Why, Mommy, WHY????

Eli is full blown into the "what, where, WHY?" stage, and I LOVE IT! Most people are driven insane by the millions of questions asked by their inquisitive youngins, but not I. I answer each question and try to expand on it. Why, you ask? Because my kid is TALKING! It took him so long to just get started in full sentences, so I appreciate every single word out of his mouth. He talks in paragraphs, tells stories, sings songs, and asks thousands of questions. He never stops talking! I am so grateful! In the car, he might ask what every single sign we pass says. He actually knows what a lot of the signs say or mean now. He is learning so much by asking all of these questions. Speech is going wonderfully! He can now say his "S" and "F" sound, but still needs to be reminded when he slips back into bad habits. The "K" sound is going to be his most difficult challenge. Whenever he masters that, we'll probably be done with speech. What a change we've seen in Eli over the past 6 months. It blows my mind really. We went from dealing with the terrible two's and dealing with tantrums, digestion issues, attention issues, talking issues, etc. to having this enjoyable, easy, healthy kid. What a relief! It seriously is like the second he turned three everything changed. I would love to know how much of it has to do with him being on a gluten free diet. It kills me to think that a lot of his challenges might have been because he was feeling crappy a lot of the time. I guess that is part of life. You learn as you go! His attention span has grown immensely since we've gone gluten free and he's gotten older. Our six hour drive to Texas was SO easy, and we can now successuly eat in a restaurant as a family without wanting to pull our hair out. He is phenomenal in Sunday school and fabulous at swimming lessons and speech therapy. I am so proud of him! He has come a long way in a short time. He is funny, thoughtful, and has great manners, most of the time. He's always the first to say "thank you" and let you know how much he loves you. Eli loves to swim, play with marbles, listen to stories, help cook or build, play with his sister, run in the sprinkler, read books, play cars, play at the playground, etc. He has become a delightful little boy. I couldn't be prouder!