not sure what we're going to do but I'm sure it'll involve games, cake and maybe Mickey Mouse.  I'm also thankful that I finally purchased a custom domain for my author website and blog.  Now, I'm just waiting for it port over.  

It hasn't been quite 24 hours, but I feel like this process is taking way longer than it did when I changed my url for YUMMommy.  I was able to use my new url within a few hours.  So, if it's not up and working by tonight, I'll call customer service and see what the hold up is because I entered everything correctly.  Y'all keep your fingers crossed and send up prayer that it starts working!

What are you giving thanks for this week?