This little boy has grown up too fast! I haven't a clue how three years have gone by. I just don't get it. Of course his birthday reel is on the way but I first wanted to tell you all and remind myself a bit about this little boy and where he is in his exciting journey.
Everett is a happy boy, pretty much all day every single day, happy. It's easy to tell when he's not feeling well because he's typically always in great spirits. He plays by himself, all day, every day, if I'd let him. The only reason I'm sure of this is there have been those days with the move where NO attention has been given to this sweet man and he plays and plays and plays. He's good at making messes but is so very fine discovering and investigating on his own. He walks about 60-70% of the time now, sometimes he needs me to say, "Bubby, stand up" and he will. He walks medium stable but cannot do stairs and gets tripped up by toys or rugs fairly easily. HE IS SAYING WORDS!!! Some as clear as day. There has been a BOOM in speech over the last two weeks, it's so exciting. He doesn't come to me to tell me things yet but he's repeating words very well, it's so fun to hear his little voice, completely worth the long, long wait. His lips are having a hard time touching again when he's speaking, not that they don't close but he's not coordinating them correct so mama has been gone for a while. I'm excited for that one to come back, it'll be like the first time all over again. His fine motor skills are improving each day, we do difficult tasks for him and he sticks with them and works hard.
Now that he's three, three of our therapies through the state are done. Early Steps is the state funded help we've been getting since we got home from the NICU. Danielle, started with us a year ago and she just had a baby. She came to our session one day after her due date, that's how much she loves this little boy. Justine has been with us since he was three months old. She has seen us through three "homes", all our crazy sitters, and most importantly...she has seen all his milestones and has helped us get there. She said he's her favorite all time client, she's only looked forward to walking through the door each and every day. So, there goes three therapy sessions a week and those were the easy ones that came to me. We just finished with PT since it's highly suggested he takes a month break before his therasuit program that starts at the end of June. We were going three times and week and cut back to once a week before the move. So, we have speech language, preschool, speech feeding and OT. He has his thyroid check, eye check, hearing check, all coming up so it's nice to slow down a bit so we can fit it all in. His therasuit is an intensive OT/PT from 8-11 every. single. day. for three weeks. that's a lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For his baby muscles. :( It's to strengthen and push him to make some big changes really quick. We had his evaluation the same day we had his IEP meeting a few weeks ago. We set some goals. If I remember correctly we, as a team, decided we want him standing stable, walking stable and confident, no longer reaching for my hand or a wall, and doing better with stairs and biking, right now there's no independent biking or stairs, on his feet anyway. He doesn't like to leave his feet on the pedals and do the work, it's hard for him with his low muscle tone. For OT we are going to work on self care, and I forgot what else. He is also starting a "Nova Chat" program in speech and we are switching therapists to do an eight week trial so we get to see if he qualifies to get this AAC device. That stands for Augmentative and Alternative Communication. So, basically, he can use a device that looks a bit like a smaller ipad and has icons where he can tell us what he wants, feels, desires, what hurts...etc. I'm so excited. It's all in there and he's dying to get it out. We trialed it and the therapist and I were both in tears. He jumped up three levels the first day and two more this week. He is speaking in three word sentences telling us what he wants, it's amazing. I'm hoping we can get this functioning in our daily lives before school starts, it'll give me so much comfort if he can use a device to help communicate with people in school that don't know him. He just got inserts for his shoes. After way too many phone calls, insurance has informed me they do not cover anything from the ankle down, SO, there's that. Needless to say, this little boy is always ready for his next "hurdle".
He continues to bring his best to every single thing he does, and in the midst of it all, he makes everyone fall in love with him, smile and laugh. He is the sweetest little soul there is, he is smart and sweet. His attention is amazing, he sticks with tasks, HARD tasks for so long, until he gets it. He gets pissed sometimes and throws things, usually when he's teething, but it's few and far between. He smiles biggest when his sister is near, she makes him laugh until he cries. She is his person and she comes to his rescue the moment he needs it. There love is profound. They have all the normal sibling interactions but it's mostly love and laughter.
