"Good night, Daddy!"

Last night, as I was working on getting Janey to sleep, she jumped up and went out to the kitchen where Tony was.  A very common occurrence, usually because she wants to ask for food of some kind, but not this time.  Tony came over to me a few minutes later and said "Did you tell Janey to come tell me good night?" I said I didn't, and he said "She came out here and came up to me and said 'Good night, Daddy!'"  And that is huge.  She has never, ever, ever done something like that spontaneously before.  She sometimes, once in a while, would say something like that if I specifically asked her to, if I said "Go say good night to Daddy", but on her own?  Never!  To say we were thrilled is an understatement.  It's the kind of thing that Mr. Ken, her ABA specialist, and also everyone at school has been working on for years and years, and last night was the latest example that it's finally catching on.  It's a great example of what I need to work on---faith that in time, whether Janey seems to be showing results or not, she will learn.  It's hard to wait until a child is eight to hear them tell you good night for the first time on their own, but I dare say it's a lot sweeter after that long of a wait!