I almost didn’t blog about today’s celebration. It hurt too much. How does a celebration hurt? See…I lost a family member last week. Actually she wasn’t blood related but if you ask anyone of my siblings, we felt like she was. Nancy was one of our big supporters in our autism journey. Without a doubt, anytime I posted something about my girls or anytime I blogged, she would “like” it. She would never comment but if it was something really big she would send me a text message. She always sent me latest research on autism and I will never forget her eyes lighting up when Courtney got all cuddly with her on a recent visit. Nancy was also my go to person when we were having a hard time finding her favorite fruit pouch at stores. She never failed in finding them on line and get hundreds of dollars worth shipped to us. I may never open another fruit pouch without thinking about her.

So today when we had a moment that needed to be celebrated, I paused a moment and wondered if I was ready to blog about it knowing she is no longer around to “like” it.

But maybe she does know. Maybe she was the little cardinal outside our window that Courtney saw and verbally labeled “red bird”. Yep, that’s our celebration, Courtney said a two word phrase! If Nancy was here to read this I can almost guarantee she would have sent me a picture of a cardinal via text message. No message just the picture.

I actually didn’t hear her say it, her dad heard it. He was so excited to come into the family to tell me and her team of home therapists who were over what he heard. We immediately knew why it was easy for her to label it. “Red bird” is in her favorite book, “Brown Bear, Brown Bear”. Courtney has always enjoyed flipping through the book while occasionally (usually when she didn’t think someone was watching) labeling each picture by its color. As of recent she has actually trying to label each page by the color AND the animal!!!

This recent explosion of language via talker and her voice is amazing! I feel like I’m knowing more what she wants at a given time and I’m getting to hear her beautiful voice.

Nancy may not be here to “like” this post but I know she has a big smile as she watches over us.