St. Louis was awesome. To recap, it’s nice knowing we aren’t alone in this fight and that there are other families who know EXACTLY what we’re going through. Plus, the community is unreal in terms of support. We’re blessed to have such a community.

Speaking of community, our beach neighbor called the fire department asking if James could come over and see a truck. Their response was: we’ll come to him! So they called another station, further away, to let them know where they were going. Their response? “We're coming too!” So, we got to see a fire truck AND a ladder truck (which came a pretty decent way). And they even RAISED THE LADDER FOR HIM! (They wouldn't ’t let him go up it though [I don’t think he would anyways]) He was in heaven. Naturally, we brought donuts to the stations as a thank you for what they dis for him. The one that was further away was ecstatic to see him again. They were so happy to see him again they let him play with the fire hose. So awesome! I also enjoy watching yell, “hello” to everyone who walks past on the street, to and from the beach.

In other news, as the post suggests, we have been beach bums… a lot. James is absolutely in love with the beach. By that, I mean he loves digging in the sand and throwing it. I had sand in places I didn’t know sand could go! At some point, we’ll teach him to hunt for sharks’ teeth. He’s much lower to the ground than we are so him learning means we won't have to bend over so much HAH!

He does like to look at them though, whenever we find them. He also really enjoys playing inside the beach house. It’s pretty small so just his size. Plus, with the layout, we aren’t having to hover over him quite as much. He’s also a fan of the porch and enjoys watching the street lights come on at night and go off in the morning. This little one can really teach you to enjoy the little things in life, like watching a street light.

He is in awe of objects we all probably take for granted. Example: writing. He loves to write, draw, use a pen or pencil. He finds trash cans amazing (the ones you roll to the road). I’m pretty sure I take my trash can for granted! Every day he reminds me to stop and “smell the roses” or sand, in this case.

His speech is really progressing as well. He is starting to put 3-4 word sentences together, sometimes even more. The quantity of words in his vocabulary is increasing. When you ask him if he likes something, he’ll now say, “I do!” We are still using sign language to prompt sentences, which is totally fine.