Special Olympics

Last week, Stephen was able to participate in his very first Special Olympics event.  It was a program geared towards children ages 3-7, with various levels of developmental challenges.  We had SO much fun!!!!  Grandma was still here visiting (she left today) so she acted as our class photographer.  Yes, this was an activity we did with Stephen's kindergarten class!!!

The kids participated in events like an obstacle course, soccer, basketball, throwing balls at targets, bowling, and using a big parachute to bounce beach balls.  The event was held at a local high school, and there were literally HUNDREDS of middle and high school kids there volunteering, either to supervise activities, or work as "buddies" for the kids.  Those kids were amazing.

So, without further adieu, here are some pictures!!!

A couple of cool things to mention - that woman crawling under the pool noodles?  That's their teacher - she's the best.  I'm working up something to tell you all about her, because she is truly an angel on earth.  She also made the cool black shirts with stars on them for all of the kids, because she said they are her "shooting stars."  The kids sat SO patiently waiting for their ribbons - we were the second to last school called! 

Something that we don't have a picture of involves Stephen's communication.  He was starting to poop out after a couple of hours (he didn't sleep well the night before), and wanted to be picked up to snuggle.  So we went to sit down, and he used his speech program on my phone to say, "I need a break."  This was a HUGE breakthrough, as he wasn't just asking for a snack.  I've been trying to figure out how to convey a change that has happened with our little buddy... I guess the only way to describe it is that he had a big leap forward in his maturity level.  This includes his communication, interpersonal skills, and play skills.  We are really pleased.

In other news, Stephen's dentist wants to put a spacer in his mouth so that his other permanent teeth don't migrate into the "hole" as they grow in the rest of the way.  In order to do this, he will have a semi-permanent retainer put in, and the first part of this process will take place May 15.  He will be put under general anesthesia, because he has such high anxiety about the dentist, and because of his age, so we decided to do some other procedures (deep cleaning and sealants) while he is under.  Then 3 weeks later, he'll have the spacer put in.  It seems like a lot, but I know that this all could have been much, much worse, and this will keep his smile handsome in the long run.

Worst Week Ever

So I had been hoping to write a blog post to tell of our awesome Spring Break adventure, but instead, I have a sad tale.  Last Thursday, while getting ready for swim lessons, Stephen took a tumble, and his face broke his fall.  After many long hours in the Emergency Room at the Children's Hospital, it was determined that he had fractured his jaw in 2 places.  In addition, he had stitches both in and outside his mouth, and had to have one of his teeth extracted - a permanent tooth, no less.

Because of Stephen's issues with his face and head (he HATES to have people mess with him - the dentist is a nightmare), we made the decision to have him sedated so that he could have the stitches and tooth extraction done with minimal emotional trauma.  Because of the tooth extraction, and the sedation, he was kept overnight.  The next day, we were told that he would have to stay for several days, until he could take enough fluid by mouth to stay adequately hydrated.  We were also waiting to see if he would need surgery on his jaw for the fractures.

By Saturday, he was feeling a little better, and was enjoying spending time with his new buddy.

Mickey was supposed to be a surprise for Tuesday morning this week, when we were going to wake up early to take the plane to Disney World with Pa and Kim.  Unfortunately, due to his injuries, we had to reschedule our trip for right after school gets out.  Stephen was released on Sunday, after he was able to start drinking with a straw again (he wasn't able to use one due to the tooth extraction), and he came home to convalesce.

Recovery has been... stressful.  Because he's a kid, he just can't seem to leave those stitches alone in his mouth, and has been having bleeding at night (we think he's messing while he's asleep). Unfortunately, we can't do much about that, but Stephen is proving to be much more aware of what is going on that we hoped - he has been very upset about the blood, and doesn't approve of the measures I took tonight to speed up the middle-of-the-night clean-up process.  We put down a disposable pad over his sheet, and a waterproof pillow cover (I've washed his pillow multiple times over the last several days).  He got into bed, and promptly tried to hand us his pillow while signing "all done," which is how he often tells us he doesn't care for something.  After a little snuggle, I convinced him that this is so he doesn't have to be awake as long during the night, and he went to sleep.  During the night last night, he was very concerned with checking the sheet and pillowcase to make sure that it was clean when he got back into bed - it was awfully cute.

All in all, this hasn't been our best spring break, but thankfully Grandma Janet arrived on Wednesday to help us out.  Thank goodness, too.  Hopefully, my next report will be that he is feeling better.  :-)

In a rut

We've been in a rut, and I haven't had much to blog about.  We're good, Stephen's good... he has a bit of a cold right now, but he's on the mend.  Our weather here has been crazy these past few weeks, but that's pretty normal for this time of year.  Stephen is enjoying school and swimming... we've had a few exciting milestones that I don't have pictures of, but I can share anyways.  In Stephen's classroom, the teacher's aide brings the lunch trays directly to the classroom (for those who do not bring their lunches), but when they are all in 1st grade next year, they will have to carry their own trays (I didn't REALLY pay attention to the exact logistics, since Stephen is on the gluten-free diet and will continue to bring his lunch).  SO, they are all working on carrying a tray.  I just smile when I think about those 6 little boys and one little girl, practicing carrying empty lunch trays up and down the hallway.  At any rate, Stephen is well on his way to accomplishing this particular goal for the school year, and this skill has translated into a few other areas at home.  He carries his snack bowl from his table to the couch (even when he's not supposed to snack there) without spilling, and I expect that this increased hand strength is behind his ability to hold on to the kickboard so well.  The newest activity that comes from this skill, is his ability and desire to carry his iPad all over the house.  He takes it up and down the stairs (he holds it on his lap and butt-bumps down the stairs), and into various rooms to play games and watch YouTube.  He loves to lay on his new bean bag chair and watch videos, while holding tightly on to the letter "U"  (upper AND lowercase), because of course, U = YOUTube!  Stephen's teacher also reported during his last conference that she is quite pleased with how well he has been playing at school, not just with his friends, but with toys.  She is very impressed with the improvement he is making with his social and play skills, and we are THRILLED!

