March 11

Here we are, another wild and crazy month in to 2022!  It's been busy, but Little Buddy has been a happy kid through all of it, which is all we care about.

First off, we finished off ANOTHER Charity Challenge season for The Woodlands Marathon!  Not only did Little Buddy run a great race, but he finished FIRST again in the Challenge, raising nearly $30,000 for Sanfilippo research!  He's amazing.

     

Getting another training run in before race day!

     

It's gonna be a cold one, but he's ready to run!

The rain lightened up and the kids are ready to start the race!

          

Go WILLPower!

He did it!

Great crew at the kids' race!

     

So proud of their medals!

Smiles for the rest of the day...you could tell how proud of himself he was!

     

All that running and fundraising paid off!  Little Buddy is the winner of the Charity Challenge!

The next week was the Half and Full Marathons.  This is normally when Momma WILLPower runs and Daddy WILLPower mans the cheer tent with Little Buddy and Little Sweetie.  Unfortunately, Daddy's work procedure hit at the exact same time as the race and he had to work for 48 hours straight.  This meant friends had to take over the cheer tent and Little Buddy didn't get to go cheer in person this year (Little Sweetie's babysitter kindly brought her up to cheer).  It was rough not having my favorite guy on the course (it was also rough because the heat and humidity was a NIGHTMARE after a season of cold weather training), but we all did the best we could.  And Little Buddy definitely cheered us on from home (he didn't mind getting to sleep in either)!

Our motivation.  Race day this year also happened to occur on our diagnosis anniversary.  Just a lot that weekend, but we pushed through.

Although the race took up most of our month, we still several other things to celebrate!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our favorite cowboy for Go Texan Day!

     

Little Buddy got to enjoy some King Cake for Mardi Gras!

Overall, just another good month with this superstar!

Height and Weight

Little Buddy was 102.4 pounds this month.  This is slightly less than last month, so we'll be monitoring to make sure that he doesn't start trending downward.

So big in a hand-me-down shirt from Mamaw and Papaw!

Personality

So full of smiles and laughter this month!  We're getting a bit concerned about his laughing, trying to make sure it's just laughing and not gelastic seizures, but overall he's been doing ok.

     

Our happy-go-lucky boy!

Developmental Changes

We've been so happy with how he's adjusted to middle school and his new teachers and schedule.  We love getting pictures from them!

Getting some sunshine at school!

Enjoying Valentine's treats at school!

So happy during his music therapy at school with Ms. K!

Fun Tidbits

The season of Lent has begun and we were glad to be able to take Little Buddy to Mass at Little Sweetie's school.  Ready to prepare our hearts for Easter!

I'm telling myself he enjoyed Mass, but he may also have enjoyed more Momma and Daddy time and going into school late!

Happy to be heading into Spring!  Next week we'll be enjoying a Spring Break Staycation and marveling over how it's been 2 years since Covid entered our vocabulary.  

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma

Feb. 11

Well, 2022 came on like a freight train and we've been VERY busy around here, but thankfully our health and our spirits are all in good shape!

As I mentioned last month, Little Buddy is gearing up for his next Charity Challenge race, so keeping up with his training is part of the package!  We've been very busy with Run Club and making sure our boy gets lots of walks in too.

It might be cold, but we gotta get those steps in!

     

Happy boy out on the track!

     

     

So tall and so smiley!

Love being part of Run Club!

But a training plan isn't complete without some cross training, so we were glad when horse therapy started back up following winter break!

     

     

The benefits of Little Buddy being able to ride cannot be overstated!

Speaking of Winter Break, we may have let Little Buddy's hair get a little crazy!

     

Crazy hair, don't care!

Thankfully the kids had a day off of school last month and we were able to get that mane under control.

So stylin'!

Celebrating with some Chuy's afterward!

Winter Break also made someone very comfortable with sleeping in.  He's so darn cute when he sleeps that it's hard to wake him up, but school waits for no man!

Adorable, sleepy boy!

Thankfully, he's still usually his happy self a few moments after waking up!

As for school, someone's doing great there too!  Can't believe he's over halfway done with his first year of middle school

Proud of our 6th grader!

Height and Weight

Someone has grown off his growth chart (!) so we can only measure his weight now, which was up to 103.6 pounds this month.  

Look at this pre-teen!

Personality

He's happy and loving and our boy.  A little more jerky lately, but that doesn't seem to be affecting his mood or agitation level.

     

     

Our sweetheart.

Developmental Changes

He's been doing really well with all his therapies lately.  While we can't stop the progression of Sanfilippo or reverse it, we try to minimize the degeneration of abilities as much as we can!

     

Really great work feeding himself with a fork with only minor assistance with spearing!

Making his choices known through pictures!

     

Lots of stretching to keep our legs loose, strong, and walking.

Fun Tidbits

It's never a dull moment around here, that's for sure!

Sometimes you just need to watch TV with Batman.

Can't believe next month will put us finished with our latest Charity Challenge...I think this is number 7???  Crazy!  

Good night,

LBM

Little Buddy's Momma