The Count

Lance had a home visit today from our Parents as Teachers educator. She quizzed me on his skills:

Her: Can he say a 4-word sentence?
Me: No.
Her: Does he dress himself?
Me: No.
Her: Can he follow 4 rules?
Me: Can he or does he? Big difference. No.
Her: Is he doing long division?
Me: No. (Ok, I made that one up.)
Her: Can he stack a tower of 9 blocks?
Me: Yes. (Well, I don't officially know this... who counts?)
Her: Does he initiate conversations?
Me: Yes. (as long as "Hi Guy, whatta doin?" counts)
Her: Can he count to 10?
Me: Yes! Finally, something he can actually do.

Proudly, I look over at Lance, and prompt: "Lance, can you count to 10?"

Lance: "1, 2, 5, 6, 9! Yea, I did it!"

Later in the visit, he gets mad. I mean, really mad. Laying on his back, temper tantrum, kicking, screaming mad. Our educator asks gently, "Lance, what do you want? What's wrong? Use your words!" I play along - wanting to appear the perfect mother, yet knowing this is really going to tick him off because "I'm pissed" is not yet in his vocabulary - and ask, "Lance, tell us what's the matter. Use your words." This throws him into high gear as he enters round two of the fit. We politely try to ignore him, as our educator says, "Today we are going to talk about emotions..." YES, I'm thinking, he has those!