Before Stephen got sick this week, we spent some time at a park with a new friend who was visiting from Tulsa.  Stephen had a great time, and wasn't very excited to take time away from his play to take a picture. 

We've been sick...

Sorry I've not been blogging much - Stephen was down with a sinus infection, and now I have some respiratory thing going on...

Stephen had his well-child check today, and everything is good.  He weighs a hearty 48lbs, and is 43.5" tall, which means he has gained 4lbs, and grown about 2" since last year, which is great!  Everything else is going well too, so I have nothing interesting to report from his appointment.

Something exciting that is happening at swimming, however, is THIS:

Sorry it's a bit fuzzy - I took it with my phone, and then cropped it so you can see what he's doing.  Stephen is HOLDING the kickboard!  This is a very new skill for him, and has always been difficult due to his poor hand strength.  However, he started doing this last week, all on his own.  His teacher, Miss Carrie, is holding him at the hips, to remind him to kick at the top of the water, instead of underneath, where he wouldn't be able to propel himself forward.  We are very excited!!

Stephen has also been having fun playing Uno Moo, as well as playing with his Green Lantern toys, and after we find the right kind of card holder for him that we can set on the table, we'll start trying some card games too.  It's been a great 2013 so far!!

Christmas and New Year Recap

We had a fun-filled holiday break here!  On the last day of school before break, SANTA drove Stephen's bus!!!!  Despite appearances in this picture, Stephen was actually really excited.  He also helped decorate some cookies to share with Santa, and managed to NOT spill sprinkles all over the kitchen this time.

We also met Santa at a local store.  We'd never gotten around to this childhood rite of passage before because we just never had time for it.  Stephen, as expected, wasn't upset at all, but wasn't quite sure what to think of this guy - he was a great looking Santa, though, wasn't he?

We also met a talking reindeer while we were visiting Santa, which was extremely amusing!

This year, Stephen really got in to doing the Advent Calendar, particularly the countdown aspect.  After we would choose the ornament for the day, we would count how many days were left until Christmas day.  And Stephen chose the location of most of the lower ornaments, as you can tell by the cluster of ornaments at the bottom of the tree.

We went to church on Christmas Eve, and Stephen was well-behaved as usual.  It's so nice to see him happy and engaged again, now that he's sleeping better!

We tried out a new location for our Christmas Tree this year.  I think I like it, even though we couldn't get into the cabinet behind it if we wanted to watch any movies.  Stephen helped us a little bit with the tree, but he was more interested in watching Christmas cartoons and movies while he ate dinner.

 

 For Christmas this year, Stephen accumulated a LOT of books.  He LOVES reading and being read to, and I think we're set on new books for many, many months!  The book he is looking at in this photo is a seek and find Backyardigans book (of course!).  He also got 3 new games (UNO Moo, Trouble, and Twister), some really cool handmade Backyardigans puppets, and some other fun stuff - it was a great Christmas!

We didn't do much for New Year's Eve, and Stephen went to bed at his normal time.  Given all of his sleep issues that he was having prior to surgery, he has still been catching up, and is ready to go to bed between 7:30 and 8 every night.  Now he is back at school, and enjoying his time with his friends and teachers!

Six

We have a six year old in our house.  Yep.  He's six.

He had a pretty good birthday.  We didn't have a party this year, opting instead to put that money towards something BIG that we are doing in March... we went out to dinner (sushi - his choice, of course), but by the time we got home, he barely had energy for cake, so we opened presents on Saturday.  So in honor of being six, Stephen came down with a cold.  

Stephen is recovering beautifully from his surgery a few weeks ago.  He is sleeping pretty well, although I think we'll see even more improvement in a couple more weeks.  Even better, he is much more aware, and engaged, and more interested in playing, instead of just being a couch potato, and he is attempting much more speech.  

He is also more interested in all of our Christmas preparations this year.  Stephen has especially enjoyed his advent calendar - he pulls the little ornament out each day, and picks where it should go on the tree, which explains the cluster of little ornaments at the bottom.  And then we count down each day until December 25th, giggling away!

We are SO PROUD of all of the progress that Stephen has made this year.  He's just come so far, and we are so happy.

Picture post

I decided to post a few surgery pictures, and some others that are pretty fun.  Stephen no longer has any restrictions with regards to food textures, and he was VERY happy to use his "talker" to ask for graham crackers.  :-)

This first one was before surgery.  Stephen was very anxious about surgery, but enjoyed the free wi-fi!  Those socks didn't stay on for long at all, though...

This was a few hours after surgery.  The DVD player in our room wasn't connected to the TV (THAT was an interesting discovery!) so Stephen was watching Elmo's Christmas Countdown on my laptop.  I think we watched that 3 times while we were in the hospital.  He had his two favorite buddies there keeping him company, and his Granddaddy to later help him with some pudding.

This is our annual family portrait.  It seems to represent us pretty well - Erik and I look exhausted while Stephen laughs hysterically at something.

And the obligatory Birthday picture.  Our photographer got some REALLY great shots out of him this year - and he didn't even cry!