The word "wrong"...

Something I think about a lot and remain vigilant about is not using the word "wrong" when referring to what is going on with Lucy. Like, "doctor, what do you think is "wrong" with her?" or "We don't know yet was is "wrong". I have said to my mom that even the things that we are supposed to see as delayed I can't thnk of as being wrong because I think everything she does and is so sweet, and so just Lucy, you know. I love everything about her even though a lot of times what she is or isn't doing is not seen as age appropriate or "typical" , or the dreaded "normal". Recently Lu started to throw a toy to Elmer (our puppy)and he brings it back to her...even when she has only thrown it a few inches and he barely has to move, he still seems to go through the motions for her. And this makes her laugh, a real laugh, and just this week she clapped her hands and kind of said "yay" in imitation of me when Elmer brought the toy back. These are things that babies much younger than her have long since mastered, but to us these are huge accomplishments! Lu makes noises and sounds and sometimes what she says might sound like a word, but she is not yet really "talking". Just in the past month or so she started putting her hands together in a clapping motion, and the imitation of yay is brand new. Just a few weeks ago the idea of her picking up a toy and purposefully throwing it knowing that elmer would bring it back was only something that we hoped she might be able to eventually do. So all of these things are quite delayed in taking place, but to us the very last thing they are is wrong! They are all right, and good, and amazing. We don't know how much she understands or what her cognitive abilities are or will be and we don't know when she might crawl, or walk, or run,or jump. But when we were doing Itsy Bitsy Spider at the library the other day Lu was making a sound like she was singing along too, and that is just what's right for her. So I guess I'm just saying that it might seem like she isn't doing things "right", like according to text books, but every day she does a million things in just the way Lucille May Shaffer was meant to do them.