Words

Last night Evan was sitting with me at my scrapbook table and we were looking at pics of his birthday celebration at school. He picked up a picture and I kept asking him "Who is this?" and after a few times he says "Evan" and then he says "me", so then I had him show daddy what he could say.

A few minutes later we were sitting at the table and I was having him help me pick out paper to go with the pics from school. We were sifting through paper and I was on a blue piece and Evan points to it and says "blue". I almost cried. So we went and pointed out other colors as well. When you have a non verbal child it is sometimes hard to know what they know because they cannot usually tell you in words. I worry about Evan's cognitive delays and how he will progress in school. I am so thrilled to know that Evan is learning in preschool and knows his colors. Anyway, just had to brag about my smart boy.

I just wanted to add that these words are not clearly spoken so Evan is not on the verge of talking in sentences or anything like that. His Evan sounds like "etan" his sounds are mostly vowels. His "me" sounds like "eee" and the "blue" like "ooh". Some people may think that I am underestimating Evan or not happy about these accomplishments. This is not the case, I am just being realistic about the fact that he does have a brain malformation and a lot of the problems are in the speech area of the brain. It is highly unlikely that Evan will ever have a functional speech which means he will be dependent on his communication device and probably signing as well. I am so overjoyed that Evan is able to show me what is in his head, that he does in fact know his colors. This certainly gives me hope for his future especially in school.

More from the Zoo

Folsom Zoo is not like a regular zoo, it is also a sanctuary for some animals, such as hybrid wolves who are dogs and wolves mixed and can't be adopted as pets. They have chickens, roosters, peacocks males and females pretty much roaming the whole area. (*Disclaimer* I have to say that some areas of this zoo are not handicapp accesible as the animal viewing area is on a hill or you have to walk up a steep incline to get to the animals. This was only true for about 2 or 3 exhibits and I think this was the older part of the zoo as the rest was great. And a family with a child using a wheelchair could enjoy about 90% of this zoo, but this is good information to know if you are ever planning on going to this zoo.)


Not a usual sight at the zoo!


Look at the awesome big cats!


Goofy kids at the zoo, Evan did not want to get out of his wheelchair for this pic.


It thought this was a funny sign for these animals


We think it was mating season for the peacocks because the males were strutting around the whole time we were there. Isn't this a beautiful picture? It was so neat to see this.

We had a fun day at the zoo, so thanks to Grandma Barbara for having the great idea. We went to the Folsom City park after the zoo and the kids played on the playground for a while. Evan is doing really well with accessing most playgrounds, he is able to go up steps ok and manuever himself to go down the slide. Since he moves a little slower than most of the kids at the park I find that they often times just push past him to go up steps or go down the slide. I find this so frustrating especially because Evan cannot tell them to stop or wait their turn. But I usually just leave it alone because he seems to be happy just playing and not too bothered by it. Well, I was so happy today because we were at the toddler play area and Evan was trying to manuever himself into a sitting position on the bumpy slide and a little girl went ahead of him but after a few times she decided that she would hold onto Evan's feet as he slid down on his tummy feet first. They had so much fun and it was so nice to see Evan laughing and playing with another kid at the park. Usually they shy away from him.

Folsom Railway

Today we went to the Folsom Zoo with my mom and my sister's kids. Our first stop was the train. The older kids rode in this car. Aren't they a cute bunch?



Evan, my mom and I rode up closer to the engine


Evan and grandma showing their tickets

Isn't that the cutest little thumbs up you have ever seen?


Evan is making the sign for Train

He is totally thrilled with being on the train, he looked like this pretty much the whole way.

Let the mud slinging begin!!!

So this is what I walked out to the other day. Yes my boys playing in the mud. Notice they both have their feet submerged in the huge puddle, they both have shoes on and Evan has his AFO's on as well. They were not this far into it when I found them but once it got started I figured I would let them have some fun and ran to get the camera because these pics will make a great scrapbook layout.

They were throwing mud balls at eachother. Evan actually started out laying on his stomach with hands in the water so that is how he ended up with so much mud on his face, because it would splash up on his face.


A close up of the muddy boy



Major mud-slinging

Still a cutie!

Now why can't he smile like that for school pics. Gotta love the candid pics

Even though they were messy they were having fun and isn't that what being a kid is all about, having these fun memories to look back on, and my boys will have the pictures and scrapbook albums to tell the stories.

Drinking like a Big Boy

Evan has been steadily improving on his drinking skills. He started at about age 2 being able to drink from a Nuby cup. We were so excited because he would hold it himself and drink it. It was great because Evan was always drinking and Rudy and I had to hold the cup for him and it was so messy. He never held a bottle as an infant so this was a welcome milestone. Evan has steadily progressed with drinking from an open rim cup. We are now trying to be consistent with him using a open rim cup at each of his 3 meals and then his sippy cup any other time.


Mmm, a chocolate milk mustache or I guess it is really a ghottee.


He really tries to use both hands

Great job using lefty Evan.

Pointing to his milk.

Evan is also doing a great thing at school. He is holding a cup in the crook of his left arm and using his right hand to pour milk into the cup from a small container. He showed me on Tuesday and I was so impressed, now I know what he can do and I will keep practicing with him at home.

