February 11

Hello all!  We had a busy February (surprise, surprise...we're always busy!) but this one stands out:  First, Momma took both kids to the zoo by HERSELF.  Second, besides Little Buddy traveling to Minnesota, Momma and Daddy also traveled.  By themselves.  To Hawaii!  And everyone survived!  Wahoo!  So much to update on, so let's start at the beginning.

Little Buddy started back in school following winter break and we have been working back into our daily routine.  However, he almost immediately had a day off school for MLK, Jr. day and we had to figure out what to do.  Some friends invited us to the zoo with them, but Daddy didn't have work off that day, so I was nervous.  The zoo with both of them is very difficult.  Thankfully, my friends assured me that they would help so we decided to give it a go.  Little Buddy wore his vest and actually did really well!  And Little Sweetie stayed with her friends and listened to the other mommas  so that I could focus on big brother.  All in all, I'd say it was a success!

 

My little monkey checking out the chimpanzees!

     

As usual, the giraffes were some of his favorite animals to watch!

Entranced by the waterfall in the gorilla exhibit!

Blessed that my kids and I have such wonderful, helpful, loving, and supportive friends!

Finishing the day with a train ride!

We of course had our usual Minnesota trips...

Ready to fly!

Super spoiled by our hotel...again!

     

Full belly equals a sleepy boy!

 

Infusion smiles!

A quick selfie!

...but what was unusual after our most recent Minnesota trip was that Momma unpacked her bag full of winter stuff for Minnesota and repacked it with summer stuff for Hawaii!  Mimi, PopPop, Uncle M, and Aunt S were going to help watch the kids while Momma and Daddy went to celebrate our 10 year anniversary in Maui.  It was a wonderful and recharging vacation for us and we know the kids had a blast being home with people who love them!

          

Lots of fun outside painting the boat, swinging, and playing around!

           

Enjoying upstairs playtime with the Paw Patrol and Sesame Street!

Trying to sneak into sister's bed!  Hey you!

We were glad to have alone time together as a couple but we were so happy to get back home to our little loves!  We missed them!

Height and Weight

Coming in at 64 pounds and just a hair over 51 inches this month!

Personality

Here are some shots of my happy and bubbly boy!  We've even got him to smile again for pictures by saying/getting him to say "sugar!" in a singsong voice.

     

     

     

Developmental Changes

We have actually started to have a few sleep issues this year and we are hoping they are not permanent and that we can nip them in the bud.  He's been having more night wakings.  We are not sure if he is waking up because he needs to go to the bathroom or if he wakes up due to getting his leg braces tangled in his sheets and then has to go to the bathroom.  Whichever it is, he's not been sleeping through the night and he's not been staying dry though the night.  We are hoping now that we are home from Hawaii that we can get him back on his usual good sleep schedule!

You're so cute.  Now STAY ASLEEP!

For a positive, we've noticed him paying attention to some of his stuffed animals again.  When he was little, he loved his stuffed animals.  They often were required to put underwear on and join us to dine.  He had stopped doing that but recently he found his old "Elmo Bones" and insisted he join us for breakfast.  It made my heart happy.  

"My bananas are good.  What would you like to eat, Elmo Bones?"

Fun Tidbits

Someone is happy to be back in the saddle at horse therapy again!  He sang then entire time.  :)

My little cowboy!

Besides being an expert rider, my little runner is gearing up for his big race next month!  He was even gifted a new pair of running shoes from our local shoe store to help him run fast!

Showing off his new super fast kicks!

Getting ready for race day!  Go WILLPower!

Have a great month, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

January 11

Well, we survived Christmas, but the bigger challenge was trying to survive Little Buddy's Winter Break from school!

Raising your Sanfilippo child along with your three year old neurotypical child is not easy.  I can do each of them individually one-on-one great.  We can do family outings with two parents and two children no problem  But just me with both of them?  All day long?  It gets challenging. 

Little Buddy can't be left without supervision.  Sometimes it's even difficult for me to go to the bathroom.  This also means it is hard for me to take care of Little Sweetie's needs.  There is a lot of "hold on, I have to help Bubby first," or "We can't while Bubby is home."  It's hard, but thankfully my little girl is quickly becoming independent, empathetic, and helpful.  She's learning that Little Buddy requires all of us working together to keep him safe and happy.  But it is hard finding developmentally appropriate activities that suit both of them over break where Little Buddy can be safe, Little Sweetie can entertain herself while I stay with Bubby, and where they can hopefully wear themselves out (although it is nearly impossible to get Little Sweetie to nap while Little Buddy is home, and she [and Momma!] still needs her nap.  But I can't leave Bubby alone long enough to put her down, so the naps go by the wayside over break.  This leads to a cranky toddler by dinner and a completely worn out Momma!).  And staying at home isn't an option because then they just destroy the house and I'm up all night trying to clean it up!

