Communication

Sometimes I miss big things in the rush of daily life. I focus on everything that I feel has yet to be accomplished with Eli's transition into our family, and I seldom stop to look back and realize how far we've come in just one year. Then all of the sudden something happens, and I see another hurdle we've jumped while I wasn't looking.

For example, communication. When Eli first joined our family, communication was Eli signing something to us and abruptly walking away before we could respond. It was completely one sided - he'd get his point across and be done. Slowly, and with alot of work and a WHOLE lot of frustration, communication became signing "at" one another. There wasn't really any give and take, no actual conversation.

I am not sure when exactly this changed, but today I realized that we were having an actual conversation! I couldn't keep the silly grin off my face for at least an hour afterward! Eli came home from school with a drawing of his family. There was a picture of each person next to their name - Rinnie, Baba, Emma, Hannah, Joshua. My picture didn't have my name beside it, and I pointed this out to Eli while pretending to be very offended.

Me: "Where is my name? You didn't write Mama!"
Eli: (searching carefully for the name he'd forgotten to write) "No, it's here . . ."
Me:(laughing) "Poor Mama, no name for me!"
Eli: (laughs and hugs me) "Sorry, Mama!"

I know this isn't exactly a deep conversation, but it's an honest to goodness, two people sharing ideas and interacting with each other conversation! Eli has gained so much language and is signing so well, it seems unreal that one year ago he had none.

This isn't by any means the first conversation we've had, it's just the first one where I've stopped and thought, "Hey! Look at that!!", so I just had to share.

What an amazing little boy, don't you think?
I think his Mommy needs to pay more attention to how far we've come, and less time worrying over how far we've yet to journey.

~ Jen