And to our surprise....

Just like the ENT told us...Jack's speech would likely all of a sudden "pop." His recognition of words and verbal instructions has been above average for his age, however his speech was a little slow to develop. They weren't concerned about this at all, especially because his hearing was so limited prior to getting his ear tubes. Mike & I stayed vigilant...and encouraged him to use his words. We didn't want to stress him out, as we were at ease because the doctors were not concerned. And then, just like that, it clicked.

Now we have a little chatterbox! His vocabulary is just exploding, which is so cool! Not only can he say a ton of different words, he can also put together some great sentence combinations. We're pretty proud. My what a difference the ear tubes made in his world. A year later, his hearing and speech is completely caught up, actually a little more advanced than the average 2 1/2 year old.

Some highlights of his expanded vocabulary:

1) He knows all the days of the week and says then in order. We were stunned.

2) He can count to 10, although he doesn't like the numbers "7" & "8," so those get omitted and replaced with "No." We don't know why he has a big gripe against these two numbers, but its consistent every time he counts. Here's how it goes: "One, Two, Three, Four, FIVE (usually said with a lot of excitement), Six, No, No, Nine, Ten."

3) Animals...he loves learning the names of animals.

4) Colors...he knows Red, Green, Blue, Yellow (might be his favorite color right now), Orange, Black, Grey, and White. It so cool to see him recognize these colors on items.

5) Vehicles...these might be his favorite items right now: Car, Truck, Chu-chu for train, Motorcycle, Police Car, Firetruck, and the coveted "School Bus!!!"