Happy 4-Month Anniversary

This time I know that I’m a day late. Our "4-months together as a family" anniversary was actually yesterday. Alas, yesterday I was not in front of the computer much as we were at Wal-Mart, the library, and visiting coworkers at my office.

Yesterday Kevin embarked on a milestone adventure of epic proportions (hyperbole? I think not.) I cleaned the oven after breakfast and Kevin was in the living room ALL BY HIMSELF the entire time. And that made it so much easier for me to spend specific play time with him afterward. And then, after dinner, even while Andy was home (realize here that Andy is a god to our little Kevin and when Andy is around, nobody else exists in Kevin’s world) Kevin went downstairs without us. That’s not just in another room, that’s practically in another galaxy. He sat at the bottom of the basement steps with some animals, balls and trucks piled around him and he played. I have no idea what he played even though I snuck a peek at him at one point. Can you understand the freedom that was gifted to us yesterday? It was incredible.

He has also started talking to himself. Many kids talk to the TV or their books or stuffed animals, but Kevin never did until now. It is the cutest thing. All that he seems to say at this point is numbers - he enjoys counting most everything. He doesn’t have the first 10 numbers down pat yet but he’s clearly getting there. What we tend to hear when he does talk to himself goes something like this, "doo, dix, debben, dix, debben, nine, dix, debben..." which is "two, six, seven, six, seven, nine, six, seven..." when you can’t pronounce "s" sounds at the beginnings of words yet.

Thinking back to what changes Kevin has made and what he has learned over the past few months is incredible. Here are some of the ones I can think of at the moment:

• taking a bath is no longer a scream-fest
  
• his plate of food doesn’t get shoved in a fit of anger 10 times during every meal
  
• he can put 3 words together and ask for things like, “more milk, please”
  
• he says “Thank You” at home with a big smile on his face without prompting
  
• the outdoors is fun instead of scary
  
• not only can he dance, he can sing
  
• he can watch us cooking dinner without crying to have food immediately
  
• he falls asleep in bed and not only in our arms
  
• he eats like a horse but not like a horse with a tapeworm