Henry's been holding out on me.

So, I took Henry to the family doctor for his two year well child check-up. I love our family doctor. I love him because he has four small children of his own and is very understanding to the chaos that is involved when all the Mommyj clan piles into one of his tiny exam rooms. And he answers all my questions about all my kids, even when I only pay a copay for one of them. And he listens to and trusts my judgement as a Mom. And he remembers my kids names, without having to read it off a chart. An advantage to small town doctoring, I think.

So anyway... he's checking Henry over and asking me some questions about his overall development. We discuss Henry's complete and total lack of communication up until this point. He tells me he thinks that Henry is pulling the wool over my eyes and is perfectly capable of talking. He's just choosing not to.

By golly, I think that doctor was right!

We were at a barbeque restaurant just a few nights ago when Henry looked up at the television in the corner, which was showing a rousing episode of Wheel of Fortune, pointed at the screen, and said, "S!!"

My first thought is that it had to be a coincidence. It really WAS an S on the screen, but could Henry actually know his letters? When we got home, I got out an alphabet book and sat down with Henry. Would you believe he identified nearly half of his letters by sight? P, R, S, V, H, O... and many others.

I asked Josh, "Did YOU teach this kid his alphabet?"

"No," he replied, "But doesn't he watch Blues Clues twelve times a day? I'm guessing that's where he picked it up."

Oh. Well yeah, there's that. Who knew that Blue could be such a great teacher!?

Hearing Henry actually use his little voice has been the most adorable thing ever. Now that we know he can do it, we are constantly asking him to identify his letters. And he happily obliges, little attention hog that he is.

Having discovered the delightful clapping that comes from actually speaking, the floodgates have really started to open. Just yesterday I asked Henry where he put his brother's shoes. He looked at me, held up his hands and said, "I o know!"

Words!! Delightful, wonderful words! I'm happy we are finally communicating.

I've been meaning to film him identifying his alphabet, because seriously, it's the cutest thing ever. I haven't yet. But I will. And I will post it when I do.