Happy Birthday, Johnny J!

Johnny turned 2 on Saturday. Developmentally, he seems to be closer to 15 months, but my boy is in fact growing up. Last Monday was the first time that he ever expressed a need with an actual word - granted, his attempt at the word "dlo" (water) sounded a little more like "blo" but I understood what he meant and he has started using the word instead of just pointing and moaning. He frequently makes noises as though he is trying to say words or even sentences but they are incomprehensible. We know that he has significant ear damage due to his chronic ear infections, so it would not surprise me if he knows what words to use but simply can't say them quite right.


TiBet and Gerty had their birthdays in the same week as Johnny, so we brought all the kids upstairs for a dress-up party on Tuesday afternoon. It was so much fun!











The best moment of the party came at the end when we were undressing the babies and sending them downstairs. One of the girls had just taken Johnny's costume off him and he was sitting in my lap. Now until this point, the only words we'd ever heard clearly from Johnny were Mama (me), Papa (Emmanuel), Casey, deyo (outside), men (here), and dlo (water). But right there at his second birthday party, Johnny J looked up at me, touched his bare chest and said, "Pa gen rad!" (I don't have any clothes.) A full sentence! What a step towards becoming a real boy!