cleverly disguised as a responsible adult

As long-time readers know, Ox hasn't talked much. Okay, at all. He's gotten good at pointing at things and is quite expressive, but he's let Emi use all of his words for him.

For the last three months, he's been working with a speech therapist from the county. Last Tuesday she declared him the most stubborn kid she'd ever worked with. He didn't want to try mimicking sounds, he'd curl up in an anxiety mess if pushed to do signs, and he refused to be drawn out. He just wanted to play with the iPad and the other toys the therapist brings over.

Then we went on our summer vacation.

Sunday afternoon going through Dubuque, Ox saw a big riverboat and shouted "Ba-BOAT!"
Monday night, Ox was using the words "blue" and "red" repeatedly and correctly. Sure, he was identifying light saber colors, but he's a nerdling, so that's fine.
Tuesday, he used sign language for "please" and "more" without being prompted. He repeated "red" and the sign language to his therapist. He also tried to make the same sounds she was making.
This morning he woke up super early and came to snuggle with me. He wanted my phone, so I asked him to say please. He did so immediately. He then had to say please to ask for some chips and to get out the new train puzzle to play with.

Somewhere over the weekend, something clicked in our little guy's head. And now he's chasing words in addition to everything else. I have hope that he'll call me "Momma" soon and maybe, just maybe, I'll get to hear him say "I love you, Momma".