He loves Elmo and Bubble Guppies "PEEZ" he screams in the morning waiting for his show to turn on. His favorite foods currently are pretzels, pizza and peaches. He eats a great variety of foods, struggles with meat and we still haven't attempted tough foods like carrots, nuts, raisins, etc. He still chokes on the easy stuff and scares the bajesus out of me. He loves being in water, the pool, Gulf, or bath, it doesn't matter, he's ready to splash even if it's freezing cold. He is currently dumping buckets of water over his head, even though it's sub zero at times. Books are still his favorite toy, the ones he always goes back to. He loves being in front of the mirror and watching himself play, make faces or chat. He likes to find our facial body parts, tickle our feet and giggle himself as if he is being tickled. He loves dogs, any animal really but dogs most. You love to put sunglasses and hats on mommy. Since we've been in our new house you love opening doors, even the front door so we need to make sure everything is locked. I'm sure you'll figure out the lock next so daddy is looking into a bolt for up high. Everett listens so well, even if he doesn't want to, he does. Sometimes it may take asking a few times but he will always do what he's told. He is curious but stays out of big trouble for sure. He opens cupboards but leaves everything inside. He loves to hold pretend phone conversations. He'll kiss and hug on command and cuddles after he wakes up. He cries when he gets hurt but is over it fast and it takes a lot to upset him. A few weeks ago he scraped his ribs in a sandbox and really hurt his ribs and didn't say peep. It wasn't until I changed him into his jammies that I even saw his poor raw bruised body. I felt horrible. He never minded, not even after the fact while it healed. He has some pretty decent scars too, poor sweetie.
Everett dislikes taking medicine, having his teeth or hair brushed but teeth are really hard to do. He doesn't like feeding himself or eating in general. Even though he's a good eater it takes a long time and he needs a lot of distraction to get food in his mouth. He doesn't want his diaper changed and he'd rather not go to bed but like I said above, he's a good listener so he does what he's supposed to even if he doesn't want to. He doesn't like sitting idle with nothing to do. If we're walking in the stroller he's good but if I stop, forget it. He hates having his hair cut, but is getting better. Too bad daddy and I aren't getting better at doing it. Forget wiping his face, nose, anything from the neck up. He is starting to form strong opinions and if he wants to go one way but we have to go another he fights me for a minute, but it's really only a few seconds and he abides. He doesn't like going to others if mommy and daddy are near, he does, but he fights it at first. Most of the time he comes around but sometimes he just wants us, and we're okay with that.
That's our boy at three. He makes us smile and laugh, that's it. He brings so much joy to each day. Andre and I look at him and look at each other and melt. He brings us together. He keeps us grounded and is an amazing gift I never knew I wanted, but oh boy, do I ever.
Dear Everett,
You make your family so happy, each day. There's not many moments that go by that you're not making someone smile. Your hard work and dedication to learning is astonishing. For any toddler your age, you're remarkable. You know your colors, shapes, numbers and can count to ten. Only a select few people know what you're saying but you can do it all. You're observant and aware. You're stubborn and super sweet. When mama gets tired and feels like calling it quits you inspire me. You're strong and you persevere through things that are so hard for you, but you don't give up. Even if you throw your shape sorter in frustration, you go right back to it to try again, unless I ask you of course then you'll be stubborn. Haha. When left to do things on your own you refuse to settle. You love your sissy with all you've got and she loves you back so much. You make everyone smile and all those that work with you say you're their favorite. It's because you're special, special in a way that makes you perfect, perfect for yourself and for those around you. You do things on your own time, just like every other kid and we are so very proud of you. I know you're going to have a lifetime of us being proud of you. You're our sweet Bubby and you make us whole. I can't wait to see what you tackle in your third year. I love you with my whole heart, my everything.
Happy third birthday!
Mama
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