The Uboldi Family: Preston's World

Preston Santiago Uboldi - Man of Mystery

Preston wasn't talking much in early spring so I only had a few things written down about him. Now his vocabulary has taken off and there is no way I can keep track of everything new he is saying and doing. He is my silly little man. He has had a million little things we've had to watch or follow up on and yet he never ceases to amaze me with the progress he makes. The most recent thing following his second birthday was his lack of speech. The kid was just not talking at all. I finally got him tested and he easily qualified for early intervention. The paperwork was processed and the speech therapist started coming to our house 45 days later. By that time, he'd more than doubled his vocabulary. Now every month he's saying and doing more. He's recently gone from private speech to a group speech class and I don't know that he'll need to be there that long either. We'll see. He's doing great. One of the concerns we had around his speech was when we went to have him tested, he showed what they called "minor conductive hearing loss" that looked like it was due to negative pressure in his ears - only they don't know what's causing the negative pressure. We are still trying to figure that part of it out, but hopefully all will be fine. He seems to be picking up speech regardless of his hearing level, although it is sometimes difficult to understand him. Other times he's so clear in the way he speaks. He's my little mystery man. No one knows quite what to think. I didn't mention all this at the time because there were like 5 or 6 major things that happened this spring that required either medical attention or some other intervention on my part. It was a very overwhelming time. But he's going the right direction so things are looking up. I really didn't mean to have this much of a tangent here, but to understand my little man, you may need a little background. For some reason this little guy just keeps me on my toes. He does things in his own way and on his own time, but is often outside the norm just enough to make me (and others) wonder. I was worried about him when he didn't sit up until 8 months, when he didn't crawl until 11, when he didn't walk until almost 15 and then when he didn't talk at all by 2. And yet as far as we can tell he's normal and healthy and just his own person. So here are some of the things I wrote "to" my little one.

You have made so many great strides lately, Preston. We were so worried about your speech. We had you tested and qualified for Early Intervention. Next thing you know, you start talking (and a few words became SO many). You are your own person and like to do things in your own time. That is what I love about you. Here are some of the many new things you are doing now.

• You love to jump, hop and gallop. I have caught several people chuckling about your galloping around a room before. You just get so excited and that is how you show it.
• You LOVE being with your brother. Even when he’s sitting on time out, you’ll go sit right next to him. Being away from him makes you so sad. You try to copy what he does and think you are big just like Dylan.
• You love coloring. You call it “ca-a-ring”. You have discovered a black sharpie marker a few times and made a big mess all over yourself, the walls, and the banister.
• You still love water. You love baths, playing in the sink and squirt bottles. You could play in the water and never tire of it.
• You are so kind and loving. Whenever you do something mean or accidentally hurt someone, you are so quick to give loves. You cry when others cry and just love being around other people.
• You’ve gotten pretty attached to your blanket and call it your “na-night”. Sometimes after bed or a nap you still want to carry it around with you.
• You are still a big fan of balls. You call almost everything “beece-ball”. It’s pretty cute! As long as you have something to hit or kick, you are pretty content.
• You love being outside. The sandbox is one of your favorites. You dig and play in there forever.
• You also really love your tricycle, Dylan’s 3-wheeled scooter, and your push lawn mower. You could play outside with these things all day long!
• You like to walk around on tip toe. We’re not sure why, but it’s pretty cute to watch your sneaky little walk.
• These are just a few of the words I can think of that you are saying (around April)
o Peepa - pizza (you have just recently started saying this almost like it should sound. We really miss the pee-pa word) You also say peetsa peetsa when you want a piece of pizza. We LOVE your little language.
o Ca-a-ring - coloring
o D-O – Dyl
o Addie – Anthony
o Gran-na – grandma
o Beece-ball – ball or baseball
• One of your new favorite games is “Ring Around the Rosies”. You call it “pock-a-posy”. You’ll just randomly start singing “ring a posy, ashes ashes ashes ashes” and turning in a circle.
• You have discovered the art of ball tossing and the ceiling fan. You think it’s hilarious to throw the ball up and watch it react with such speed and no sense or real direction. We have all been caught off guard once or twice with this little game when the ball zoomed towards us with lightning speed. Pretty scary game.
• You have a newfound fear of heights. Maybe you’re a little more like your mama than I thought you were. When Papi or Mommy try to hang you upside down now (a game you used to LOVE) you hold on for dear life. Even sitting on the counter makes you pretty nervous. It’s worth it for me to try though because I love the death grip you have on my neck when you get scared. Makes me realize you still need your Mommy sometimes.
• Water is one of your favorite things. You love baths, the sprinklers and swimming. Instead of just reading books, we point to things to work on your vocabulary and speech in general. When I ask you what the picture of water is, you say, “I-aun-go shwimmin’” (I want to go swimming). So cute!
• You are becoming quite the tease and think it is so funny to run from me. You'll turn around to see if I'm watching you and then run away as fast as you can.

