Sunday, August 3, 2008

Over-Due Update

Life since we returned from vacation has been, well, life. I can't put my finger on exactly why I haven't posted...it's not that we have been overly busy. Enough with excuses. On to the important stuff: news about Evan!

This past Friday and Saturday night, Grandma Key stayed at the house with Evan (all by herself!). This is a huge milestone--up to this point Evan was not always predictable in having "good" nights, where he doesn't set off his oximeter alarm. Grandma Key did not feel very comfortable watching him alone. Evan was a perfect angel this weekend, and did not have a single gagging episode while Grandma was on duty. Mommy and daddy spent some quality time together at Indian John Hill rest area serving coffee and cookies for a Lions club fundraiser (12 midnight to 6 am Saturday morning and then 6 pm to 12 midnight Saturday night--what was mommy thinking??? She admits it was much easier to stay up that long when she did the rest stop to raise money for the Chemistry Club in college!). Grandma Key, the entire Lions Club says thank you!

Evan continues to build his confidence on the slide and in the pool. He is an active and willing participant in sliding down the big slide at the elementary school by our house. Evan climbs up to the top with assistance from daddy, sits down, and then pulls himself forward to begin the descent. He prefers to slide laying down on his back--fine by me because I don't completely trust his sitting balance just yet. When I catch him at the bottom he has a big half-grin and giggles. I might get a quick kiss in, but within seconds he's squirming to get down and start walking towards the ladder again.

Grandma and Grandpa Key just gave us the old swing set Auntie Jen and I used to play on when we were little. We are planning on giving it a coat of paint (I'm pulling for red), getting a new slide and some swings for it. I'm sure Evan would love having a slide of his own at home.

We took Evan to the city pool last Sunday, and plan to go again this afternoon. It takes less and less time to "transition" him into the water. Last week, I was able to walk around the shallow end holding him, without Evan yelling and grabbing onto me for dear life (we haven't been able to do that in over a year now). I am hoping by the end of summer he will be able to walk in the shallow end holding our hands (or the pool edge), will sit on a step in the water with us close by, and will let us take him into the deeper side (4 feet) of the pool. I think those are reasonable goals.

In other news...

We have some updates and more appointments scheduled for the Cochlear Implant (CI) evaluation. I have put all of this into it's own post.

I turned in a school district transfer request for Evan to attend Ellensburg School District. I have been assured my request will be denied, and that our home district just needs the denial to proceed with the plan for next year (our district will be paying Ellensburg so that Evan can attend the developmental preschool).

Please keep two of our friends in your prayers: Quinn and Casey. Baby Quinn was born last week at 34 weeks. He is slowly making progress in the NICU with his weight, feeding by mouth, and requiring less oxygen support, but his mom and dad don't yet know when he will get to come home. Casey (18 months) is recovering in Seattle Children's after emergency surgery on Wednesday for a ruptured appendix and bowel--he almost didn't make it. Casey is still critical--he currently has a serious infection (from the contents of his digestive tract bathing his abdominal cavity--not a good situation), but is expected to recover.

I will leave you with some pictures of Evan and Grandma Key playing one of Evan's favorite games: Bucket Swing

Wheeee Grandma! This is great vestibular (balance) input for me--you always know just what I need.


Just sitting in the bucket is nice too!

No comments: