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She is sure, she is true, she is straw is straw,
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She is true, is true, she is praise, pray, she
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is she is you.
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Hello, everyone, welcome to today's Word of Mom Radio. Here
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on the Word of Mom Media Network. I'm your host,
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Dori Di Carlo, and you know we are here week
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after week, show after show, breaking those myths that morepreneurs
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and businesswomen, especially those of us building our businesses from home,
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that we're just dabbling in between bake sales and getting
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our nails done. We're not. We are smart, we are savvy,
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and we are sharing the wisdom of women in business
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and in life. And I'm looking forward to bringing today's
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guest into our show. Jesse Kenzie is a pediatric speech
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therapist and founder of Simply Speech Therapy in Orange County, California.
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As a mom to a baby and a toddler, Jesse
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blend's lived experience with professional expertise to support early communication.
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She provides both speech therapy and parent coaching, helping families
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feel confident using baby signs, boosting toddler language, and reducing
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frustration before speech delays or tantrums arrives. Her approach is
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all about making communication support simple, practical and part of
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everyday routines. And I can share more about what Jesse does,
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but I'd much rather bring her into the show. So Jesse,
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welcome the Word of Mom Radio.
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Hi, thank you so much for having me. I can't wait.
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Oh, it's my pleasure, and I would love for you
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to take us on your journey that led you to
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start simply speech therapy and how being a mom has
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really shaped that work.
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Yeah, absolutely my journey. Goodness. I actually was a high
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school English teacher. I decided to go back to school
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and get my master's and I really stuck in the
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schools for a long time. I was at a middle
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school as a speech language pathologist, and I enjoyed that
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experience a lot. But when my first son was born,
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I realized that that just was not the best fit
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for me anymore. I had always wanted to start my
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own business, and that was kind of the push that
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I needed. So I literally on my maternity leave, with
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my little baby boy at home, I started simply speech therapy.
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So he would nap and I would work, and it
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was definitely chaotic, but it was also really beautiful and
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he was so motivating right because I knew I was
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building something because I wanted the flexibility to be able
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to work part time, to be able to, you know,
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work in the moments as a mom that we have
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as little as they might be. And so I really
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just started my business super small and now we've grown,
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which is amazing. So now simply speech therapy in Orange County.
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We are a four person team, which is beautiful. And
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then I also coach parents of babies and toddler's late talkers,
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those little ones that their parents are starting to worry.
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I really helped give them support before they even potentially
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need speech services. So it's it's been a journey. It's
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been very fast and chaotic, and I have, like I said,
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I have a baby and I have an almost three
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year old, so my business is still fairly new. It's
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about three years old now because I started with my
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little one at home. But it's been a really great
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journey so far.
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I love sign language. I used to be an interpreter
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and we were talking before the show started, my middle
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son who's speech delayed, and I taught him to sign
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because I used to sail on you and they designed
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her NA have to save you and tell mommy what
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you want to understand you. And it's amazing because now
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as an adult and a parent on his own his
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daughter they signed and he asked me, he said, wasn't
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this my first language? And I said it was. I said,
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and you'll see how fast it'll come back to you,
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just because baby signs are great. So how did you
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get started with baby signing? Did you start it with
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your children and then start integrating it into your practice.
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It was kind of the other way around. I had
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done some early intervention services. I had worked with littles
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before I became a mom, and I used baby signs then,
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and I saw how impactful it can be for these
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little ones that just aren't quite ready to start talking
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yet and they haven't quite figured it out. I saw like, hey, wow,
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I can teach baby sign and they can pick up
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on it and they can start telling us what they
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need and what they want. And so I saw that
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before I came a mom. So for me, when my
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little ones were born, it really wasn't even a question.
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I knew I was going to be using, you know,
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those simple baby signs, and I did. I started it
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with both of them. They both signed before they started
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using verbal words. Even my toddlers. Sometimes if you like
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really really want something, they'll like look me right in
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the eyes and instead of like just saying the word now,
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he'll sign and he'll say the word like mom, I
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need you to see this, and I love it. So Yes,
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baby signs are great. Although I will tell you I
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am not and this is for anyone listening. I am
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not fluent and sign. I wish that I was. I
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have taken some classes and I've learned from people that
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are fluent in ASL, and I someday that is on
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my list. But you don't have to be fluent in
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sign language to teach your little one baby sign. I
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really think knowing anywhere from like three to ten signs
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that you use consistently is like, really where that magic
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happens for your little ones.
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It's amazing because more please and thank you, but stop, sit,
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I love you. My little ones, my kids and my
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grandchildren were signing I love you since they were babies,
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and it's so fun because they want to tell you
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these things, and those babies are battling. People don't realize
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they are speaking. They know exactly what they're saying when
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they're looking at you, giving you baby babble and things.
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So when they have some signs to throw into it,
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it really cognitively just really helps them click it all together.
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Yeah.
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You know, during COVID we did a lot with speech
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therapy and things like that because schools were closed and
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so often parents don't see some of the earlier signs
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that their toddler's ready to communicate but having a hard
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time is delayed somewhere. What are some of the things
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that they can look at and look for to be
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able to get that communication started.
