Cold feet!

Guess who has decided that he doesn't need to wear socks in the house, despite the fact that it is 25 degrees outside?

Yep, THIS GUY!!!

He has also decided that teeth are better brushed when you are naked, but I promised to never post naked pictures of Stephen on the internet.

Becoming Big.

I don't know when it happened. Stephen is no longer a toddler, but a boy. He likes doing boy things, like wrestling, running, and playing with his trains.

I knew the time was coming when I would look at his face and not see a baby, but a boy. Man, it sure went by quickly.

Back to school, and something to celebrate!

After a week-long absence due to weather, a professional day, and then a particularly nasty cold, Stephen FINALLY got to go back to school yesterday. To say he was happy about this is truly and understatement. Stephen LOVES school! His teacher said that he did really well with his short PT session yesterday (he's getting some PT still to work on stairs and jumping). Stephen also discovered that his classroom had a toy piano in it, and you can probably guess where he could be found during free play... His teacher was interested to hear of Stephen's love for playing the piano, both toy and real, so I suspect this will be incorporated into his therapies. He came home on Thursday, and took a 3 hour nap, since he still wasn't feeling very perky.

Today, he went to Children's Day Out, and his teachers said that they could really see a difference in Stephen's behavior. He wasn't ever poorly behaved before, but they said he was just wonderful today, and very cooperative. He started to feel badly again towards the end of the day, so when I picked him up, I called his doctor, who gave us some samples of a cold medication for him (his first one!). Hopefully he will be able to get some decent sleep tonight without coughing himself awake.

And now for the REALLY good news... On Monday, I took Stephen to see his urologist for his annual exam. For those of you who don't know, Stephen was diagnosed with moderate, bilateral hydronephrosis as a baby, which was probably developed in the womb. At any rate, one doctor wanted to do surgery right away to deal with a blockage, but we wanted a second opinion. The second doctor agreed to wait and see if he would grow out of it, which he started to do. At his last check-up in October 2008, his left kidney was no longer retaining fluid, and his right one was graded at a 3-4 (down from a 4-5 when it was first discovered). When we went back on Monday, it was a 0-1, and the doctor said that it was almost completely "resolved." YAY!! His right kidney will always be slightly damaged, and the left will always do a little more work for the pair, but as of right now, it isn't going to be getting any worse. We will take him back in another year for another renal ultrasound, and if it is still good, we will not have to go back for probably another 3-4 years.

So, except for the cold, it's been a pretty good week for our boy!

Preschool!!!

On Monday, Stephen started preschool. He is attending preschool through our school district, where he will receive help with his speech. He is going 4 mornings a week, and will continue with Children's Day Out on Fridays at our church.

On Monday, we all woke up early, got ready, and Erik and I walked Stephen to his classroom. His teacher helped him hang up his coat and backpack (at a little hook and cubby JUST his size!!), and we talked for a few minutes before leaving. Stephen apparently fussed a bit right after we left, and then was fine.

Stephen seems to really enjoy preschool so far, and he has been taking really good naps after he gets home in the afternoons. He is also more chatty with us, although we don't always know what he is trying to say, and he is imitating both words and speech patterns a lot more. He is answering questions, although usually with something that we don't understand. Right now, we'll take the effort!

He has been out of school the past 2 days due to weather - for whatever reason, the school districts all closed down because of the low temperatures, even though there is no ice or snow. Yesterday, Stephen was fussing at me almost all morning because he wasn't at preschool. I guess he likes it!

We went to Indiana (and Michigan, too)!

The day after Christmas, we woke up super early, and braved the very icy roads to get to the airport for our 7:15am flight to Midway. Since we'd gotten so much snow on the 24th, many of the airport parking lots were closed, but we were able to park off-site and take a shuttle in with 20 other people. We made it to Chicago without incident, and then drove to Granger, IN to Uncle Adam and Aunt Erin's house!

The next day, we went out sledding!

Stephen went down the hill a few times with his Dad and Grandpa Rick!

And then Uncle Adam took him for a run, which he LOVED!

Inside, Stephen and Zachary enjoyed playing with Stephen's laptop.

And Stephen and Uncle Adam bonded over football. No, we didn't plan the outfits, but it is pretty funny!

Stephen and Zachary went out in the sled together on a different day, and Stephen was very patient with his baby cousin squished on to his lap.

We were dressed to support our beloved Wildcats in the Holiday Bowl, but they were woefully outplayed by Nebraska. But we are proud fans anyways!

Great-grandma Heine joined us all for a few days. This was the first time that she had seen Stephen, and the first time that we had all been together since Adam and Erin were married 5 years ago!

In case you can't tell, Stephen LOVES his laptop, and it enabled him to be patient while we were waiting for dinner on New Year's Eve.

Stephen has also discovered a love of taking photos with Mommy's camera. He particularly enjoyed doing it in the car, so we now have dozens of pictures of the left shoulder of whomever was sitting in the passenger seat at the time he was taking them. As you can tell by the angle, he took the photo below.

Adam introduced Erik to the Wii. I played a bit too, and while we both had a good time, we decided to wait until Stephen can play with us too before making an investment.

We went out into the snow to sled for one last time. As you can see, it was snowing and very cold, so it was our last time out in it. We still had a lot of fun, though!

We had a really great trip, and got home on Sunday. Unfortunately, our suitcases did not arrive on our same flight, but it worked out better that way, so that we didn't have to worry about wrangling the luggage, carry-ons, and a non-napping 3 year old! We got back to the house, and got Stephen to bed, to prepare him for his first day of.... PRESCHOOL!! More on that later, though!