Saturday, June 27, 2009

The speech therapist


As Reuben's nurse Fanaye walks out the door at 4pm, Reuben looks very disappointed. She'd been reading to him all afternoon and he is sad to see her go. Just then, as he crawls to the front door and stands as he does behind the sheer blinds, he spots his speech therapist, Johanne, coming up the garden path. His little disappointed face turns to utter excitement as he stands with his lips smashed firmly against the large window by the front door, causing big juicy lip smears all over it. She is, as always, ladden with bags and boxes and satchels of toys and paints and books and he laughs a full vocal chord laugh through his speech valve which is beautifully helping him make little sounds at last, patience and persistence paying off, and those lovely sounds aren't overlooked by the speech therapist. The session is full of popping balloons, mouthing sounds, playing Etchsketch, pointing to objects in books, and when Johanne leaves, Reuben walks her to the door like a true gentleman, helping her out with her toys and paints.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

what a ture gentle man he is jsut like his daddy right and pics form his bday PLS I BEG OF U

hannah m said...

Love your sweet gentleman - and I love this photo. That pop of color is so enjoyable!

Amy, Mike and Ben Russo said...

You truly are a gifted photographer! I so wish you lived closer so we could pay you to come to our home and get some amazing b/w pics of us with Ben!