The evolution of Eli's journey these past 3 years since coming home is something to witness. He did not have it easy starting out his first 8 years in the Philippines. He was not the people pleaser that Lucas was. He did not conform. He was (and can still be) a very black and white personality. There is right and wrong in his book and he does not trust easily. You prove yourself before you are admitted into his trust. Those first 8 years he survived and didn't have many reasons to build his confidence or trust.
You would not have heard him ever say something good about himself. The first time I remember him saying anything close to bragging was one day after school when he announced, "I'm not dumb! I can do this! They don't think I'm stupid."
It can be a fine balance between building confidence and walking the line of arrogance. Last night after his baseball game he was so excited. The kid is good at sports. He's found something he loves and knows he has talent and skills in sports.
He was getting cleaned up after the game and kept appearing in the living room (longest shower/bedtime routine on record) to talk about the game. Finally, right before he went to bed, he came up to me and said, "Mom. I did good tonight. I'm proud of me." Off to bed he went. Good thing I was sitting down. I don't think I've ever heard him say those words. We are pretty proud of him too...for a lot of reasons but mostly for the tremendous journey he's traveled to get to the point of being proud of himself.
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