Zippy*

Zippy - Easter 2007

Zippy was a surprise child. We didn't plan for her to be here, but she is, and she's full of life. I mean, the child doesn't stop moving from the time she wakes up in the morning until the time she is ready for "night-nights". She is totally herself, and absolutely knows what she wants to do and what she will not do. You cannot use reason with her, but big smiles and a little bribery help get us through most days.

Zip didn't start talking until much later than most kids - at three and a half we were told that her speech was way behind (like, um, two years behind). Most parents would worry, but really, we weren't so much worried as aggravated - it's HARD to know what your child is trying to convey when they're grunting and pointing at things instead of explaining exactly what it is that they're trying to get at. (Yes, I know infants don't even give you that much of a clue -- but really, infants grow out of that, usually within a year or so! We dealt with this for over three years - which makes us wonderful, loving parents, because we didn't toss the kid in her room and shut her door until she could talk. We thought about it, but didn't follow through, because we're so loving and nurturing. Really.)

Zip started going to speech therapy in October. She attends class three days a week for an hour and forty-five minutes each day. She loves loves loves her teachers and the other children in her class, and always has a big smile when she leaves for school and when she gets home. Last week she learned about syllables, and she's having a blast figuring out how many syllables are in familiar words. Once you give her a word with more than three syllables, though, hilarity ensues. ;)

Now the Zipster can't stop talking. I mean, the child goes on and on and on and on!!! But we're cool with it. It's still hard for her to always communicate what she wants, but she's better at getting her ideas across, and she cracks us up on a regular basis. When she doesn't have the words to tell you what she wants, she says "show me", and then we correct her, "Zippy, you say 'I want to show you this'," and then Zip says, "show me" again and we get up off our butts to see what it is she wants. Usually food. In the snack cabinet, where she needs help to reach things. (We do feed her regularly, and if we were smart, we'd probably move the snacks to somewhere where she could easily reach them. But we're not that smart. At least not most days.)

This child just brightens our days so much. I'm so glad she surprised us and is here!

*Thanks to Haven Kimmel for the nickname.