About six weeks ago, River said his first word- "Purple." I can't express how amazing it was to finally hear him say something after spending so long wondering if he'll ever say a single word. Of course, alongside that joy was a slight hesitance whether he would lose those words a few days/weeks/months later, but six weeks on & he's just getting better and better, so I thought I'd share some videos!

This first video is River's first word.

And here is a video from this week, with River proudly labelling all the coloured splodges in his book! What's brilliant about this is that he is wanting me to respond each time and is actually taking notice of my response, and correcting his pronunciation. Fantastic!

In the days before River's first word, his babbling really stepped up a notch- it was like he was speaking in his own language. I managed to get some of it on camera, and showed it to some friends who pointed out that in the video, River-who was drawing with a blue crayon at the time- says quite clearly, "I draw blue wiggle." The boy who had never said a recognisable word had come out with a whole sentence! (And I didn't even picked up on it!) He is a very smart little boy!

So now what we need to work on is using those words to actually communicate. After all, he could know 500 nouns, but if he can't learn to tell me that he needs a drink, or needs the toilet, they're not much use are they?
Still, the progress River has made in the last couple of months is massive. He's feeding himself with a spoon, walking to and from preschool without the pushchair, having hardly any meltdowns, coping with new spaces much better. So right now is a good phase!!