Happy September! Somehow, our favorite boy is already finished with a month of 7th grade. Where does the time go? In any case, Little Buddy's second year of middle school is starting off well, although he is missing the sleeping mornings of summer break!
Trying to ignore me to see if I'll go away.
Sleep more!
Sleepy smiles!
But don't worry, he's always in a good mood by breakfast and then ready for his day!
His breakfast smiles are some of my favorite!
Dapper dude, ready for school!
He's even already had picture day and I'm confident we got another good one (because I insisted on being the volunteer yet again to make sure of it, muha ha ha)!
Looking good!
Picture day success!
The beginning of the school year also means Little Buddy's Amazing Grace Faith Formation has started again! We've already had once gathering and once Sensory Mass.
We love this program of inclusion and acceptance!
As summer begins to close, we were able to get one more day out on the lake in. The new, bigger boat was definitely worth it this summer. It was so much easier to get Little Buddy on and off and he really enjoyed sitting on the platform. Hoping for many more years of lake adventures!
Someone loves the lake!
With the start of school, Little Sweetie and Little Buddy haven't seen each other as much, but that doesn't mean that they arne't on each other's minds. Little Sweetie even made one of her potholders just for her big brother because she knew he'd like the texture and could fiddle with in.
Our favorite siblings!
Height and Weight
The pounds keep coming! All the guacamole and whole milk seem to be doing their job and someone is now up to 105 pounds. We are so happy to have this continued weight gain. And, although we won't get a heigh measurement until his geneticist appointment next week, we did end up having to get a new truck just to fit his long legs in it, so I am guessing we'll see a few extra inches reported as his check-up!
Long-legged boy likes the new Ram!
Personality
Still just happy and living his best life. We have been so fortunate for him to not experience agitation or being upset. We hope we can keep him full of joy for as long as possible!
Every smile is a blessing indeed!
Developmental Changes
Overall, all is going well, especially since his swallow study was phenomenal! Someone passed with flying colors and is allowed all foods and textures still. Just have to keep alternating textures to help clear throat and use small bites as we have been. No aspiration or penetration! He's actually improved since his 2019 study, which is huge. We are so happy!
Someone aced his swallow study!
As I mentioned, overall Little Buddy is well, but we are having issues with keeping his therapies. Both speech and occupational therapies got demoted for their twice a week visits to one a week by insurance. We're appealing, but it's been a long and arduous process with a lot of poor paperwork management. We'll keep fighting to give him the tools to keep his quality of life high, but it's so frustrating to have to fight battles that shouldn't even exist. On the bright side, he was able to start horse therapy again this month, so that was a bright spot.
Happy to be back at the ranch and riding Ghost!
Fun Tidbits
Our friend, Ms. C, sent the kids a really sweet care package with Little Buddy getting an official WILLPower Purple crayon that she made him at the Crayola Factory. How cool is that?!
Thanks, Ms. C!
Well, that's it for now! See you in October!
Good night,
LBM
Little Buddy's Momma