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Yeah, so kind of two parts to that. One is
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there's so many milestones and there's so many things for
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little ones that it can get really really overwhelming. But
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I do think as you're watching your little one, as
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they're getting close to a year, as they're hitting eighteen months,
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as they're hitting two years old, you know those are
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the time, so just be making sure they're hitting those
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kind of basic milestones. One thing though, to keep in
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mind when you see milestones, you know, there's social media
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and there's just so much information out there that sometimes
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sometimes what you're seeing out and about in our world
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is there's there's really is a difference between a milestone
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and an average and so you need to just make
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sure that your little one is hitting those milestones. So
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that might be you might see something scary on Instagram
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by like okay, you're your eighteen month old can have
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fifty words, like okay, maybe, and that's great. But also
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as long as they have about ten then they're doing
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just fine. And so I think the first thing is
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that there's there is this kind of like range for
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every age, So understanding like that there is a range,
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and as long as your little one is meeting those milestones,
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then they're doing great. Talking to their pediatrician just at
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their you know, well baby appointments can be really helpful.
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I have a checklist that has just kind of those
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basic milestones. So if you consistently notice that your little
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one is missing those milestones, you know, if they hit
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a year and they don't have one word yet, one
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word or sign or even animal, not anything, lots of
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things count, but if they don't have that one word,
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if they get to eighteen months and they don't have
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around ten words, and by two years old there is
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a jump. We want to be at about fifty words,
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and if they're not hitting that, those are those you know,
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just like hey, you know what, maybe look into it
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a little bit. Obviously there's a lot of nuances in there,
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but I think kind of understanding those general milestones can
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be helpful. And then the other thing is, as a parent,
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you can start really really small. It doesn't have to
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be okay, zero, two, one hundred, It can be okay,
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you know what, I'm starting to be a little bit worried.
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I feel like I'm seeing, you know, other kids at
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the park they're talking, but my little one isn't. Or
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you know, I'm taking my little one to family Thanksgiving
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and everyone's saying, oh, why isn't he talking yet? If
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you're starting to kind of hear those things, you're starting
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to get nervous. Just are small. Just start incorporating some
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simple strategies, you know, And obviously talking to your pediatrician
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is always a really good start.
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Too, it is. And I love what you said about
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social media because you know what, don't judge your parenting
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and your life on influencers who are out there all
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dressed and their baby looks wonderful and everything else. And meanwhile,
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you haven't washed your hair in three days, and you
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probably have baby spit up in it and everything else,
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and now you think you're failing because everybody just makes
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it look so easy out there, and it's such a disservice.
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On the one hand, it's a wonderful thing. It's a
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wonderful thing to be able to look up to find
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support groups and things like that. But there are people
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that are out there that make it look like this
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is how their child always looks, and their kitchen's always perfect,
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and they're always dressed in the June clear and they've
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got their pearls and blah blah blah blah. And then,
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like I said, you're sitting there in your sweppants wondering
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what you're doing wrong. Guess what, mommy, You're doing nothing wrong.
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You are doing a great job. You got up, the
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kids got bed and everything else, and they all got
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put to bed at night. You did it. Good for you? Repeat?
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And how do you compat that for parents, because again,
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in today's world, parents think that they're failing because they
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don't look like what we see.
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Yeah, I think so many of the conversations I have
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with parents, you know, in my therapy practice and even
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just like in parent consultations or is reassuring them, you know,
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I think that there's just such a piece of we
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kind of are expected to do it all, especially as moms,
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especially as entrepreneurs, especially as like there's just so many
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hats that we wear every single day. But usually I'll
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start talking to a parent and I'll reassure them, right, like,
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this is the stage where little ones are learning, they're growing,
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and there's just so much going on in a beautiful way,
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and you get to just kind of grab on to
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that and work with it. And so much language happens
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during things you were already doing. So if you are
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changing your baby's diaper, you have a language opportunity, right,
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If you are giving your baby up in the morning,
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that's a language opportunity, eating breakfast, going to bed, taking
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a bath. Like most of what I would tell you
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to start adding is during the things that you are
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already doing. You do not have to sit down and
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play with your child for one solid hour of nonsub
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language play, Like, okay, cool, you can do that if
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you want, but you don't have to. Everything that I
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would teach in every strategy that I have would just
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go in all those little moments that you are already
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doing throughout your day already. And yes, I said before
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we jumped on this club. It's like, Okay, I have
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two babies. They might wake up and that's just the
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reality of parents. It's definitely not instagram perfect all the time.
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It isn't. And as I said to Jesse, it's word
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of mom radio. So we love kid cameos. We do.
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My grandkids have popped into shows and stuff like that.
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Why not. And if we can't support each other as momrepreneurs, entrepreneurs,
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business owners, raising a family, building your business, that's what
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it's all about. And it is that juggling act because balance,
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I mean, come on, seriously, it's light. It is your life,
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raising a family, building a business, and everything else. And
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we keep all the balls in the air because we're
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good and sometimes the ball's my ball, but we still
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find a way to pick them up. So what are
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some of the earliest signs parents can look for that
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their baby or their toddler is actually ready to start communicating?
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Yeah, so I think the biggest things that really are
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like those first indicators, is that they are starting to
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imitate what you're doing. And that doesn't have to look
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you say ball, they say ball, right, that's great, But
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really those signs come so much earlier than that. So
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my baby, he's not one yet, and him and my
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toddler like to talk together. I would put talk in
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air quotes, but my toddler will like scream because we