Patriotic

On the night before our country's birthday, you were my special helper and we made t-shirts. When you found out you actually got to wear your art, your day was already made. But, seeing as we are always trying to out-do what has been done, we decided to make this the best fourth of July ever. A parade, a day of swimming, and fireworks in the park, did I mention that I didn't even make you nap?! Best day ever.

The Beach House

I had no idea that I gave birth to such a  beach bum. If you had it your way, you would live there, literally sleep there and never leave. To this day you beg me to take you back. You are not understanding why we don't have a beach across the street like we did on vacation. All n' all, the Wright family vacation was a total success.

Speech

We were all sad when your Pre-School came to a close. Its been more than a month and you still ask to go back. We miss having Ms. Aubrie come to our house and play, and for all of her helpers. You always had a good time, and you were always sure to hang every single art project on the fridge immediately following each and every class. Some day you will love your summer break, but for now, we are missing your friends.

Right before you turned three you were tested again to see if you had made any improvements over the last six months and to see if you qualified for next years early intervention program for three year olds. I was a little nervous for you to be tested. I worried that you would not like the pressure, or the new speech pathologist, I worried that you would fall apart like I find myself doing in these kinds of situations. Fortunately, you didn't seem to realize it was a test at all. The moment you walked into that room you had all the Speech Pathologists laughing. You even were quick to joke around. When it was time to do colors they laid our several blocks. After asking you to find the red one, you started from the far right, and moving to the left, pointing at each block individually, you said " no, no no, no...there it is, I found it!" On a few occasions you got bored and decided playing under the table, it seemed like more fun. Your dad and I could not stop laughing.

During the tests I had very mixed emotions. I couldn't help but be so proud of how well you were doing, I was amazed with your confidence and impressed how well you did on various puzzle, you excelled on sections that we had never worked on before. You really are so bright. But at the same, I worried so much that you may not make it into the program, I worry that I might not be able to help catch you up developmentally on my own like I hope to. When we finally received the results it was amazing to see how far we have come. You had tested less than the 7th percentile in logic months ago, and now you were in the 80th. You fell completely within the normal range for 2 year olds.

After months and months of working with these specialists there are a few things that we have been able to identify, you are not lacking in problem solving or logic in any way. You can speak very well, in fact most people question why you are working with any specialist to begin with. You do however seem to missing one element of communication. Even though you can tell us anything and everything in some way or another, and even though you understand commands reasonably well, you don't seem to be able to understand questions, or understand that you are suppose to respond to them anyways. It is difficult for you to even give your name when asked. No one has quite been able to figure out this disconnect. In most situation you simply repeat the question being asked. I can't help but wonder what long term effects could have come from the trauma your little body may have suffered when you had surgery. Even though you physically are on track, could it have effected your speech or your ability to understand? Is there a coincidence that you seem to be nearly 5-6 months behind most kids your age and you underwent your surgery at nearly 5 months? I guess we will never know. For now we wait. We wait until September 13, 2013 to see if again another 6 months will have made any difference. If no difference has been made, you get to go back to pre-school, which you seem pretty excited about.

Lately...

Lately you have decided you no longer like eating. After months of getting down a very strict routine having you sit at the table every meal and taking at least three bites (since you  re three years old) of all your food, I thought we had nailed this picky eating thing for good. False. You started crying, literally balling when I don't give you ice cream for breakfast, and everything is "yucky, its stinky, I don't like that" before even looking at it.

Lately you have been escaping and running up the street to play in other people's yards. Occasionally our neighbors bring you back when they find you sitting on their front steps. One time I lost you in the field in front of our house, but Billy from next door found you. Sometimes when you escape you leave the door open behind you and brother escapes too.You now have to go to time out every time you open the door without asking mommy and daddy.

Lately you have to be outside. The moment we get back from the park its always "Pool next mommy?" Once you swam for four hours straight, with the small exception to grab something to drink from time to time, while Asher napped in my arms and I got my tan on. You cry every time we have to leave.

Lately, you yell at me when I turn left to go to the freeway because you know that Grandma and Grandpa live to the right.

Lately, you love to play hide and seek. A typical game goes like this. You hide, I cover my eyes and count, the moment I say "where is Gage?" you pop out of hiding and say "I right here!" and then we start over.

Lately, you find it ffun to tackle your brother. You find it especially fun while we are practicing walking. The moment Asher lets go of Daddy's hand and takes a few steps to Mommy, you run from out of no where and plow him to the ground.

Lately, you have been getting a lot of "Boo-boos" and you ask for a band-aid probably 50 times a day. One time you got soap in your eyes and it was stinging pretty badly. I grabbed the first aid kit and flushed it out. Once you were happy and tear free you were adamit you needed a band-aid. You even went to the mirror to make sure I was covering your whole eye. You kept the band-aid on your eye for about an hour before you realized how annoying it really was to only be able to see out of one eye.

Lately you have been saying prayers at night to go to bed, they go a little like this "Dear Heaven Father, thank you for this day, ok, your turn."

Lately, you have been insisting on wearing cowboy boots to church. Most weeks I put up the good fight and make you wear church shoes. On the weeks that daddy is not there to help me out, you always seem to win.

You are energetic, kind hearted, and always wanting everyone to have a good time. You remind me so much of your daddy, I couldn't be happier.