Well, to start, she has more than one nickname:  Josie, JoJo, Josie Mae, Jo.

She was 2 on December 26.

That’s 28 months if you’re one of those weird people who count in months instead of years.

I’m 516 months.

See?  Now isn’t that weird?  You people are weird.  Also, you’re very good at math.

She’s nearly two and a half and has about 30 words.  She *should* have 150+ according to the pediatrician and all those Google answers I’ve been given. I figured she was just taking her time learning how to speak.  I thought maybe having three older sisters kept her from talking; you know, since they basically give her whatever she wants before she even gets a chance to ask.  Then, I thought maybe it was her paci addiction.

None of that seems to be the case.

Could be that she’s just stubborn, but I’m not sure WHERE she’d get that quality from so…. we won’t discuss that.

During her (late) 2 year well check, I discussed this with our favorite nurse practioner and after JoJo failed the hearing test, Mrs. Faith referred us to the ENT.

Hooray!!  Thinks me.  Here it is!  She has a hearing problem!  Issue solved.

Wrong.

After multiple tests at the ENT, this little chickadee hears just fine.  There is NOTHING to indicate that she has a hearing problem.  That CAN’T be the trouble, Mr. Pediatric ENT Man says.

Mr. Pediatric ENT Man refers us to a speech therapist.  Her first evaluation is next week and that is where we are now.

I’m curious to see if the speech therapist feels there’s something going on.  Or maybe she’ll just send us on our way and say “she’s just developing slower than most”.  Honestly though, I don’t really think that’s the case here, but we will see.

Here’s a list of her words:

mommy/mom
daddy/dada
Om-oh-lee (emily)
Allie
Izzy (can’t say Caroline so we tried to get her to say ‘sissy’)
Lulu
Max
Poppy
Nana
night-night
bobby (paci)
oppoh (hippo)
god (dog)
boo (blue)
lellow
bupble (purple)
bubble
mine (says this when she wants something)
up
guy (sky/stars/plane/Sky from Paw Patrol)
Lyla (neighbor friend)
Anna (neighbor friend) 
ooosh (shoes)
gickle (tickle)
bee
bug
gock (rock)
Bubble Guppies
no
uh oh
whoa
hot 
help 
fly fly (butterfly)
poop

She just now started putting more than one word together, but that’s only night night mommy/daddy/etc.  She does not ask for things like, cup/eat/out/etc.  She does A LOT hum-talking.  Where she kind of grunts or hums sounds with her mouth closed.  So, she’s “talking” in her way, I guess, but who the heck knows how to speak Toddler Hum?  It is extremely frustrating that she yells and cries and falls in the floor trying to explain what she needs.  I mean, I think that sort of stuff should have happened a year ago and that she should have the vocabulary to tell us what she needs and wants by now.  Also, when I try to teach her new words, it’s like she can’t get the sounds into her brain, moved around, and back out of her mouth.  Does that even make sense? She comes out with something TOTALLY different than what I said.

So, that’s where we are now.  I really hope the speech evaluation gives us some answers besides, “she’s just taking her time” or some mess like that.  I’ll be sure to update when we find out.

xoxo