Serial Casting

Today Junior had his first set of casts put on and did so good. He really liked the gentleman that put them on and was very relaxed with him. I will have to try to take some pictures of them being put on when he gets his next set. Near the end I noticed a couple tears roll down his face but then I sat him up and he was back to smiling.
Now he can't wait for Abigail to come over and sign his casts. As you can see in the pictures he chose green.
After getting the casts put on we headed up stairs to Orthotics to have his back brace checked. They adjusted his current one to get us by and then measured for a new one. Looks like we will be visiting Shriners at least once a week for quite awhile.

On the way home we had to stop at the pharmacy and I told Junior that since he did so good for everything he could get a dvd. He had his eye on Walker Texas Ranger and when I said he could get it you should have seen his face. He was so excited that I think the entire store new he was getting it. He was cracking me up. Junior would look down at it in his lap and then look up at me and grin and giggle, then he would look at it again and do the same thing.

This evening he is one worn out kid, the doctor said to expect him to be a little uncomfortable but so far so good. He is hanging out on his mat watching his new movies.
Bed time

Shriners

First of all today marks one month since Junior's seizures decreased. He has had just two very small seizures since February 1st. Miracles do still happen.

His appointment at Shriner's Hospital went very well and all his braces were checked. We discussed what has been going on since our last visit and talked about his ankles being tight.
Junior will start serial casting tomorrow morning. I told him he can pick out the color and have his friends sign them. Each week the casts will be changed until we achieve the correct ankle position. He will also have his TLSO(back support) adjusted or be fitted for a new one.

I will be sure to post a picture tomorrow of Junior in his "new shoes".

One Happy Guy

Junior has been "talking", giggling and just having a great day today.

After getting dressed it was time for him to go for a "ride" in his lift and get into his chair.



Then we went out for a nice long bike ride and Junior had me laughing so hard I had trouble steering. He kept saying hi to the cars and then I started asking him "whats that" when a car passed and he would holler "arrr"(Junior for car). He even said "uuu" a few times in an attempt to say truck. It was the greatest thing to hear him trying so hard to talk.

This evening his teacher came by for a session and Junior was a little tired but still did great.
Before she got here I asked him if he was going to teach the lesson today. Junior said yes and gave me a huge grin and giggle, such a goofy kid.
In the picture they are using his Leap Frog Word Launcher to work on letters and words.

Full Speed Ahead

Junior slept all night and then until about 1pm this afternoon. I had decided to call the doctor at 1pm if he was still sleeping. He woke up and since then has been going full speed.
Junior's teacher came over for a session and he had a blast. He was attempting to say all the words and thought he needed to "read" the book at the end of their session. This boy was "talking" like crazy and did so good. I guess after sleeping for over 24 hours I would have plenty of energy to.

After his school session Junior wanted to listen to a story and play under his tent. He was having such a good time giggling and "talking" to his story while he looked at all the neat stuff in his tent.

Sleep, Sleep and more sleep

This has been a strange day. Junior woke up early this morning but then went back to sleep and slept until about 11am. I finally woke him up and got him out of bed. He was awake about a half hour before going back to sleep. Keeping him awake was not optional. He just got mad at me. After having a cold maybe he just needs to recharge. This afternoon he woke up long enough to go potty and then was back out. I think Junior just likes to keep things interesting, goofy kid.
Here he is snoozing today,
In this second picture I sat him on the mat and then just laid him back across it to take off his AFOs. I turned to set down his shoes and braces and he was back asleep.
Wonder what he is dreaming about??? His next trip to the zoo, going for a bike ride, baseball or what trick he can play on Heidi.

Well as I write this I hear that he is now awake and wide awake at that. He is yelling HIIIEEE OUT at the top of his lungs so that means he wants to get up in his chair and play. I love hearing that voice and it just makes my day to hear him say my name.

3 Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig

This morning Junior got in his walker and wanted his toy bar and a story. I pulled out the stack of tapes that had arrived yesterday from the Library for the Blind and Disabled. Junior picked out The 3 Little Wolves and the Big Bad Pig. We had recently read the 3 Little pigs so he thought this was sooooo funny. Every time the story would mention the big bad pig Junior would just giggle and giggle. Here he is listening to his story. I think someone might need a haircut, Yikes.
This was a short story and after it was finished Junior wanted another. We made quite the jump from the 3 Little Wolves to The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Here is a little video of Junior in his sensory tent listening to this story, think he might be enjoying it just a little????

Growling

Yes, that does say growling. Last night Junior woke up and I could hear him moving around. I checked on him and then told him he needed to go back to sleep. Well he growls at me. I figured I would play along and growled back. He giggled and then growled again and this went on for several minutes. Junior has quite the sense of humor and had me laughing so hard.
Here Junior is at midnight. I tried to get video but it was too dark, goofy kid would not growl when I turned the light on.
One of his favorite things is to look at you like you are nuts when you ask him what a bear says. Then I will say "okay Junior then what does Mellisa say", he will give a big growl and then just giggle and giggle.

Junior has a cold but is back to his happy self, he shared with me so we are both coughing and congested.

Getting a Lift

After a year of working through all the red tape to get an overhead lift system approved it finally arrived to day. We are so excited. Only the bedroom portion could be put together because some pieces were missing but they should arrive in a couple weeks.
It works so nice and it is great to know that Junior will now be able to continue to do his favorite things no matter how big he gets.
Here is a series of pictures showing Junior's first "ride" in his lift, as he gets into bed.
You will notice he wasn't quite sure of it at first but then decided it was great fun.

Croup

From the sounds of it Junior is having his yearly croup episode. It usually hits earlier so I thought we would get through the winter without it this year. The barky cough started about an hour ago along with a low grade fever.
Junior would appreciate your prayers. Amazingly even in the midst of all this he started giggling at me, what a kid, his strength never ceases to amaze and inspire me.

2:30am coughing, coughing and more coughing

It is 2:30am and Junior has been coughing for the last few hours, poor guy.
So many people have the flu right now so I just pray this is asthma and not that.

As long as I am up I will share a little episode from last night that gave me a good laugh. Junior is most definitely back to his old self. Friday night he was up at 2am and determined to get up, yelling at the top of his lungs(HIIIIEEEE UP). I told him if he would quiet down I would turn on a cartoon for him but if not he would not watch his cartoons the next morning. I had to try to keep from laughing because he looks at me real serious and then starts "talking" very quietly. He did not yell again the whole night. Sure is good to see him up to his old tricks again even if it is at 2am.

visiting family

Yesterday we went to visit Junior's parents. His mom was sick so he missed seeing her but had a very nice time visiting with his dad, brothers and Nonni(grandma). Junior's dad leaves for the army next week.
When we got home my mom had sent Junior a valentines card with several pictures in it. If you know my mom you would know this is a very big deal. She waits forever to get pictures developed so we give her a very bad time about it.
This picture of Junior is from two years ago when we were visiting. He and Andrew had been goofing around and Junior thought it was so funny when Andrew put these glasses on him.

Happy Valentines Day

After a bike ride this morning we had a quiet and relaxed day. The wind picked up again so we had to stay right on top of Junior's asthma treatments.
This evening he was feeling much better and ready to have some fun. He made a little Valentines card to take to his parents tomorrow.
This afternoon Junior was watching Tom & Jerry and laughing so hard.

Celebration

I made this video clip to celebrate 2 weeks with only one seizure.

Life is Good

Junior continues to do great and is one happy guy. This morning we went out for a bike ride and then ran some errands. While we were out the wind picked up and he started coughing. Junior did have a little asthma trouble this afternoon but it cleared up this evening.

God has truly blessed us with this new neurologist and shown that all things really are possible.

Visiting with friends

First thing this morning we had to go get lab work done. Junior did really well and enjoyed watching Scooby-Doo on his VideoNow while we waited. The VideoNow arrived yesterday and he loves it, best purchase I ever made when it comes to something to keep him busy at the doctors office. When the lady came in to draw his blood he looked at her and said "out" but then I told him as soon as we were done we were going to see Michelle. He calmed right down and didn't even flinch when she did the draw.

We met Barbara and Michelle at the zoo and Junior couldn't believe he was getting to see the animals two days in a row.
We arrived early and went to visit with the lady holding the hawk before going to wait at the gate. I saw Barbara parking and pointed them out to Junior as they crossed the road. What a face, he got so excited and was grinning so big. He just loves getting to see Barbara and Michelle. We spent a couple hours visiting and wandering around the zoo. It was so nice to catch up on everything.
Junior in front of the tiger enclosure. He was so excited when they came up close enough for him to get a good look. By the time I took the picture they had gone behind the tree so you can barely see them. Here is Junior as we were leaving, he was full of energy even after a full day.
Junior came home, took a very short nap and is now going full speed again.
Here he is chilling out in his walker.
Watching I Love Lucy, he and Abigail are both huge fans of Lucy. Junior hasn't watched it in a couple months so when I turned it on tonight he was thrilled.

Visiting the Zoo

This morning Junior and I went to the Sacramento Zoo for a couple hours. The weather was perfect and there was no wind.
We had such a nice time and Junior really seemed to like having all my attention. He was happy to be able to spend as much time as he wanted looking at his favorite animals. The Red Panda exhibit was closed so his favorite animal today was most definitely the giraffe.
It was very neat to see him so alert and into everything. I would tell him what an animal was and then point out where it was and he would look so intently.
Here he is checking out the Ant Eater, he watched it for a long time but didn't smile and when asked if he liked it said no. I guess it goes in the flamingo category, Junior can not stand flamingos for some reason.
The other animals he really liked looking at were the lemurs. They were jumping around and playing and he was quite taken with them.
We actually got to see the Snow Leopard for the first time today. Since we usually visit in the summer it is always hiding inside where it is cool. Today it was right out near the fence where we could get a good look at it. Junior thought it was very cool and we had to stay and look at it for quite a while.
After we looked at all the animals I took him into the gift shop and told him he could pick out something to take home. He looked at a bunch of neat animal toys but kept telling me no when I asked if thats what he wanted. Finally we walked to the back of the store and I saw his eyes get big and he squealed with excitement. I looked up and right in front of him were all these stuffed animal snakes. When I asked if thats what he wanted he was grinning from ear to ear and even said yaaa(verbally not with his eye gaze). He then had to pick out the color he wanted and he had to have the one that had a tale that rattled like a rattle snake. As we were leaving I asked if he got the snake to scare Mellisa(she hates snakes, and has an extreme fear of them) the little stinker grins starts to giggle and says yaaa. I got the biggest kick out of seeing him so happy and alert today. Here he is with his snake after we got home today. Think he might like it just a little???
He is wiped out but still in the greatest of moods. Here he is resting and watching Scooby-Doo.
It looks strange but he likes to watch tv while laying on his mat like that, he has to look at the angle he is to see it.

Happy Sunday

Good morning Junior. He woke up in a wonderful mood and ready to go to church.
Junior did so good in church. He was trying to sing with the music and then was smiling but very quiet during the sermon.

After the service we had our pictures made for the directory. Junior was so funny, he was watching everything going on and then when he realized what was happening he started hollering and laughing. He absolutely loves going to get his picture made.

I then took him home for a quick rest before Mellisa got here and we went to meet the pastor and his wife for lunch. We had such a nice time and it was great to really get a chance to visit with them. Junior was giggling and carrying on while we were there.
Junior is sleepy this afternoon and at the moment is enjoying watching Walker Texas Ranger.
The weather is gorgeous so we will head out for a nice walk later.

Anyone else notice a huge difference in how Junior looks now that the seizures aren't so horrible.
(Junior has had only one small seizure in 10 days, and the one happened when he had a tummy ache)

Talking on the phone

I called my mom this morning for a quick chat and Junior demanded to talk.
Sure wish I could understand what he was saying because he was sure telling her a story.
Junior loves to talk on the phone but for the past year he had gotten where he would just listen and maybe add a word here or there but just didn't have the energy to do more than that.
Now without the seizures he is back to his old chatty self. I love it.

Time for school

Junior got a quick ride in his swing before school this evening.
Teacher Cindee came by this evening for a school session and Junior was a little sleepy but did great. She couldn't believe the difference in him. Even though he was tired he was still focused and smiling. Junior painted his numbers and then worked on spelling his name. In science he was learning about jungle animals. Junior loves all things animal. They ended with a game of bingo which is always a hit with Junior.