Look Who's Typing His Name

One day, Ephram said, "Mah - ee, mah - ee, mah - ee" until he grabbed my attention.
Then he showed me my iPad, which had a search box open.
The strangest thing happened at this point.
He said, "E," and then found and touched the E.
Then he said, "P", and then found and touched the P.
Next came H,
Then R,
A,
M.
And then a super duper big smile.
(Which I followed up with a big smile and bear hug.)

When did he learn how to spell his name?
When did he even learn letters?

Ephram's speech delay means that he can't tell us a lot of things he wants too.
We've always known that his delay is completely expressive.
His comprehension is great.
But I've been surprised at what I've learned since this day.

He started typing his name everywhere.
And then he typed Daddy, with just a little help from me on the 2 D's and the Y.
Next came Mommy.
And then a 1234 added to the end of everything.

I started asking him to point out letters.
And learned that he actually knows many beginning sounds, too.

And this all started in March, just barely over 3 years old.

Ephram is definitely a pattern guy.
He has cracked all of my passcodes and short passwords just by matching the pattern I make.
And he can copy other patterns too.

More and more people have been saying,
"Wow, he's starting to talk!"
I am glad more people understand him.
At the same time I can't help thinking,
"He always has talked!  You just couldn't understand him!"
And then I remember that all of the comments really mean
People are starting to understand him.
Progress has been made.

And I am glad for this big reminder that his speech delay is not a comprehensive language delay.
Not only does he understand,
But I believe he's actually started to read.
His head is full of things he wants to communicate.
We've had some humongous fits lately when Mommy doesn't understand.

This boy has big things to say,
And someday we'll all understand them.