2 Years Old

Houston Children's Museum

Nico's "cheese" face

Leeches!

Mosquitos!

Hatching Eggs

Nico did a good job blowing out his candles!

New toys

It is hard to believe it, but it has already been two years since Nico was born. We are so thankful for his life and all that is ahead for him. He is a sweetie! Today he sang a lot, "happy day" and "twinkle, twinkle". We went to the Houston children's museum to celebrate today, with his Grandma and our friends, the Ashby's. There was so much to see, and we even got to see 2 chicks hatch from their eggs. The kids had pancakes for supper, followed by cake and ice cream. Then we went to the neighbor's to play for a while. I'd say it was a fun day!

Little Gym Party

Torpedoing toward two!

     Nico is totally ready to take on the terrible twos! He has perfected telling Mommy, "No, stop it" and waving his little finger at me. He has perfected running in the other direction and hiding when I tell him it is time to take a bath or go to bed! Ahhh! Mommy and Daddy are not so ready for another bout with the terrible twos.
     Nico transitioned to the next room up at daycare last week and today I learned they have been having him sit on the potty some during the day. He has peed there more than once! Wow! I will jump on that train, just have to run to the store and get another one of those potty seats.
     We got a brace for Nico, called an SMO. It is a plastic "shoe" that fits inside his shoe, to hold his foot/ankle at a 90* angle. This is to help with his toe-dragging on his right leg. We are also getting a de-rotation strap for that leg to help point his toes forward. It will be an interesting transition, but hopefully will help teach his muscles a new way to walk.
     My sweet baby is growing up! He has more words than I can list here now, (well over 50). He loves to say "hello" to everyone and to sing. His favorite songs include "Old MacDonald," "Twinkle, twinkle" and "The Wheels on the Bus."

Seeing Nana and Grandpa

We visited their house for a week, Nov 6-12th. It was a nice, relaxing time (as relaxing as time with 2 preschoolers can be!) We went to a children's museum, played in the dirt with trucks, and even went on cub tractor rides with Grandpa!

Maya is learning to R-E-A-D!

Maya is loving her letters. She has learned to recognize all of them and has learned most of their sounds! She is reading the letters off of signs everywhere we go. A common part of her sentence is "starts with", such as turtle starts with "T". And the other day she told me, "Mommy, I know how to spell mom. M-O-M." Wow she is getting so big!

Here she is baking cookies with Nana

Halloween

Pumpkin Patch

Sand Pit

Offerering up our children

We took the kids to Moody Garden's late in the afternoon, August 28th. It is always fun to see them watch the animals. Nico walked a bunch there, too.

Nico says "no."

Maya shows no fear of the large shark.

Haircuts!

Nico is mimicking us a LOT now! It is quite funny to hear some things come out of his little mouth. This weekend our cat, Susu, got up in Maya's chair at the kitchen table. Nico pointed his little finger at her and said "No! Go! Down!" Of course, Susu continued to sit, totally ignoring him. So the directions were repeated. "No! Go!"
He is also saying ya, shoes, socks, sit, and "K" (for okay).
Maya is back in gymnastics for the school year. She was very excited to go back this week. One of the little girls from her previous class is in there with her. Maya is also talking a lot about kindergarten. Many of her friends from daycare started last Monday. Maya is very excited that she will get to go next year. Hopefully Mommy will be as excited about that when the time comes! For now I am glad we have a whole year before that happens. I am amazed though, as I watch her grow and learn. So much changes in a year!

Practice Session

words

Nico's list of words is growing almost daily now. He has begun saying "Maya"  now. It's an upgrade from "mama" to "my-da" to "maya." He also says alright, up, down, milk, and no. He shakes his head no and says it sweetly. It's hard not to smile, even if he is rejecting his food. He is saying sit, oh no, bubble and milk.
He likes to climb up and down the stairs and is wanting to be independent more and more. He is also doing very well with his shape sorter.
Maya learned to do a handstand against the door last night. She was very pleased. I know she is looking forward to being back in gymnastics in the fall. She has also been working on her cartwheels. She wants to help around the house, with dishes, etc. Last night she helped set the table.  She also is wanting to show her independence more and more. It is amazing how fast they grow and how their personalities develop!

Galveston and Nico's first time at the beach

We enjoyed a sunny afternoon at a pocket beach in Galveston today. Nico had no fear of the waves and crawled right into the water. Both kids had fun digging in the sand and looking at the crabs and shrimp Daddy found for them in the seaweed.

Daycare Portrait

Great progress!

Nico has begun to walk. He'll take a few steps at a time before he sits down. he took at least 8 steps Tuesday morning. Wednesday night he also stood up in the middle of the room all by himself for the first time. What huge progress this week has been! When we manage to get a video, we promise to post it.
** here it is:

18 months

I have a confession to make. In January 2009 I posted Nico's MRI results, with all the medical words. And all that jargon didn't make enough sense to most people. It hardly made sense to me. As we have gone to our neurology appointments every 6 months and worked with the occupational therapist and physical therapist over time the words have come to have more meaning to us.

Nico had a stroke because of the blood clots in the placenta. This caused permanent brain damage. He has a small hole in the right side of his brain and a much larger hole in his cerebellum. Even as a preemie in the NICU, stem cells don't repair the holes. They will always be there. What the brain can do, though is rewire its processes to move information around the holes. This might take a little longer for the information to travel around and create a response, but the job will still get done.

Nico's hands and arms don't seem to be affected at all. His speech is on target and he is very responsive socially. His right leg is affected. It is weaker and it is much harder for him to use. He seems to have less positional awareness of what is going on with that foot. This is why every week we have a visit from a physical therapist. We do stretching exercises and strengthening exercises. We climb up and down the stairs, forward and sideways, working on strengthening that little leg.

I am hesitant as I post this. I don't want people treating Nico like he is "special" even though he is. I hate how when someone is different it makes that awkward situation where many people avoid the subject altogether or even the person, because they are uncomfortable and afraid they may say the wrong thing. So if you're reading this and that awkward feeling is creeping up, please ignore it. Everything is the same as it always was. This just answers the questions of why Nico is 18 months and not walking yet and why we have a physical therapist. It explains why his little foot drags along sometimes. It also allows me to try to stop being afraid to say anything.

Little Gymnast