My boy is awesome

The only picture I got today. Not excited, not unexcited. But always loving the tractor from Cara and Gary! Thanks, guys, it is a huge hit in our house.

I think I need to teach Elijah some manners. We had a friend over for a visit today and after a few hours, I think he was just done with having a guest in the house. I could tell he was trying to get my attention more than usual and then a while later he looked at my friend and started waving and saying BYYYEEEee!! In other words, can you leave now so I can have my mama to myself again?

We had a really good day and a really good weekend. This time with Elijah has been invaluable. I miss out on so much during the week so it is wonderful to be able to spend solid quality time with him. I noticed so many new things this weekend. He must be in a developmental growth spurt right now.

His therapies have been going very well. He is getting physical therapy twice/week and speech therapy once/week. One of his PTs thinks that maybe he has some vestibular issues. Meaning, since he didn't move around a whole lot during his first 1+ year of life, his inner ear and balance may not have fully formed. Yet. We can change that. Elijah doesn't seem to like being moved unexpectedly or in an unusual way. What we have been doing to correct that is putting him on a swing that moves in every direction. Side to side, back and forth, around in circles. Moving him in unique ways will hopefully help to develop his vestibular system.

We have been focusing on leg and core strength and he is doing really well with that. He still does not like to stand, but over time, he tolerates it for longer periods. I think he knows that standing equals work, and he resists that. He always has. But he has always come around, so I have no doubt that he'll come around with this, too. We just have to be patient, as we always have with him.

He has crawled, but he isn't technically crawling. I don't think he realizes that crawling is a means of getting from one place to another quickly. He still uses his army crawl to get to things he wants. This weekend he was up on his hands and knees A LOT and moving in all sorts of ways, so this is very positive. For the first time ever, I saw him show interest in the stairs today. He set a toy on the bottom step and then pulled himself up to a kneeling position!! A first! That's huge progress. My boy is getting stronger.

Speech therapy has also been going well. The only word he says appropriately and consistently is BYE. Some other words that he attempts when he feels like it are: bubbles (bububububu), buckle (gung-gung), up (upffff), ball (baa) and mama. He says almost every animal sound, in his own interpretation, of course.

His speech therapist feels very confident that he is moving in the right direction. The fact that he does communicate with us (through grunts and pointing and some signing and babbling) is a very positive sign. He will get there. As always, we just need to be patient. I can't let it bother me when I see other little babies his age who can recite the alphabet.

Elijah is doing great! He is progressing and developing and I am so proud of his progress. I just couldn't love this boy any more. He is such a funny, unique kid. I am excited to continue to get to know him as he gets older. I feel so blessed to be his mommy.

I hope everyone had a great weekend. DAN SHOT A DEER! That means deer meat for us for a while, yay! I'm going to go sit my butt on the couch for a bit and wait for him to get home. I miss him! Take care, thanks for checking in...xooxox