The gears have been turning inside Arrow's head for 6 1/2 months now and today it all clicked together! It started with Grandma 'Nine (David's mom, Jeannine) doing "baby five" with Arrow. She's been doing this baby version of high five ever since we first arrived (about a month ago). During a "pause" break during our much loved prerecorded TV show, 18 Kids and Counting, we tested Arrow to see if he knew what "baby five" was without being prompted. Jeannine held up her hand and said, "baby five," and Arrow immediately started slapping it with his hand. He knew what she meant! This is incredible - he understands us!!!! And now a light switch has flipped on in my head; all I want to do is teach Arrow what everything is. And it's working! While taking a shower with Arrow, he was very interested in the towel hanging over the shower door. I said "towel" several times as Arrow grabbed at it. To prove my theory I needed to wait until Arrow wasn't interested in the towel anymore. Eventually he moved on to other things - my opportunity had come. While Arrow was preoccupied with something else, I said, "Where's the towel?" Instantly he turns around and starts patting the towel! This is incredibly exciting stuff for a new parent. We did the same thing with "Daddy," "cup," and "sock." It's thrilling when I recognize the light of comprehension illuminate his eyes. The comprehension of knowing he's communicating with the "Big Ones!"
