words

With summer being in full swing I have been getting more time with Claire and that has really been a good thing. I wish I had words that accurately and adequately described how much better my world is because of Claire, but I don't, not sure that they exist. Along that line, being with Claire more, I have really started to wonder about the importance of words. When Claire didn't begin to speak it seemed that an inordinate amount of emphasis was directed at language development, access to language (the Eco2) and now we are onto emergent literacy. While they are all very good things to work on and we will continue to pursue them, I think that it kept me from seeing the part of the world that is outside of language. Over the last few weeks, Claire has slowly been showing me all of the things that are bigger than spoken word and it has been beautiful to start to see things from this non-verbal perspective. We were recently at the aquarium when I realized that you can sit in front of the tank and take it in without a single word being spoken. The awe and majesty of the ocean is just bigger than what words can express and she can take it in just as much as everyone else without a single utterance. So in response to this realization and as a attempt to honor my non-verbal child who truly understands and participates in the world without being restricted by words, I will be blogging for the rest of the summer in pictures.