Tall Enough for Carnival Rides

Last night Jason, Eliana and I went to the Jefferson County Fair. Like last year, our church handed out free water and our small group where signed up. Our group has a lot of small kids, so the spouses split up. Some would take the kids, while some stayed back to hand out water. Eliana had a great time looking at the animals. Looking at her walk around on her own was so strange. Last year she was only 9 mths and I could still picture Jason carrying her around in that same building! She liked the baby ducks the best. And squealed with delight!





Eliana also got to ride her very first amusement park ride. She had a little friend with her. Oh my goodness! To see her excited face. She was like a volcano of excitement, that you couldn't help to be just as excited. I loved it and so did she! To tell you the truth, these moved pretty fast, and the train also moved around the track, but would also spin. Both myself and the other spouse said that our spouses would be too scared to let them ride these rides.

Smith Family Adventures

This summer has been so fun with Eliana. She is at such a fun age. She makes us smile and laugh all the time. She is getting so big. When it is time to eat, she goes and pulls a chair out from the table and climbs up. She climbs into the car and into her car seat, and then back out again when it is time. She loves to brush her teeth and LOVES the water. There aren't many swimming pools around here, so we have enjoyed the Shenandoah river.

As for her hearing. She is deaf in her right ear and a mild hearing loss in her left. She has been tested for a program here in West Virginia and she begins meeting with a speech therapist this week. After the testing they said that she is above where she should be for her age in cognitive and development. They said she was really smart. But she can't hear, so she is below in vocabulary. We will begin with sign language and she will get a hearing aid. She will go for a more in depth test to see what the problem is. She will have to be put under and it will take a half a day. That is a little scary for us. But after that, she can hopefully get the hearing aid. We won't know until after that if she is a candidate for the implant.

Here are a few pics:


This was actually pretty cute. She had gotten the crown from a birthday party the week before and it was still in the car. One day we were driving somewhere and I look back and she had put it on her head and was going along with the ride. Loved it!








We had a great day at the DC Zoo and American History Museum. Everything was packed, then again, it was a Saturday.






Eliana loves the river. Well, she loves water in general. Now, if she sees us grab a swim diaper she shrieks with excitement. The river is perfect, it is the perfect height for her on the edge. And the scenery is absolutely beautiful.