I could burst!

He has come such a long way, my little boy. I just wanted to relate a moment that still warms my heart. It was such a simple thing, but it filled my heart with such joy, like the first smile, the first step, and hearing "mommy." We were working on dinner and the kids were already in their chairs. Lily asked to play with "amamuls" so we gave her two and PJ two of these little farm animal toys. For awhile now, Lily's been taking anything from her "ponies" to her dolls to pieces of her food and animating them so they have conversations with each other. What made this moment so special was that for the first time we saw PJ doing what I have seen the therapists working on with him for the past two years.

I paused what I was doing and just watched as PJ had the animals facing each other, and he started saying "Hi, I'm a horse. Hi, I'm a pig." Then he had them answer: "You're big. You're small."

There was no stimming by tracing the outlines or lining them up; it was pure and simple playing, but for PJ its been one of the most difficult processes for him to develop. I was so proud of him, I could burst. And it can be a sign of more hope, and I can't wait to see what he does next!