Upswing.

Just witnessed one of those moments - where you get the chills in a good way as your kid does something you didn't think possible.

It's not a huge thing. And yet, I feel like it could be the key to opening up his world.

We have done Skype with my parents and brothers, who live in Florida, every once in a while. Often it's frustrating as one end or the other of the connection drops, due to their old computer hardware or our spotty  not-quite-broadband internet connection. Tonight was no exception. But we reliably had a thumbnail live video of ourselves. I dragged Jake to the laptop on the couch and he said "Hi" and repeated "I love you" and "I miss you guys." And then...I asked him to sing If You're Happy and You Know It, which he's been singing on the bus and a bit at home recently. He did - super clear, the whole way through, watching himself in the little thumbnail the whole time. And then Twinkle Twinkle. Then I Am A Pizza. Then I Am A Pizza in French. Then Little Bunny Foo-Foo - only not the last day, because he gets scared when she actually turns him into a goon. Completely engaged the whole time, with better articulation than I've heard from him even singing it to himself.

So. We just have to channel his inner Leo. He loves to watch himself perform on video. Live video modeling. A way to engage his language - engage him on video? I don't know. But I'm excited about the possibilities, and want Apple to hurry up and get an iPad with a camera on it so we can do FaceTime and explore this. Also going to take the webcam we have and hook it up to my monitor and position the laptop (connected to monitor) near it, so we can have him both watch himself in Photo Booth and record him on the webcam (can you record video with a webcam? I can't imagine why not). Must figure out the technology side of it. Am very hopeful and excited. Even if I just end up with a bunch of videos of him singing, it will be worth it.

Hopeful. Oh, and he's doing so much better with sleep - knock wood. No more Benadryl needed.