• You are quite the little escape artist. You are so mellow and quiet that you can slip away without being noticed. I have to keep my eye on you all the time.
• You are SO excited about the potty, which surprised all of us. By May 2009, you were able to go potty on the big potty. We have a really fun little potty with noises that you play with, but you decided on your own that you wanted to go potty in the big potty. Every time I change your diaper, you respond with, “I-aunna go potty” and many times you actually go. We’re not quite to the potty training stage yet, but you are probably ready. You LOVE flushing the toilet and usually flush several times each time you try to go potty. Hopefully that lasts since somehow your older brother has forgotten how to flush the potty when he goes.
• Anything chocolate flavored is cocoa puffs to you, which you call “poco puck”. Chocolate milk, cookies, Cocoa Puffs, Piourettes (long cookies with chocolate filling). You love them all!
• Your latest thing is “uh-uh”. Instead of saying no, you shake your head and say “uh-uh” over and over again. We get the message.
• Head bonks are your FAVORITE thing ever. You are not big on giving kisses – you just lean in and tolerate a kiss from someone else, but you affectionately give head bonks. Sometimes they’re a bit rough and I respond with an “ouch” and a rub of the forehead. You laugh and copy me. Funny boy!
• You are also very fond of high fives right now. Everything is “I-aunt high fice”. You definitely have the “I want” part of your vocabulary down!
• You are obsessed with shoes. When they are off, but somebody has theirs on, all I hear is “suce on”. When we get home and Dylan takes his shoes off, you yank yours off and then start tugging on your socks. The poor things are so stretched out! You also really like wearing other people’s shoes around. You put on Anthony’s shoes and walk around saying, “Addie suce” or in mine or Papi’s. It’s really cute!
• You LOVE nursery and can’t wait for sacrament to be over so we can take you there. What a blessing that has been. One day, Papi was speaking in sacrament meeting and I had to set up for singing time so I took you into the Primary a couple minutes before sacrament meeting ended. You cried and cried thinking you didn’t get to go to nursery. Funny kid!
• You are quite obsessed with turning lights on and off. We never know which lights we’ll find on or off throughout the house. You leave a little trail of where you’ve been and what you’ve done.
• You love Sponge Bob. You’ve never actually watched it, but you love the song and sing it over and over any time you see something with Sponge Bob on it. We have some hand-me-down Sponge Bob flip-flops from Tony that you wear around the house. You kind of slide your feet along the ground so they won’t fall off. You also sing “sunge sob share sants” when you see the bouncy ball at grandma’s house. Most people can’t understand what you’re saying, but I pick up on it every time. It helps that you sing it.
• You LOVE to sing. We have a children’s CD and you always tell me which song you want. You say, “Zoo morrow, mama”. You say, “Bear sessisies”, “goo goo gah free dee”, “body builder” or “itsy spider”. Goo goo gah free dee took me awhile. You said the phrase over and over the same, but I could not figure it out. I finally realized you were asking for “You’ve Got A Friend In Me”.
• You love throwing things in the garbage and will say, “I frow way” and take something to the trash.
• You also love clearing your plate like your big brother. You barely can reach to toss the plate into the sink and there is usually a trail of ketchup where you missed a little, but we like to let you help anyway. Good thing you use a plastic plate though or we’d probably have a lot of broken dishes.
• I must say, “I’ll be right back” a lot because that is your new favorite saying. You’ll look at me and say, “I right back, mommy” and run down the hall.
• One day you were in the tub and Dylan was asking for more water, copying one of his favorite shows Olivia. Olivia always says, “Please, double please, triple please” to ask for things. You heard Dylan and just said, “please water double.” Cute!
• Your newest favorite thing is listening to the primary CDs in Spanish. Instead of the old lullaby music we put on for naps and bedtime we listen to that. You will sit there listening to that forever and be completely content in your crib. In fact, in the morning, the first thing you say is “proteta” which is asking for “Sigue el profeta” or Follow the Prophet, the first song on that CD.
• I have let you and Dylan have a wind-up lantern in your beds to read as you fall asleep. You just stare at that thing and study it forever. I come in to find you snuggled up with a lantern quite often.
• One day after your nap, I came in to find quite the surprise. You had reached a jersey of Dylan’s that was sitting on the changing table next to the crib and put it on, you were holding the lantern and you wanted your music on. You sat there for an hour AFTER your nap was over just hanging out by yourself. You are so social, but you enjoy your alone, quiet time as well.