It is time to update you again on Dylon's progress. It is with great news that I tell you Dylon has officially said 'mommy' and 'daddy'. I came home one day from work and Michael asked Dylon "Who is that?" and Dylon said...'mommy' as he was jumping up and down. He has said 'mommy' and 'daddy' when we ask the question " Who is that?" and point as of recently. Therapies are still going great for us. Dylon is still making great strides in speech therapy. His therapist has been using the picture exchange system with him, which she always has, but she has been letting him pick what toy he wants to play with next. She will point and label the pictures (e.g. shapes and cars) and he will pick what he wants and say whatever it is. He still attends very well and can stay seated (strapped in like a highchair) for the whole time most days. She does give him breaks when he initiates that he needs one but she likes the interaction she gets with him and they really do have a good time. Some of his favorite toys are things with balls, a Magna doodle, and he LOVES Mr. Potato Head right now. They use Mr. Potato Head to label facial features (e.g. eyes, ears, nose) and after they are done he likes to sing (we don't know what song) to him. TIPS is still going well. We had an update meeting on July 17th which went very well. Dylon has met some of his goals that we set up six months ago and has met part of others. We made one new goal for him and refined the rest. The one new goal has to do with fine motor skills, which we will hopefully be adding OT to his list of therapies, and the ability to eat different textures of food and use a utensil to eat properly. Right now most of his foods are finger foods. We had an OT evaluation in mid- June in which they thought Dylon could definately benefit from OT. He has some fine motor issues (e.g. holding a spoon or fork, drinking from an open ended cup, etc.), sensory issues (e.g. textures of food, sticky things, and movement (the need to always be moving/running)). He is on the waiting list for OT and at this time we have not heard anything else from them. On another good note, Dylon has recently been able to recognize different letters of the alphabet. He has a fridge phonics that when you place a letter of the alphabet in it or a number (1-10) and push on it the thing will sing the sounds of the letter or count to whatever number is in it. We have just randomly pulled letters and numbers and asked Dylon "What this?" and he will tell you what the letter is properly. He is making such strides that Michael and I cannot help but be proud.

Things are going well for Michael and me. For those of you who do not know, Michael has accepted a part time job at White House Christian Academy teaching Bible to freshmen and juniors. He is a little overwhelmed right now because of the 'unknown'. He doesn't know what they will cover this year as far what he is teaching over or the lesson plan. He will know some things in the next few weeks, but he is very excited. We leave for New York City in 5 days!!! We are excited but a little sad to be leaving Dylon for 5 days; but, he will be in good hands and I think whether Michael or I want to admit it a couple of those days away will be good for us. That is about all the excitement we can stand right now. I will send another update in late August to give you another update. Hope all is well with everyone. God Bless!