Eli Update

I haven't written much about Eli lately. Which I guess is a good thing because I tend to use this blog to help me process through my hard feelings.

So...not much writing = not so many hard feelings = a good thing.

It is really really hard for me to believe we are in November and that Eli has gone through a whole season with our family. Four months of life as a Hambrick. Unbelievable.

He really is amazing. Uh-mazing.

Here's the low down:

He is sleeping like a champ at night from about 8pm till 7am-ish. Takes a 2 hour nap most days, and wakes up crying for about 50% of his naps. However, we figured out (just this week) that 95% of the time when he wakes up crying it is because he has to go potty. If we take him potty he usually goes back to sleep. That would have been good to know about 4 months ago.

He is eating like a champ and the only foods that he doesn't like are blueberries and cooked carrots. Everything else he will eat with some encouragement. I know he is up to 30lbs now and am sure he has gotten taller as he no longer fits into his size 2t pants.

He is running faster and slowly building up those muscles. His balance and coordination are improving and he throws with surprisingly good accuracy. Here's proof of some progress:

(I had planned on putting in a video of him jumping on the trampoline - but I can't at the moment. So you'll just have to wait for it.)

When he first went on the trampoline all he would do was hug the side and/or cry. See. (Or at least imagine in your mind.) Progress.

The language thing is still slow going. I know he understands us pretty well and he can say a lot of words...it is just his enunciation that is really...blurry. He has a lot of difficulty with "S" sounds and basically any other letter sounds that require him to close his lips to make. I started calls this week to get some speech therapy going.

His surgery is scheduled for January 7th. Sigh. I know it is necessary...but I am not looking forward to it. At all.

He has become really affectionate with me lately. Wanting to be held. Giving kisses and hugs. And he still shadows me pretty much all day long. We have noticed some venturing off to play downstairs or outside (without me!) lately. Which I am not complaining about.

His relationship with Ezra is improving week by week. We can have whole sections of the day now without a fight breaking out between them. They both love playing with their cars and trains and have worked out a unique dynamic when playing: Ezra loves the building of the roads and tracks and Eli loves the running of the cars and trains on the roads. So Ezra just keeps building and Eli keeps vrooming. Progress, people. Progress.

And, again, on the honesty front...my feelings and attachment towards him continue to move forward each week. But in a two steps forward, one step back kind of thing. I don't even always know what throws us "off" but it happens sometimes...and I usually end up going to the Word and reminding myself of how equipped I am with the love of Christ to love Eli. And that helps. Going to 1 Corinthians 13 and replacing the word "love" with my name and honestly asking myself if I am loving my son in this way always resets my mind...

Love is patient. Love is kind.

It doesn't envy or boast.

It is not arrogant or rude.

It does not insist on its own way.

It is not easily irritated or resentful.

It does not rejoice in wrongdoing but in the truth.

Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

We love you Eli Cade. (And am learning how to better love you more and more each day.)

Not just to the kitchen and back...but to the moon and back.

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