Grocery Shopping with a special needs child

Ok, it has finally gotten to the point where I cannot go the grocery store with Evan alone. I used to be able to put him in the cart but with his AFO's this is almost impossible and without it is almost impossible as well. So we reverted to putting him in the basket, well on Friday I figured out he takes up the entire basket so this is pretty much out unless I only need things that will fit in the front of the basket. The other day I had him in his wheelchair and Gabriel was with me, so I tried hooking the handles on Evan's wheelchair to the front end of the basket and this worked out OK except when I tried to turn the cart, the chair would not turn. There has to be someway we can get shopping cart manufacturers to make carts that have supportive seating attached to them. I mean they make the fun carts for younger or typical kids why can't they do something for special needs kids. Think about something like what they have for the infants but bigger and hooked to the front of the cart with a handle like they are now, so the child is first then the cart. Are you picturing this? Wouldn't it make life easier if we could take our child who uses a wheelchair either all the time or a majority of the time to the grocery store with us. I can take Evan for short trips where I can fit a few things on this wheelchair but anymore than that is just not going to work. Although, I would like to commend Evan because when we were at Wal-Mart the other day he did really well walking with me and staying with me for abotu 80% of the trip. We had to cut it short because he then started running away but it was a lot easier than I thought. I do not think I will do it again anytime soon but it is good to know that when the planets are aligned perfectly Evan can be loose in the store.

Note to Grandma Josie: Evan thinks every shopping trip should be like the ones with Grandma where he gets to put everything the cart that he wants :) He picked out cupcakes, pbj sandwiches, and chocolate syrup. Well those are the things that I let him get. I was laughing at him. But he did pretty well when I told him no to most of what he pointed at.

Gabriel's Birthday Party

Gabriel had a small gathering for his 8th Birthday. He had a few friends and his cousins over this past Friday.

Here are the kids chanting and clapping on the table for cake and ice cream. My nephew was singing a clever birthday song to the tune of "We will rock you"


Evan, Nicholas and Mia getting in on the action


The birthday guests Carly, Nicholas, Nathan, Celeste, Mia and Evan

Make a wish- probably a bunch of Lego sets.

Gabriel got gift cards and money that he spent at the Lego Store.

Bowling Fun

Gabriel's birthday is February 5th and my nephew Nathan is February 3rd so we got together with my Mom, Sister, MIL Josie and FIL Lawrence at Strikes on Wednesday February 4th to celebrate the boys birthdays. Gabriel will be 8 years and Nathan will be 11years. The kids had fun bowling.

Here is Cynthia


Nathan was getting the hang of it


Celeste had fun especially after we figured out how to put up the bumpers


Gabriel had already bowled with Daddy a few times on Sundays so he refused to use the bumpers even though he kept getting gutter balls


Look at that form.

Mia's Turn

Evan had a hard time waiting for his turn, he wanted to go up every time.

Gabriel is such a big helper to his brother, he always wants Evan to participate in new things with him.

This ramp is awesome.


This was a great experience for us, I was happy that Evan was able to participate. I don't know if the ramps are meant just for children or for disabled children but it worked out great. It is nice to know that I can feel comfortable knowing that if Evan has a bowling party ever all of his friends will be able to participate no matter their ability.

We are loving the new Strikes Bowling center in our town. We did their family deal on this night which included bowling for 1 1/2 hours for 6 people, 1 large pizza, one pitcher of soda and $5 in tokens. Pretty good deal for $39.99. Thanks Grandma Barbara and Grandpa Steve for that and Grandma Josie bought the kids more tokens so they could play games in the arcade. All in all it was a great night.

A surprise waiting for us!

So one day a few weeks ago I noticed that Evan was too quiet and I could not find him and he was not answering to my calls, so I started to panic thinking he is having a seizure or he somehow got outside. Well, not to worry he was just in his big sister's room putting on some make-up. Doesn't he look awesome.


He had a rash under his right eye and cheek for a few hours afterward. I love his smile

Better than Normal Brand

I have a friend who has a special needs child and she makes these awesome felt crowns and all of the proceeds go to fund her son's ABR Therapy. Check out her website. There is a t-shirt that says "I'll assume you are staring because I am so cute?" Isn't that perfect?



http://specialts.blogspot.com/

Look at what Evan can do!

So today Gabriel had a friend over and they were playing in the front yard and since it was such a beautiful day I thought it would be a good time to get Evan back on his adaptive bike. He was refusing to ride it at home and also refusing to ride the ones at school also. Evan seems to be aware when he is "different" than other kids. So I am pushing him on the bike and I decide to let go and see if he can pedal himself. At first he would stop and tell me to push him but after a couple of times he was doing it on his own.

Rudy got home from work while we were outside so Evan got to show his Daddy how great he did. He of course went longer distances when the camera wasn't on. We are so proud of him. We are going to make this a weekly thing because I know he can only get better. I just need to get some straps to keep lefty on the handle. So to the person who said that Evan does not understand the concept of riding a bike I say look at this kid after about 1 dozen times on a bike. This just proves that no matter what any professionals say our kids can do things that they did not think they would be able to do.