Fun Filled Week of Appointments

Just shoved a huge Gus' pretzel in my mouth! (I LOVE Gus' Pretzels)

Home from school after a day of playing with markers

Well this was the week of appointments. Everyday our little man had somewhere to be. So here we go:
Monday: PT with Ellen and then a Follow Up with the ENT. She checked the status of the tubes and they seem to be doing their job. Look great and are still entact. Follow Up in six months.
Report Card Grade - A

Tuesday: NICU Follow Up and Developmental Testing. This was a long day for Ryan and Dad. Spending a good portion of the day at CGCH. The NICU follow up with the neonatologist went well. He is progressing well and doesn't need a return visit for six months. He also met with a psychologist for another Bayley Test. A Bayley test scales infant and toddler development. It rates the Cognitive, Language and Motor skills of a child based on their chronoligical and corrected ages. The psychologist played with him for about an hour and came up with some exciting and promising outcomes. Chronological age now: 26 months. Cogitive scale age equivalent is 20 months. Language scale age equivalent is 19-20 months. Fine Motor scale age equivalent is 15 months and Gross Motor scale age equivalent is 7 months. We knew the gross motor skills were low, because he is not crawling or walking quite yet (affects of the cerebral palsy), but are thrilled with these results. At a previous NICU visit in July,the results of the Bayley test were Extremely Low/Borderline. Now he is Low/Average! This proves early intervention and intense therapy with our little man has improved his outcomes tremendously. I know he is a smart little man and can communicate with us, but it is so reassuring that a professional confirms he is on track with other kids and has great potential. Still working on Gross Motor Skills. He is scooting more. He has issues with his right side, not sure how to get his right arm out from under him to help move and tends to scoot in a circle. His legs are strong and he can hold his own weight. We walk with him and he moves his legs and feet back and forth, like he is walking! This is very encouraging and promising, on our way to crawling and walking. Report Card Grade - A.

Wednesday: Speech Therapy with Ashley. Determined he now can say 50 + words. I know this increases everyday, because Ryan repeats EVERYTHING now! We really have to watch what we say and pronunciate our words. Words starting with B an P are now entering in his vocabulary. Eye Therapy with Jo. Still improving and have a follow up with the pediatric opthalmologist in April. Report Card Grade -A.

Thursday: OT with Adele. Played on his belly more today, didn't want to stand too much. Report Card Grade - B

Friday: Scheduled to get his new AFO's but Barb was out sick today, so we've rescheduled for next week. Went to MorMor Jo's for a fun filled evening and spent the night.

Saturday: Spent most of the day at MorMor Jo's while Tim and I both worked.
Everytime we come back from MorMor Jo's, he increases his vocabulary, now saying purple and poop!(not together). Thanks mom!
Whew...
What a week, now preparing for a relaxing day. Take a walk up to Schnucks, then watch the USA vs Canada Hockey Gold Medal game this afternoon. GO USA!!!

Other exciting news: Aunt Julie and Uncle Trevor are expecting a boy in July! Congrats! Today is Aunt Julie's Birthday too! Happy Birthday and enjoy your day!
Love, Ryan

First Hair Cut

So it was that time, time to lose the curls. My little man had been mistaken for a girl. How? I do not know. Yesterday, we went to see Jen at work and let her do her magic. He was a perfect angel. He didn't fuss one bit. He even gave Jen a kiss when it was all over. I took a few pics and 12 minutes of video (which I need to edit before uploading). He looks so grown up. Where did my 2 year old go? He looks like he is 4.

He is chatting more each day, putting words together to let us know what he wants. Last night, Tim asked him "All Done" and his response was "More Cracker"! The little man loves his animal crackers. He says "Dunka" for Thank You.

On Wednesday, his school went to the Symphony. Yes and he loved it. He clapped when everyone else clapped, danced when everyone else danced. He loved being out and watching all the other kids and listen to the music. Truly loves music. Looks like we will be hitting any events with music.

He has a very busy week ahead: PT, OT, Speech, Eye, ENT and he gets his new braces! Can't wait. He has grown out of his old ones and therefore we can't use his stander.

Here are some photos of his new look. Video will come later...

Enjoy

Happy Valentines Day and Laissez le bons temps rouler!

This sums up our trip to the zoo
Watching the Penguins

Playing with the snow

Having fun dancing with Dad
Beads, Beads, Give me some Beads!
The Mardi Gras Parade in the Living World
Rolling on the ground

I think he looks like Uncle Dan in this photo! What do you think?
Looking older than a 2 year old
Stacking blocks into towers
Today we had a great day. We went to the zoo. Yes, it is snowing, but we attended the Mardi Gras parade in the Living World at the Zoo. I was suprised to see how many people were actually there. Ryan had a blast. He loves beads. After the parade (indoors) we went outside to see the penguins. We got there just in time for the 3:30 feeding. He loved watching the 'ducks' as he called them and was very attentive to the zoo keeper. He also loved the snow, but more than anything, he wanted to eat his goldfish crackers! He didn't care that his hand was cold, or that it was snowing, his priority was eating crackers.
His main pasttime is stacking blocks. He has become the master and can stack at least 15 high. He is also getting very good at rolling over. This morning he scooted across the floor, nearly 5 feet. That is the farthest I have seen him move, by himself ever! Very Exciting. His new favorite character/book is 'Melmo' (Elmo). He loves reading the book received last year for Valentine's Day.
Therapy went well this week, getting good reports, moving more, talking more, communicating more every day.

On another note, we received the most amazing news last week, My Uncle Gerry is in remission! Congrats to him! We have been praying every day. Keep up the good work and hope to visit soon.
Enjoy photos from the last couple of weeks.