ABC Song and "Happy Birthday Jace"

Two HUGE developments with Ashlynn popped out over the weekend! We celebrated my youngest's 1st Birthday on Sunday. Six months ago, my daughter had to really focus on including all the sounds in syllables, so when it was my husband's birthday, she could day "Happy Day" with cueing. Well, after the celebration ended and everyone had gone home, she went over to her brother and clear as day said "Happy Birthday Jace. " There are substitutions so it was more like, "Happy buhday Dace" but my husband and I understood it perfectly. In fact, after she said it we both kind of looked at each other as if to see if we both had heard it. Then we teared up realizing we both DID hear it and it was perfect and beautiful! We asked her to say it again, and she did it again! It was just an awesome moment.

Then, the next day she sang her ABC song independently without a model for me. More than a year ago, when she was 2 and a 1/2 and I was very pregnant with my son, I sang this song to her multiple times a day. She also heard it on a variety of apps on my iPad she played daily. I remember feeling so sad when people asked me if she was singing it yet, and a Facebook friend had posted their younger than Ashynn daughter singing it that summer. Ashlynn would smile, but never tried.

But, to hear her sing it yesterday, and to see her smile with pride was better than hearing it last summer.  She also let me video tape it, so her first ABC song I have on video!