MIKEY: The Twelve Days of Christmas Don't Hold a Candle to This

The number 12 comes up a lot this time of year. December is the 12th month and there's that old Christmas carol The Twelve Days of Christmas.

Well, the number 12 that's been on my mind these past few days has nothing to do with Christmas.

The other night, as Mikey's mommy and I watched in awe and with mouths agape, Mikey counted to 12. Unprompted. Uncoached. Perfectly.

Mikey's been pretty verbal lately and we've been so encouraged by even the slightest sounds coming from his mouth. He loves numbers and letters and when prompted he will usually repeat what we say and sometimes say the following letter or number after that.

But the other night was just amazing. When we do numbers with him we don't even go up to 12. So, not only did he count on his own, but he counted to a number that we had no idea that he knew.

Some of you are probably saying big deal. Well, I'll just say that I'm very happy that you have kids who don't have to struggle to communicate. But, for me, and I'm sure for Mikey's mommy, too, when I get down or overwhelmed I now close my eyes and hear "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve" in that adorable, precious voice and it makes me smile and forget my troubles.

So, on this Christmas Eve, I wish you a Merry Christmas and hope you'll think of a very special number 12.