1,000 Words

I had good intentions of writing at least once a week. . . but you know this thing called life? It got in the way. In the mean time I find myself thinking of so many things to write about. I've noticed a lot of moments that are typical to us that others may not understand. Ever heard the expression, "a picture is worth a thousand words?' (Here I go with quotes again) In Nolan's world a picture is literally a peak inside his world. Rewind to Christmas 2017 for a moment. We were at a usual large family Christmas gathering with full bellies, tons of family, and of course lots of pictures. Nolan started to get a little overwhelmed with all the people and noise after a while and he began whining and pacing. Around that time, Hunter's younger cousin had a digital camera and showed him some pictures on it to pacify him. That's all it took. He took the camera from her and with pure joy ran around watching every step and movement in the digital camera. We took the camera quickly for fear of it being dropped and gave him a cell phone with the camera on.

He has been hooked ever since. Many things have come and gone that have peaked his interest such as ABC's, puzzles, etc. But the camera interest has only gotten stronger. He is so good at it too! He takes pictures but mostly videos of things falling over, the dog fetching toys, his little feet running or jumping, and even films while he spins around. The he sits down and replays it with those big dimples showing! He has even figured out how to add filters and slow motion to his videos and photos. Another thing he has started doing recently is filming somethng on one phone, then playing it and filming that video with another phone. I don't understand it and have no idea what the facisnation is most of the time but we sure do love seeing him finding so much joy in something.

Because Nolan doesn't talk it's so interesting to look through our phones at night when he is asleep to see what he's filmed or taken pictures of. Most of the time its the same kind of thing but every now and then we find something amazing. There have been times when he has held a ball in front of the camera and said "ball!" He has also thrown a golf ball into the air, conveniently hit me in the head, all while filming it in slow motion and never missing a scene! I'm not kidding! Maybe this will continue to be a way of expressing himself and even something he gets really good at. You never know. Until then you won't see many pictures of Nolan saying "cheese" for the camera. Even impromptu pictures are few and far between because he either as our phone/camera or he sees us with it and wants one. We take lots of selfie's around this house! On a good note, because of his strong interest in the phone/camera he uses the sign for phone ALL the time! It is a strong motivator for him and is even used as his reward in therapy!

It's an amazing gift to be able to get a small glimpse into Nolan's world and the way he sees things. One day we will know. I have a lot of faith that one day we will have a conversation with Nolan about these pictures and videos he takes and we won't have to guess at what he is thinking. Those pictures and videos are never taken for granted around this house because, you see, a picture to him really could be worth 1,000 words.