Maya and Nico: 2012

Maya's quote of the day

"My favorite colors are dark blue and dark pink and gold and silver and rainbow."

Photos of Nico's birthday will be posted soon. He had a happy day!

Kindergarten Christmas Show 2012

Maya's lines are spoken at 11m:20s into the show near the end.

Nico's likes

Saturday mornings at gymnastics

Eating ice cream


Learning from big sister


Playing in the sandbox

Jumping

Finding animals in the yard

His physical therapist, Angela

(He graduates from the ECI program on his 3rd birthday, and we will miss her!)

Did I mention that Daddy is passing down his love of animals?

Maya's Likes

Playing with her new classmates

Hide and seek

Playing chase (Q took this action shot and I love it. The kids are always in motion!)

Finding creatures in the backyard

Playing with her brother

Helping in the kitchen

Hanging out in the new minivan (Dad's idea when it started to rain)


Playing in the water

Finding creatures in the backyard (Did I say that one already?)

Playing with friends from our street

Getting ready for Christmas

Neglect

I can clearly see this blog is a lot neglected this year. We have not, however, been neglecting to make lots of fun memories. And there are photos... on our phones... :)

A classmate's birthday party- Maya's first pony ride

Pumpkins at the grocery store

Nico and Miss Charday- learning to go up higher on the beams

Painting pumpkins with the neighbors

Playing with bugs at Grandma's house

Both kids love animals. They like to play with roly polys and the toads that live in our back yard. They aren't afraid to hold a grasshopper, anole, or small snake. Maya had a class field trip to the Bayou Wildlife Center in Dickinson in October. They ride a tram through the park and see lots of different animals, including zebras, antelope, deer, elk, emu... She got to have a picnic there, too.We have gone to the zoo to see the zoo lights and a few of the animals who like to be out at night.
Nana and Grandpa came in November for a long weekend. We played at the park, went to Moody Gardens aquarium and spent quite a bit of time out in their trailer. The kids were very excited about it and kept wanting to go out there to see their cat, Whiskers, and play in the trailer. Nana taught Maya how to play Uno.

Kindergarten- Bay Area Christian School

Open house the day before school started in Mrs. Minchew's class

Morning of the first day (August 16th)

Lost her first tooth

Nico's ABC's

Casting Call

Nico is quickly outgrowing his current brace, so we went to visit a different orthotist this time. I took Maya along for the ride, and it turned out to be a fun time for her. The orthotist let her "help" him with his plaster work.

Nico's new brace has arrived, but I didn't get a photo yet. It is blue with rocket ships this time and goes up almost to his knee. We are trying de-rotation straps again. Last time the belt kept turning and rendered the belt ineffective after a little while of wear. This time we are doing 2 straps, even though his right foot is the only one that turns in. The left leg's strap won't pull on his toes. It is going to take a little adjustment to get used to, especially with potty training going on.

Nico at The Little Gym

We signed Nico up for the summer for a Saturday morning class, after he watched his sister go for 2 years. He has played a bit shy at the beginning of each of the 3 classes we've attended, but by the end he is running around having a blast. The class is almost all little boys and Miss Charday is a super-fun teacher.

Potty training

To save my son from future embarrassment this post will have no photos! However, I do have one tucked away for blackmail purposes.
Last week Nico peed in the potty several times before his bath. This was a first! So on Saturday morning, we went and picked out a nice sturdy, comfy green potty. Right after we got home he used it, and several more times that day. He has continued to use it some each day, and even pooped in it once. We are suddenly well on our way towards becoming a diaper free household. How exciting!
Nico gets an M&M for using the potty. Maya gets one when she helps him or encourages him. And I get one for cleaning the potty. We all win.

Therapy

Some people may wonder what physical therapy looks like for a 1 or 2 year old. Obviously it doesn't involve big weights and fancy training exercises. And most of the time you don't get 10 or 20 reps of anything. We work with the therapist at our home every other week for an hour on simple things. On the opposite weeks, Miss Angela goes to Nico's daycare to work with him there. She likes to bring fun things with her, like dinosaur magnets that Nico can practice picking up off the floor and putting up high on a fridge or cabinet door. Or a squishy ball to stand on or sit on and bounce, to strengthen leg muscles. Or a big ball, bat and a sloped ramp "base" for Nico to stretch his leg muscles on while he is distracted playing baseball. It's all about distractions, making it seem like a game. Once he realizes you are trying to make him work (or it becomes too uncomfortable for his legs), usually he is done with it and you get to move on to a different game.

I've learned how difficult some of the simplest things can be and how much as a "normal" person I take for granted most days. For example, if I want to wiggle my toes back and forth, I just think about it and it happens. Or if I want to pick my foot up high, I don't lose my balance.

Nico has progressed so much in the last year, from walking to running and now he is jumping. I know he will continue to learn new things as he grows. He just has to work a lot harder than most to get those legs to do what he wants. We are so thankful for his therapists that work through the state program and come to us! They have given us so many ideas and tools to help Nico.

Putting the foam blocks together to get ready

Practicing stepping over with Miss Angela

Rollin'

This is a first for him to be able to do a forward roll or somersault.

Pre-K graduation

Friday afternoon Maya "graduated" from Pre-K (although she gets to be in that classroom another 2 weeks). Her teacher, Ms. Cathy, did a beautiful job of showcasing all they had learned this year as well as giving each child a moment to shine on their own.

The director, Ms. Rebecca, and Ms. Cathy made cute beach bucket presents for each child. Ms.Cathy and her daughter also created a framed photo collage for each student. It was precious! I am so thankful that Maya has been in such a great place these last 2 years.

Block Party!

Every Mother's Day weekend since before we moved into our house, our neighbor's have had a block party, complete with tons of yummy food and a bouncy house and/or water slide. As Maya explained on Saturday, "They call it a block party, because they have to block off the street."
This year was a beautiful day, cloudy with no rain. Maya was big enough to travel the huge water slide by herself this year and had a blast. Nico went down one time (screaming) with Mommy and said "NOO!" to going again. It was good to catch up with some people and meet some new ones. I love our street!