Jump!

For quite some time now, Ethan has been working on learning to jump. It has been one of his physical therapy goals for about the past four months. The first goal was for him to jump once in place. The second was to jump at least five times in a row, either in one place, or moving forward. The third was to jump forward. The last jumping goal (at this time) is for Ethan to jump off of something--a stair, curb, etc. While he doesn't jump high, he had achieved the first three goals, especially once his physical therapist lent us colored disks to use as a visual cue on where to jump. Then, yesterday, he finally did it! He jumped off of a curb with both feet. It may seem like a small milestone and for most children, it is. But, we have been working for a LONG time teaching him how to jump and how to use his legs. It was very exciting to know that we may be able to take it off the list.

The other neat change lately has been his eating. While he still isn't swallowing or eating anything orally for consumption (besides purees on some days), he is doing a great job at chewing. Better yet, the biggest change that we have noticed is that he actually seems like he is enjoying trying to eat. This is a BIG step. For children like Ethan, eating is a chore. It doesn't come easy and it takes a lot of concentration to move their tongue correctly, etc. So, to see him eager to try to eat is a great sign! I did get clearance from his eating therapist to start talking about and encourageing swallowing. I was shocked. There are times we think he has swallowed a tiny piece of food, but normally he spits it back out. The other great change is that he doesn't panic at all anymore and even tries to stuff his mouth full of food. He is actively chewing his food and moving it appropriately in his mouth. We were able to see an actual tongue groove as well. (He never had one before.) These big changes have come about in the past couple of weeks. I am VERY excited! It will still be some time before he would consume enough food to have his g-button removed (probably another year or so) but I am happy with the progress I am seeing.




Carter had pizza for the first time yesterday. He LOVED it!




Ethan did a great job with his pizza. You would have thought he was swallowing it! He didn't gag or vomit. In fact, since we increased his Prevacid dosage a few weeks ago, he hasn't vomited in TWO WHOLE WEEKS. That means that for the first time since he got his trach, I haven't had to clean up vomit on a daily basis. Trust me, that is AWESOME!


One of the reasons I always have my camera on me is to capture times like these...milestones that we have worked at for a long time. You will notice that his left leg lags briefly behind his right. This isn't surprising because one leg is stronger than the other. But, the one he did right before this (I was too busy cheering) he had equal weight distribution.

WOW, he is 11-months-old!

The Carter-man is 11-months-old today. Wow, soon we will have a 1-year-old! Amazing. He is so much fun to be around. Carter has three words: mama, dada and more. When he is eating, he won't always say "more." Instead, he made up his own sign for wanting more food. (He opens and closes his hand on the tray.) As he always has, Carter adores Ethan. They have gotten to the point where they can play with each other and it is so sweet to watch.

Carter loves veggies and enjoyed having ham for the first time on Easter. He is quite agile and is constantly getting himself stuck underneath the table or chairs. Not only is he agile, but he is quick as well. I chase him up the staircase multiple times a day. He enjoys playing in Maverick's bowls and I have fished dog food out of his mouth numerous times.

He has a little pearly white cutting through his gums on the bottom left. (The very tip has come through.) He can stand briefly and loves to walk with assistance. Carter is a blast to be around and we adore him!

Twins?

In the past few weeks, I have often been asked if the boys are twins. And, while they sometimes have matching shirts (like today), I am surprised when I am asked this question. On the other hand, when I tell people that they are 25 months apart, they seem surprised! I realize Ethan is on the (much) smaller size for his age, but the maturity in their faces seems (to me) to show an age difference. I chuckle every time I am asked if they are twins.


These first few are from celebrating cousin Kenley's birthday. The boys had a blast!


What to do with a cupcake?? (He did try a lick or two.)




Give Ethan a car to drive and he will be entertained for hours.






Another g-tube backfire


This little man can get anywhere!


Ethan often wakes up from naps with what I call "Gary Busey" hair.




Yep, he is a monkey.


Carter got his first Bible in his Easter basket. This morning, while Carter was looking at his Bible, Ethan went upstairs and brought down his Bible. They sat and read together.




So sweet.

He is risen!

Happy Easter! We hope that you enjoyed celebrating the sacrifice and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. What an unbelievable gift we have been given! Praise God for offering His son as a sacrifice for us.


Handsome boy #1!


Handsome boy #2! I originally had coordinating outfits for the boys, not matching. However, the outfits were shorts (plus, I had them ready a month ago) and, of course, the weather was so cold that it wasn't even an option to do shorts. Oh well. :)


After church, we went over to Craig's Aunt and Uncle's house for Easter dinner. We had a wonderful time!


They had an Easter egg hunt!






Cousin Kenley and Carter


Cousin Livi and Carter--staring each other down


How sweet is this?! Kenley and Ethan had a blast playing together. At one point, Kenley put her arm around Ethan and said, "C'mon buddy." Melts my heart.


"Mama, they have a piano!!"


We had an egg hunt at home, too. Lots of fun!


"Mommy, Daddy, there are more eggs over there!"














Putting his quarters in his piggy bank.


At the end of the day, Ethan got an extra special treat and was allowed to watch a Veggie Tales video.

An Important First

I wouldn't say it was a total disaster, but it came somewhat close. It was Carter's first Cubs game and he loved it. He soaked in the sights and sounds. He enjoyed all of the people. It was Ethan's third and he, well, didn't share the same enthusiasm. The day start out nice. Ethan was thrilled to go to a baseball game and kept talking about it all the way down to the ballpark. He was throwing an imaginary baseball and was happy to be wearing his Cubs gear. His eyes were wide with excitement as we walked to Coors Field and up to our seats. And then, the usher opened the door....

Cue loud cheers.

Ethan's response: "ALL DONE" and "BYE BYE."

I told Craig to wait because one of our little Cubs fans was not too excited about the game. That may be putting it lightly because he was crying. A lot. We decided to go to our seats and see what he would do. (Last year he went and LOVED it--actually, he went twice last year and had a blast at both games.)



All ready to cheer on the Cubs!




I held him like this for three innings. As long as I shielded his ears, he was fine.


But, then, he was fine.








Around the 7th inning I told Craig that we better go and feed the boys, change diapers, etc. (I only wanted to have to get up once and take care of everything so not to disturb the other fans trying to watch the game.) This particular level is great for kids because it has good seating for eating. Plus, for Ethan, it was almost sound proof.


Nachos


Since he was fine when we left our seats to eat, we figured that he would be fine to go back to our seats for the remainder of the game. Wrong. Same reaction. We still went back to our seats but then, after being tied 5-5 with the Cubs, the Rockies scored four runs. That means that crowd was beyond crazy with cheers and it meant that we watched the rest of the game from behind the safety of virtually sound proof glass.








At the end of the day, it was a fun game with all of my boys.