Comprehension

Troy is truly amazing. His comprehension is off the charts! He may not be able to speak full sentences yet, but he can definitely understand them. We can ask him to do something, and he’ll do it perfectly.

As an example, I was sitting on the couch, taking a break from working outside, and I was really hot and sweaty. Troy was doing his usual running back and forth on the couch. So, I point blank asked him to turn on the fan. I made a circular motion with my finger while pointing at the ceiling to make sure he understood what a fan was. He immediately ran over to the switches, climbed up the back of the couch, looked back at the ceiling fan to make sure he knew which switch he needed, and then correctly picked the left switch and flipped it on. I was astounded. I didn’t think he’d understand what I’d want and be able to execute it perfectly the first time, but he did. I have tested him on the lights as well to be sure he didn’t just get lucky. But he correctly picked the right (meaning not the left) switch when I asked him to turn on the lights.

I guess what’s so amazing about this is that we haven’t been working on it with him. He just put two and two together to work out what we wanted. We taught him about how the switches worked, but he experimented with which switch does what. And then he translated certain words in my request to the things he knows to figure out what I wanted.

Troy is also obsessed with the scale, which my wife keeps in the closet. I’m guessing that he likes the “beep, beep, beep” sound it makes when he steps on it. But maybe he just wants to see if he’s gaining after all the food we’re shoving in his mouth (he’s not). But every morning after he gets up, he’ll trudge into the closet and step on it. I hearing the beeping, and then he comes walking out. I’ll ask him how much he weighed. He’ll give me a heavy sigh and then turn around and head back into the closet. I’ll follow him, and he’ll step up onto the scale again. After the familiar beeps, he’ll step to the side so I can see the number. All with that single question.

He likes to eat breakfast with us on the weekends, but he doesn’t like to sit in his high chair. He prefers to sit directly on the table top. My wife thinks it’s too hard on his delicate bottom, so she’ll tell him to grab her a pillow off the couch. And Troy immediately runs over to the couch, sifts through the pillows to find the exact one he wants, grabs it, comes running back with it in his arms, and hands it to her.

All of these examples are different and required him to combine different concepts and actions to achieve, but he does them all exactly the way we expect. He is a wonder. It’s hard to believe that he’s not even 18 months yet. He definitely has exceeded my expectations. I’m so proud of him!