On one visit a few months ago, a photographer came to get some shots for the foundation that helped make the Petersburg location possible. You can see Joe and his occupational therapist on page 12 of their biennial report.

2010

2011

2012

Here’s the page dedicated to his Early Childhood Special Education class:

His bus teacher remarked the other day that Joe is so well-liked among teachers and students that, “Now write this down,” she said, “so you remember who said it first. That boy is going to be prom king.”

Here is Joe, kicking the tires at the dealership:

Also new in recent weeks:

1. Joe is a CHATTERBOX. Still no words (that whole “more” thing kind of petered out) but good gracious, does he make a lot of noise. Tonight he gave us a dramatic speech that went something like, “Lovalovalovalova bijibijbijibiji belabelabela.” We clapped in agreement.
2. He seems to be waving hello and goodbye. He does it backwards and sort of upside-down, but he definitely does it when coming and going.
3. He makes very funny faces all of a sudden. Today at lunch he debuted a fishy face that we’ve been hooked on ever since. Video to come.
4. One of his classmates has a nose-picking habit, and Joe finds this hilarious. His teacher said that as soon as it catches his eye, he belly laughs until they can distract him with something else.
5. His walking is getting better all the time, and he climbs stairs like a champ. Slowly and with some help, but like a champ!

EDIT: Here’s the video of today’s fishy face debut:

Like Dada’s ear buds:

His occupational therapist pointed out that we could use this to our advantage, in our continuing quest to get Joe to feed himself. Helloooo, spaghetti:

He had a grand time, passing it from hand to hand, stretching it out and flinging it around. He even put it in his mouth a couple of times … but without sauce, it had about the same taste as the ear buds.

So we’ll try it again with sauce … probably outside, where we can hose him off afterward. Stay tuned!

Today was also Joe’s first time meeting “Aint Naincy” (my mother’s sister), who came up from Florida for the occasion.

Here is Joe on the D.C. Metro:

Here is Grandy, surprised to find us waiting for him when he gets off the bus:

Joe, clapping for the veterans:

And here he is relaxing in the stroller while Patrick hears another cool Grandy story:

Patrick got much better pictures of the day, and those will be uploaded soon!

Around this same time, he seemed to develop a new mischievous streak.

He digs through our change jar, smears his greasy hands all over our bedroom mirror, and tries to topple every plant in the dining room.

He crawls into the bathroom when I’m showering, and flings the shower curtain around until he and the whole room are both soaked.

He also gets the screen door halfway open, and would no doubt be headed down the sidewalk if the squeak of the door didn’t give him away.

We are so proud of this little troublemaker!

Digging in the pot o' gold.

I put him in it on the sidewalk, like old times, and he shrugged it off. He seems now to prefer slow, independent steps to quick, assisted ones.

Now he’s started shrugging me off when I hold his hand. Here he is in the waiting room at the therapy center. Places to go!

(P.S. I’ve watched this video at least a dozen times since shooting it a few hours ago. I just can’t believe how far he’s come.)