Oh my goodness I really just can't believe it at all! The last 6 months have been such a time of growth for Eli. As many of you remember, last year at this time Eli was barely walking, only said about 3 words and I was worried about his health because he had been sick for over a month. Well this birthday month could not be any different!
Eli just had his exit testing from the birth to three program he was in. He did not qualify for ANY preschool services. He scored low normal for gross and fine motor, but not enough to qualify for services any more. He can get around with all the other kids his age. He's a bit slower and still has trouble maneuvering stairs, but he is working on it and wants to do it "all by my lelf (self) every time now. We are going to continue working on motor activities at home and I hope to continue to see improvements. He scored low in articulation, but still not enough to qualify (and a caveat on his articulation testing, we did it in November and he barely didn't qualify, he was really low. However, his therapist said that if we had done the testing at the beginning of February, there would have been no way he would have qualified! That's how fast he has been improving). His overall language (expressive and receptive language) he scored at about as 5-6 year old level! What the heck!! Where did this kid come from?!?!? I was floored. So was his speech therapist. When she started coming, when he was just 2, he had 3 words and we were working on him signing "more" with a rounded "oo" sound! Now the boy speaks in 6-8 word sentences and is becoming more and more intelligible everyday. And oh my he has A LOT to say! He talks and talks and talks. I always knew he would be a talker, and boy was I right! Caleb always says, "Eli is just a little Richard Sherman...he likes to talk!!" Poor Ryan, he's surrounded by talkers.
Eli's health this winter has also been stellar. He had a bit of a persistent cough after a cold last month but I got him a new inaihler and face mask, and he's been good to go after one dose! This is the first winter that he hasn't had some major illness/set back! (So Cassie, if you read this, there is hope for Bruce next year!) As for his heart and his vision, I have no concerns right now. He does have a cardiology appointment next Wednesday and if there is any concern, I will keep you all posted. And he has an eye doctor appointment in March. Again if there is any change to his vision status I will post an update too. But overall he's pretty healthy. His doctor told me at his three year check up that if I felt concerned about his development he could refer us to private therapy... then he heard Eli talk and said "never mind!"
Eli's little personality is also coming out more and more everyday! I fear that he is going to be the class clown when he is older. He LOVES to make people laugh and can tell jokes and understand jokes even better than Caleb at times. He cracks us up daily and has the best sense of humor. However, as I said he LOVES to make people laugh and can be disruptive at times too. He is also at the age of pushing the envelop and is constantly trying to see what he can get away with. Consequences do not seem to work on him very well either, so that's fun. He just doesn't care when he gets into trouble. I am still experimenting on what works, and I think loosing a "friend" (stuffed animal du jour) or "guk" (truck/car du jour) seems to do the trick! The boy has a stubborn streak to match mine...hmmm I wonder if our beginnings have anything to do with that. And if I didn't love him so much I would want to send him back at least once a day!! He also has a set of lungs on him and may have damaged a few people's hearing. When he doesn't get his way, or falls down, or hurts himself, or he drops something, or some other child touches him, gets too close or looks at him wrong... or really any tiny thing makes him upset, the WHOLE world will know about it. I call it his dramatic flair, he's always had it... I hope he learns to tone it down.
The other thing that Eli loves right now is music. He loves to drum, like Caleb did and play on the keyboard. If music comes on, he has to stop everything and listen to it. The other day I turned on the Les Miserables sound track and he started humming the opening to it for days! It was amazing to me that he heard it once and got the tune down. Granted most of his "humming" sounds like heavy metal screaming, but he does still carry a tune.
All in all we love our little Eli. He is such a sweet heart and loves to give snuggles and loves. I can't believe how far he has come and I couldn't be more proud of the boy he is turning into.
