Almost 3

June 23, 2009

May 27, 2010



June 16, 2011

And my favorite from today...

Dirt

Eli loves to play in the dirt.  Sandboxes, flowerbeds, random mud puddles - he's not picky.  He loved the beach when we were in Florida.  He started asking for it by the end of the week whenever we got in the car.  He would say, "Let's go beach?"  He doesn't ask for much with words like that, so it shows the power of the attraction.

Derek is making a spot for a vegetable garden in the backyard, and Eli came upon the pile of new dirt this evening.  Heaven.

Puzzle

It's been a long week of evaluations for Eli, as the school district reevaluates him to determine what speech and other services he will receive after he turns 3.  He was stressed and miserable during most of it and it didn't go very well.  We knew that it wouldn't.  We have a pretty good expectation about what the reports will say, and while we don't really disagree with any of their points we still question how well the evaluations are capturing the whole picture of our little boy.  Is he on the road to an Autism spectrum type diagnosis?  Should we be pushing him harder out of his comfort zone during these formative early years?  Is he just free-spirited, self-directed and an introvert (qualities I can totally respect and which are certainly his birthright)?  Does he just need a little more time to work on developing his language and social/emotional skills?   Derek and I go back and forth on these and many other questions all the time.  I clearly see how he interacts (or how he doesn't interact, actually) with the evaluators as well as with family members and close friends, and absolutely not through any lack of their trying or reaching out to him.  Then I feel like I am trying hard to avoid sounding defensive when I say, "but you should see how he can be and what he can do."  It's not really defensiveness, I guess.  Mostly it's intense frustration at how badly I want everyone to be able to get to know the sweet, friendly, playful, affectionate little guy that Derek and I know and interact with every day.

 



I came home from a session this morning and filled up the remainder of my CF card with these shots taken in our family room.  I took 69 frames of Eli in about 7 minutes.  I edited 8 of them above, but here are all 69.  I am not sure how well the web size shows the details, but you can click on it for a larger version if you feel like it.  That's my boy.



Perfect

A slideshow from the beach in Florida.  I used one of my favorite songs (copyright gods, forgive me), which very much expresses how I feel about these four of my favorite people.  My sister commented on how close Charlotte and my mom are in height.  It really is remarkable.  Where did my baby go? 

That little box-surrounded-by-arrows icon in the lower right hand corner of the slideshow window makes the slideshow full screen if you click on it.  It's so small in the embedded window, I think.



A few more from Florida.   My girl Gracie.

Eli and Daddy in the pool.



Rainy Day

More of Eli.  I have to say, as much as this rain stinks it does make for good lighting - outside and in.

He was lining up Play Doh balls along the window sill.  He was very serious about it.

 

I think this one's my favorite.  SOmething about the way he is kneeling and you can see his whole body.

Derek always likes color better.

Porch light during a rainstorm

The light on the porch during the rain this afternoon was beautiful.  The little boy on the porch wasn't too hard on the eyes, either. 

He doesn't like to look at me with the camera anymore.  I was calling his name and making funny noises and you can tell from these that he wasn't really focusing on me.  I don't like the just-missed eye contact, but I kept these anyway.

Here is the real deal.  He's looking right at me because he's teasing Mama and he knows it.  Little stinker.

Here Eli is a few days ago watching TV in the family room.  His new favorite is Thomas the Train.  I don't understand the appeal, but he asks for it now every time.



First thing this morning, Eli came into the bedroom and climbed up on the bed with me.  He wanted me to wake up, and I was still trying to sleep a few more minutes.  He kept saying, "OK!  OK! You wake up now!"  His talking has come along way in the past few months.  He speaks in full sentences frequently, but he tends to use alot of canned phrases, repeating sentences that we say often word for word.  Neither Derek nor I can remember saying this to him (like when Derek gets him up in the morning), so I think he put it together on his own.  I realize he's almost 3 and still behind in his language, but this is great strides for him.