Thankfully, we found a few ways to pass the time.  

     

Some playtime at My Gym and Pump It Up!

     

     

Sibling picture after lunch (the struggle to get them to both look at the camera the same time is real)!  There's a lot of lunches out over break, just so we can meet Daddy.  It's hard to make sure they both eat when it is just me.  Little Buddy sometimes gets overstimulated at restaurants and then Little Sweetie gets by with eating barely anything if I am having to pay attention to him.

     

When Daddy is with us, we can take bike rides and go running to earn miles for Run Club!

And just because he was on Winter Break didn't mean Little Buddy was on break from his trial!  Two trips to EXTREMELY COLD Minnesota also occurred.  

Here we go again!

Trying something new on the plane...Little Buddy's super ears!  He's been doing well with his hearing aids at school, so I decided we could try them in Minnesota.  We didn't lose them, so I consider it a success!

We are kind of a big deal in our hotel...we even get Christmas cookies!

Enjoying lunch during his infusion!

 

The great thing about this set of visits is that Little Buddy's post-infusion observation time programing changed.  It went from 2 hours of observation to 1, which means...

...we can catch an earlier flight back to Texas and be home in time for dinner and bedtime stories!!!  This is WONDERFUL because, before, Little Buddy wasn't getting home and to bed until around 10 PM.  This will be so much nicer to allow him to get a full night's rest after traveling.

Happy to be home together!

Height and Weight

Our home measurements have him at nearly 51 inches and 64 pounds.

Personality

We had just finally hit our stride over break and found a great sleep/play balance.  And then school started again.  Sigh.  He's been more emotional around dinner time again and we think it is just due to tiredness from school.  Hoping to get him readjusted soon!

Even though he's sleepy after school, we can get lots of smiles from him on the weekend!

Developmental Changes

We've actually had a lot of good sentences this past month!  His in-home speech therapist, after observing how well he was doing in the mornings with therapy, has decided to start coming before school.  He's been doing well with that, most likely because h is fresh and not so tired.  

In terms of gross motor, he went on a bike ride with his sister!  Daddy helped guide him and kept him moving, but he kept his foot on the pedals and keep pushing!  And he earned his 25 miles at Run Club, meaning that he will receive his Marathon Medal after his race in March.  This is the earliest in the season that he has earned his miles...we are so proud of him!

     

Marathon Medal bound!

Fun Tidbits

On the eleventh of every month we try to do something to recognize Little Buddy's birthday.  We're not the only ones who help to make this day special.  One of Will's best friends, J, and his family live in California.  Each month, J sends Will a card or a drawing for his month birthday.  Will loves opening this special mail from his friend.

 

Reading over his mail from J!

We'll see you all next month, 

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Christmas Has Arrived!

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!  We had our first Christmas miracle in that we survived Christmas Eve Mass!

     

     

So dapper in their Christmas Church outfits!

The whole family!

So these two had been very excited about this guy coming to our house tonight (and I had been excited with how well their picture had turned out!)...

So they were very excited when he showed up for his annual Christmas Eve visit!

     

Little Buddy was completely starstruck!  Both kids reiterated that they had been good and, if possible, would like a mailbox and books (Little Buddy) and a Wonder-Woman-Bear-With-A-Cape (said in all one breath) and a jump rope (Little Sweetie)!

The cookies, milk, and carrots were set out...

...and were gone the next morning!

Santa had been there!

     

Present time!

What's this box?

     

"Oh gosh!  It's my Wonder-Woman-Bear-with-a-cape!"

"My jump rope!"

     

"Mailbox!"

Happy boy surrounded by new books!

Our little builder had great fun with her new expansion pack of magna tiles...

...and her new toolbox with real tools!  She and Daddy built a Monster Truck from a kit immediately!

We spent the rest of the morning watching Christmas movies...

     

...before going to run some laps and burn some energy for our Run Club miles!  The weather was WARM!

A great day to be outside and have fun together as a family!

We hope all of you had a Merry Christmas as well!

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma