February 11

Welcome to February!  Fortunately, all things are status quo still in the house, which is the best we can continue to hope for.  The pandemic is ongoing, but vaccinations have started and we have hope for more "normal" days to come (whatever that means anymore). 

One of the things we continually recognize right now as a blessing is Little Buddy's ability to attend school.  We are extremely fortunate, in this pandemic, that our schools are open and Little Buddy gets to keep his routine and work with the professionals that know him, love him, and are trained to help him maintain his skills.  Momma and Daddy are fortunate to be educated and able to do what we can, but we we aren't trained specialists.  Our school has done an excellent job at keeping Little Buddy and his friends safe and we can see how happy he is to have his routine (and how happy we are to have some respite).

Already leaving his mark at his new school this year!

     

We love getting pictures of him working during the day!

Groundhog's Day celebrations are an annual favorite for this guy!

     

I typically hate theme weeks with dress up days, I have to say that Little Buddy always shines on Hat Day and Pajama Day!

     

Also, this "dress like a board game character day" almost threw us for a loop, but we rallied and came up with a great one:  Professor Plum with the wrench!

Other big news...Little Buddy once again made his miles to earn his kids' Marathon Medal!  We are so proud of him and just so happy he enjoys running and still has the ability to do it.

      

     

I will never tire of watching this kid run!

     

     

And, of course, playground time post run is just an added bonus!

We keep busy and keep going.  Even though we don't get to see as many of our friends as we'd like right now, we keep in touch as best we can with calls, cards, and video-chatting!

Little Buddy excited to get mail from his friends in CA!

We also got to enjoy some zoo time this month!  We bought a membership this year as it's one of the few things we can go out and do outside where there is also good safety precautions.  Our little Wild Kratts loved it!

     

Zoo smiles!

     

Post zoo sibling hugs!

We're getting ready to head into lots of celebrations with Valentines and St. Patrick's Day coming up.  But, first, Mardi Gras!  Little Buddy really loved the King Cake from our friend's new bakery!

     

It wasn't pie, but he still loved it!

     

Height and Weight

Hanging out around 91.4 pounds and at 59 1/8 inches.  Our beautiful boy!

Hi Smiles!


Personality

Still very happy and giggly, although we've had some weepy incidents at school and at bedtime lately.  February is never our month.  It always seems to come with sleep disturbances and mood swings.  We don't know if it's something in the air that sets off his sinuses and causes a chain reaction or what.  We've had some minor sleep issues along with the over emotional moments so far this month, so we're trying to monitor and be proactive.  Hopefully all goes well!

Developmental Changes

We notice it's hard and harder to get words from him, but we still get lots of smiles, eye contact, and vocalizations.  We are happy and thankful for any measure of communication we can get form him.  We continue to do our "learning time" with him and reinforce all of his skills.  We will never give up!

     

Some hand-over-hand painting fun!

Fun Tidbits

Little Buddy was the beneficiary of a delicious surprise this month!  Maine Diner (in Maine!) was running a fundraiser for the Cure Sanfilippo Foundation.  Because Little Buddy LOVES pancakes, we wanted to support them.  Lo and behold, they very generously shipped us their homemade pancake better and we got to enjoy some delicious pancakes chock full of Maine blueberries!  They also sent such awesome shirts for the kids!

          

        

     

Loving his pancakes!

We're hoping everything stays as is in the coming month and just contenting to enjoy the time we have together.  Daddy is working from home through the Spring Semester which is a great bonus to our days, so hopefully we'll have many more family memories coming!

See you next month,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

January 11 (2021!)

Welcome 2021!  A new year full of hope:  hope that the pandemic will be effectively be handled, hope for more peaceful times, hope for perspective on what matters.  Or it could all go terribly wrong again like last year.  In any case, we'll continue to count our blessings where we find them, which is still in being together, healthy and happy.  

We had a lot of fun over the holiday season, making it work despite the craziness of the year.  Honestly, although we were always busy and going places before, it turns out we are really just homebodies at heart.  I don't miss the overfilled schedule too much, just when we start to feel a bit homebound.

We geared up for Christmas with a socially-distant Santa visit, Christmas movies, exploring a life-sized Gingerbread village, an early gift exchange with Uncle M and Aunt S, and then a full early Christmas with Mimi and Pop-Pop (and their new puppy, Sky!).

          

Looking our best for Santa!

     

Home Alone became a favorite to watch this year!

Enjoying some new books from Uncle M, Aunt S, and L!

Merry Christmas, Mimi and Pop-Pop!

Giant gingerbread houses!

     

Ready for Christmas to come!

We got a big surprise on Christmas, look who stopped by on his nighttime flight to check in on us!

     

So excited to visit with Santa!

     

Special Santa pets to Chesney (poor dog had had a rough week and we didn't know if he'd be spending another Christmas with us physically, but he pulled through for a Chrismas miracle)!

     

Quickly getting our cookies, milk, and carrots ready so we can get to bed!

And then it was Christmas!!!  Little Buddy wanted to sleep in, so we let Little Sister open some of her presents first.  When Little Buddy finally came downstairs, he needed some time to wake up, but was then all in on the festivities!

     

Sleepy boy opening his presents!

     

     

Waking up and getting more excited!

     

Thrilled with his giant puppy towel that Santa brought him!

Unfortunately, one of the big bummers of the month was that we were scheduled to take Little Buddy on a vacation to Utah to see snow.  However, with everything going on with the coronavirus, we decided we couldn't risk his safety.  Momma and Little Sister went and the boys stayed home.  We missed them terribly, but they had a great boy bonding time together!

The boys in their matching vests!

     

Happy being with Daddy!

Enjoying meals in the new outdoor kitchen area!

We promise we'll get some use out of those new snow pants, bud!

Thankfully, we were all home together to celebrate the New Year!

     

     

Twinkies!

Watching Charlie Brown New Year!

Cheers to 2021!

Height and Weight

Up this month to 93.2 pounds and just under 59 inches.  Still growing and gaining, which is wonderful!

Momma, I'm a big boy and I just wanna sleep.  This getting up early for school after a break is for the birds.

Personality

Lots of talking and smiling over break (that extra sleep certainly seems to help)!  We's so fortunate that he's so happy and easy going, unless we forgot to give him his snack and he gets HANGRY!

Developmental Changes

We work hard over break to keep his skills up!  Being out of school and having some time off from therapy for the holidays/insurance change doesn't mean we stop the work.  He enjoyed sleeping in, but we still did lots of OT skills, stretching, and running (the cooler weather really agrees with him right now for his run training!). 

     

     

Staying strong!

Fun Tidbits

It's time to start our annual fundraising through our local marathon's Charity Challenge!  We are so fortunate that Little Buddy can still train for and run his race (and enjoy some park time after his laps are done).

     

     

Staying strong with WILLPower!

So 2021 is here and we're ready to make another year of adventure with this wonderful boy!

See you next month,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma