More Pics

This was taken while Grandma Karl and Aunt Wendy came to visit...he was zonked! Those casts weigh about as much as he does, so he gets tired pretty fast, although all the excitement and entertainment by Grandma Karl and Aunt Wendy were the reason for this nap.



Papa let Eli help him reorganize the shed. Eli loved it!

We can't get water in the casts because it can cause some damage to his skin, so Papa put plastic bags with tape over them and Eli watered the flowers for us. He's such a good helper!

This week marks the start up of all our activities, so it's been an adjustment. Eli is doing great and loves hanging out with all the kids. I may pull him out of the AWANA program because he isn't potty trained, and he won't be able to memorize verses this year so he'll be the only kid without a vest and handbook. I really think he'll be affected by this, but I might give it one more week. We'll see.

Today Eli was fitted for his night splints and his braces. They'll come in before he's done with his serial casting so we're ahead of schedule for that, which is good. We also changed his casts today, which was heartbreaking for me. This poor kid was so excited to wear shoes and have those things off that he flipped out at the therapists office when they started the casting process. He was rewarded with some M&M's because of his bravery. But I could tell they were still hurting him because he woke up 2X while napping. After the second time, I wrapped him up in his blanket and took him to the couch where I craddled him for about 10mins and let him wake up a little more. Poor kid! And to add to everything I think he might be coming down with something. I can't tell for sure, though. Maybe it's just allergies.

The good news is that he gained 2 degrees on his right, and 5 degrees on his left ankles. Woohoo!

Pictures

I can't believe it's been two months since I added pictures last!! Sorry about that. Time kind of slips away from me sometimes.

Here are a few pictures from our visit to Buffalo. Eli spent a lot of time at the beach. He was terrified of the ATV at first, but ended up crying when we left because he wanted to get back on the ATV. The second picture is at dinner. Can you tell he's a little tired?

This is Eli with his adorable cousin, Ethan. They did pretty good playing together. We celebrated my Grandma Stobie's birthday...I won't mention her age :)

This is Eli's favorite toy at the playground at the mall. We've been working on sharing this with other children. He's gotten a LOT better and even moves over so other kids can "drive" the car.

Lovin' life in the tub. Isn't he funny?

Eli and his new car slippers.

This is one of my favorite moments. Dave and Eli working on the race car ;)

Words

Eli had his botox apptmt on Monday. It went really well, apart from the screaming. By the time we walked out of the office, he was just fine. I can already tell he's walking more on his heels, which is great. In a week he gets fitted for his serial casts, which will hopefully only be on for a month.

I'm pretty exhausted trying to keep Eli occupied right now. His toys are old news, and so am I! He gets so excited when Papa comes home so he has someone new to play with. I'm trying to arrange play dates for the next week or so until our activities start up. Monday and Tuesday we'll be in BSF, Thursdays we'll be volunteering with Mom to Mom, and hopefully he'll be involved in AWANA. A great break for Momma and more kids to play with for Eli!

Eli is transitioning out of a nap, which hasn't been fun...he's quite a handful now. He tells me he's tired, but when I put him down for his rest, he throws out his car, then his oof, and then asks to get down. I say no, I love you, give him a kiss and walk out the door. Then he either cries, calls out my name or has conversations with himself (loudly) until I come in and in a very firm voice tell him it's rest time and he needs to be quiet. Then he falls asleep for about an hour. Not a fun process! Maybe I need to go outside for that time.

I've been counting Eli's words...he has more than 60 already! And every day he seems to be adding more words. He's even telling me stories using several words at once (not quite complete sentences, but you can tell he's trying). Here are the words I've counted so far:

Momma
Go
Papa
Clean
Car
Mess
Wash
Fish
Watch
Pizza
Foot
Toast
Feet
Cup
Toe
More
Eye
Hot
Nose
Cold
Peepee
Help
Belly Button
Phone
M & M
Puzzle
Apple
Now
Juice
Gas
Water
Fall/Fell
Bubbles
Step
Shoes
Amen
Pockets
Two
Ball
Three
Baby
Jesus
Beads
Cool
Yeah, Baby!
Come on
On
Off
Obey
Oh Yeah, Momma
Up
Down
Push
Pull
Out
Peach
Slide
Stop
Hello/Hi
Bye
Yes
No
Mall
Five
Bus
My/Mine
Please

He can almost count to three, and can recognize the letters RVIT and Y.