It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

Every since we moved to Texas from Ohio, it's always been difficult for me to feel as Christmas-y as I used to (70-some degrees instead of lake effect snow is always a difficult adjustment).  We try to do little adventures each year to get into the spirit and this weekend was this year's Christmas trip.

We were able to start our weekend off with an activity a little closer to home.  Little Buddy's horse therapy ranch had a little Christmas party for the kids.  Little Buddy was very excited by both Santa and the Chik-fil-a cow!  Little Sweetie eventually warmed up to the Santa; here's hoping this pre-exposure will help her feel comfortable during the upcoming Santa pictures!

    

Attempting a Santa picture!

    

"Daddy!  It's the COW!!!"

She allowed a solo shot with Santa!

Our travels started Saturday morning with a trip over to Palestine for a ride on the Polar Express!  We  hadn't done this yet, so we were very excited to try it out.  Thankfully, both kids loved it!

Waiting to board our train!

These two are ready for their special train ride!

Golden tickets at the ready!

     

Time for hot chocolate and cookies!

     

Are we there yet???

It's the North Pole!

     

Santa came on the train and gave the kids their magic jingle bells!

After we completed our Polar Express journey, we then drove over to Grapevine to stay at the Gaylord Texas to enjoy their Christmas decorations and the Ice Show they have each year.  It was fun, but a bit crowded.  We'd like to go back and visit the resort during one of their downtimes to see how we like it then too.

     

Enjoyed some of the decor before settling in for the night.  We all crashed!

The atrium was beautifully decorated!

Heading into the Ice Show!  It was so cold in there!

     

We were bundled up, but they gave us parkas too!

     

The sculptures were beautiful, but it was so cold and crowded we didn't get to stop and admire them as much as we wish we could have.

The weekend was a great family adventure and I know that the kids are ready for Christmas to arrive!

Hope all of you are getting into the holiday mood too, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

December 11

And here we are heading into the end of the year!  Where did 2016 go?

My sweet first grader's school picture arrived.  Another year is passing and we are so thankful for every day with this beautiful boy!

We spent the last month busy with Little Buddy's 18 month check up in Minnesota, Thanksgiving,  Run Club and races, and getting into the Christmas spirit.  And, as always, we spread WILLPower wherever we go.

Little Buddy loves Christmas trees and we were excited to find one in the airport in Minnesota!

    

We finished up the year with a few WILLPower events, including a evening at My Gym and California Pizza Kitchen.  We will continue the fight to Cure Sanfilippo and Save Will in 2017!

Fun with friends at Run Club!

But I think the best part of this month for our Little Buddy has been all the Santa sightings!  He loves Santa and continues to ask him to bring him a mailbox for Christmas!  Thankfully, he's a very good boy, so Santa will probably fulfill his request.  :)

     

     

     

Santa visited him at school.  The love that I see here brings tears to my eyes.

Our official Santa picture!  Little Buddy and Little Sweetie did great and I can't say enough about how wonderful this Santa was.  So patient and kind.  Thankful every year for this picture.

We had another fun surprise this month...Aunt A and Uncle C are moving out of the country at the end of the month, so they came to visit before the big move.  Both kids loved spending time with them.  Hoping for lots of Skype dates in the future!

Playtime and story time with Aunt A and Uncle C!

Height and Weight

A bit of growth to about 51 1/2 inches and close to 66 pounds.

Personality

After noticing how tired little man has been seeming, we've been implementing earlier bedtimes all week and short naps on the weekends.  It seems to be helping.  He's less emotional, but is now seeming more excitable.  But happy is what we care about, so we'll take it.  

Developmental Changes

It was a rough 18 month evaluation.  He wouldn't do anything for the evaluator and it was depressing for all of us as we worried about the speed of his regression.  However, it seems that other children in the study had issues with this evaluation (and this new evaluator).  In fact, he had his in home speech evaluation this month and he did very well, even going up a few points.  That helped us feel better, as do the reports from his school.  They have been working on sitting arrangements for him and seem to have found some options that help him focus better.  Again, we don't know if he is losing skills or just losing the attention to focus on performing said skills.  Here's hoping for more stabilization and improvements in the new year!

Working on fine motor skills at school!

  

Working on his words with visual flashcards!

Fun Tidbits

Even though he doesn't talk as much as he did last year, he certainly is singing!  He loves Christmas carols and there are few things more beautiful to me than hearing him sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" and "Jingle Bells."  I love that he loves Christmas so much!

Until next year's updates, friends!

See you in January, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma