easton andrew way

Easton or East as I very often call him..even though I hate nick-names:)  This kid is a rock star.  He amazes me every day.  Every day I look at him and thank God that he is mine..he is that awesome!  Anyone who spends any time with this kid wants to steal him and take him home.  I don't blame them:)  He always has a smile on his face and he always shares that smile with others...especially older people.  Its almost like Easton scans a room and chooses the oldest person in the room and then makes it his mission to make those people love him!  I have had plenty of older people at church come up to me..and we have not usually spoke before..and tell me how "happy that little blond kid is"!!  I have also learned that while I thought we chose totally normal names for our kids...the name Easton throws the older crowd.  They are never quite sure what to say so he is often "the blond boy"

This sweet boy is still making our ECI caseworkers earn their money!  Every time I think were going to have a visit where they say he rocks and we can be done...they notice something that I have not notice as abnormal and they want someone else to come evaluate him.  The awesome thing..this kid is not aware of most of his physical limitations or imperfections.(unless we are at a park..kiddo stands out as the one kid shaking as he plays on a playground..apparently the parks with see-through-steps freak him out)

 ECI noticed he falls more then a kid should and I just attributed to the fact he has not been walking long.  The thing is..he can fall all day..which he does not..and he smiles and pops right back up.  I am not lying when I say he smiles ALL day!  He is almost 26 months old and I dare to say I still have not met the terrible twos yet.  I am fully aware they will still come, but they started with Charlie at 15 months..and it was terrible.  Other then beating on his brother this kids worst crime is an occasion scream when you tell him we have to leave somewhere.  Mind you, when he does scream..it just may rupture an eardrum, but its so infrequent that he acts up.  When he does...I look like a total idiot.  Since he almost never acts up, I'm not really sure just what to do when he does..parent.of.the.year.

Since Easton was born Daddy has had a lot on his plate and that means more time with mama..which served me well!  I have a mamas boy finally!!  Charlie has always been a Daddy's boy and Easton has always been a mamas boy..works well as long as Harper is happy to split her time equally with daddy and me:)  Now that Daddy has been able to be home more I find I'm having to fight to be favorite..so may I never complain at how tired I have been the past 2 1/2 years..I got a cuddly, snugly boy out of it!

Easton is my sensitive child.  He has been know to cry when Charlie is getting in trouble.  Just raising my voice at Charlie upsets Easton..maybe that's why disciplining him is easier then Charlie..I can still get away with "giving a look".  Charlie goes to school on Wed & Fri and on those two days Easton can sometimes wear me out with his whining and constant "hold me" and "lu-lie?" and "school?"  He misses Charlie terribly when he is gone.  Yesterday Charlie had school and then went to a friends house and did not get home till about 5:30.  From the time Easton woke up from his nap at 3:30 until Charlie walked in the door..I had to hold him.  Anytime during that 2 hours if I tried to somehow get my hands free he cried..and cried..and cried.  The minute Charlie walked in the door Easton perked up and didn't cry again.  I told Charlie how much Easton missed him and Charlie was so sweet to run to give Easton a hug.  Only Easton decided to smack him instead of hug him????:)

This kid is smart...like really smart.  I remember his speech therapist telling me one day "Amie, he is smart..really smart". Since he had always been behind I remember feeling unbelievable relief that a super educated person was telling me he was smart..not just that he wasn't going to be behind..but that he is smart.  Once I began to work with them to understand my child better..I realized how smart he is!  Easton leaves off the first part of most words while most kids leave off the last part of the word.  It makes him hard to understand what he says if your not in the moment with him to know what he is talking about.  He has a "100 pictures" picture book and he knows every picture and can tell you them all..but if your not looking at the book to see what he is pointing to..interpretation can be, um tricky!

Since its my blog and I can brag if I want to.. I will!  Easton knows all the letters of the alphabet.  Not in order..you can point to any letter and he can tell you what it is.  Super impressive part..he was self taught!  We have never figured out where he learned it, but I think it was from his car toy..a leap frog laptop.  You push the letters and it repeats it back to you. 

I had put Easton in bed with me one morning to cuddle and he looked up at the letters over my bed and says "B'.."A".  I kinda wide eyed stared that he knew them and then tested him out at breakfast and learned he knew all but F, K, and V.  I called my husband and both our moms and no one had taught him this??  This was about a month or two ago..he still wasn't putting two words together, but he knew the whole alphabet??  Just the other day while we were in the car I hear "F..E..D..E..X"..I looked back and we were sitting beside a FedEx truck:)

I mentioned this to the speech therapist and she started drawing out a few things like the Target logo and asked me if we shop there...um, do crackheads like crack..WE LOVE TARGET!  Right on cue, Easton says "Target" he also recognized Walmart and Chick-Fila.  She called it "pre-reading something"..I call him rainman....and crumb snatcher!

One more brag..the other day he grabbed the magnetic W letter on the fridge and said "W" and then flipped it upside down and said "M" and kept flipping and naming correctly..um, genius:)

Okay, I do sometimes call Easton crumb snatcher.  I cannot appropriately detail and describe the amount of food this child consumes daily.  He out eats me most every day. I still have my concerns over this being normal or not.  I often wonder if his early problems with MilkSoyProtienIntolerance didn't cause long lasting issues.  When he was a baby and before he was diagnosed Easton ate a large amount of formula for a baby of his age..and then an hour later he was screaming to eat again.  Once we learned that everything he ate went straight through him without being absorbed or was vomited back up, I understood why he was always hungry.  I just wonder if he has not kept that mentality of  "gotta eat and get full because you don't want to be miserably hungry" or if he just consumes so much food cause he is a big kid.....either way, he takes down a lot of fruits and veggies each day. 

 There are only a handful of things Easton wont eat..kiwi, celery, asparagus & cucumbers are all I can think of.  He is unofficially still milk protein intolerant so he avoids cheese and yogurt and drinks Almond milk instead of milk.  We will head back to the GI specialist this summer to get an official diagnosis and to make sure there is not something I need to be doing or not doing!

  I swore off Dr's for Easton for a few months...for about the first 20 months of his life there was always something that had us at some Dr's office...allergist, pedi dermatologist, regular pedi, ENT specialist..etc.  He needed a break and so did mama!!  Since we cleared up his severe yeast rash that took 2 months and 3 Dr's to fix..he has been pretty healthy!!  KNOCK ON WOOD!!

Easton Andrew Way, you are my favorite 2 yr old and I love how soft you make me.  I love how you cuddle me, love me and need me.  Being your mama makes me happier then Ill ever be able be able to put into words.  God made you perfect and the perfect fit for our family.  I love you and cannot wait to see who you grow into!