What a face!

This little girls cracks me up! Doesn't that face say it all? Last week was a big week for Maddie. Ever since Maddie turned two I began to realize that she was falling behind in expressing herself verbally. She is so expressive in other ways and Dave and I never doubted how smart she is, however, we have wondered when in the world she will finally start talking. Many people have said to try to comfort me, "She will start talking as soon as she decides she wants to." I knew this was not true, because she tries her very hardest to say words, but they come out all wrong. A good example is what she calls my sister. We said the word, "Kate" over and over again, and the best she can do is, "duck".
So, last week I took her to a speech therapist to have a verbal assessment done. Watching her take this test was one of the cutest things I have ever seen. She sat in her little chair and was loving the one on one attention with the therapist playing little games, getting out toys, books, flash cards, etc. I have not gone over the results from the assessment, but the woman told me that Maddie is indeed ready for speech therapy. She is many months behind in what she can say, but months ahead of what she can comprehend. This makes a huge gap in her communication. Maddie sat and followed every direction for an hour straight. The woman said, "Maddie is a speech therapists absolute dream! There is no doubt she is going to do very well, very quickly." I am so happy that my little girl is going to finally be able to tell me what is going through her mind. We love you Matts!