Special Moment

Last night we had one of those unexpected but very much needed  moments with Dakota. A moment where you realize just how much that little boy I miss so much is still inside of that body...just unable to express himself the same. By the end of it Zach was teared up and I was all smiles. It was one where time stands still for a moment and you don't ever want it to end.

We were tucking Dakota into bed as we always do. Dakota has this magnet board I made before he was born in his room with the same pictures that have been there forever...since before the accident. I haven't been able to have the desire to change them.

Anyways, I looked over at it and saw one of my favorite pictures of him and my mom that was taken maybe a month or so before the accident.

 I took it off the board to just show it to him...not really sure what I would expect his reaction to be. I held it in front of his cute face and said, "Dakota who is that?!" His eyes locked onto that picture and he just stared at it forever. Usually he will look at something you show him for a few seconds then look away as if to tell you I'm done. This time he didn't stop. As I started talking about how cute he is in his cowboy hat and Nana, he started grinning from ear to ear still locked onto it.

So I just kept going with it and told him the story of that day. Every little detail about it that I could remember. It was our last day to ride Snowflake, grammy came to take your picture, it was snowing, Snowflake had to go back to AZ cuz he was too cold, papa took you around and around, etc. Probably went on for like 5 minutes straight and he was all smiles. I could tell that he remembered that day. 

It is so hard to know what he does and doesn't know since he can't talk and communicate well but I could tell by his attentiveness, his eyes, and his smile he knew and he remembered!!! It was SO, SO neat and made my heart so happy. He is still that little cowboy he has always been...he is just a little bigger now! ;)

So that is going to be our new bedtime routine from now on. Grab a picture from the past and talk about it. Help him and us to remember those sweet memories!!

Just some other fun stuff from school...his teacher sent him this note the other day...thought it was SO funny!

Who would have known preschoolers would think suspenders were so cool?!

Just got his cute school pictures back...handsome little boy!!