A Trip To the Party Store

On Tuesday we left Dallas to recoup at the house and Tyler and I went to the party store. We have talked about parties, read books about parties and show movies about parties. He is SOO ready to have a party. He said the other day he wanted Hot Dogs at his party. What a difference a year makes. With words it is much more fun to bombard him with questions about his party.

The party store has every kind of party stuff imaginable. Because we had already heard about his dying desire to have a Mickey Mouse party we went in search of all things Mickey Mouse. He saw the Minnie Mouse stuff that looked like his birthday cards that he sent out and he go them and put them in the cart. Then he pretty much went nuts with all the other stuff there. He kept saying " Wow, pretty cool mom!" He would take the candles and pretend to blow them out. It was a HUGE hit and we spent way to much money.

One other item we were in search of was a beach ball and a jump rope. We found a globe that blew up so we got that and we found a jump rope for Tyler. He carries the beach ball map around the house. So I thought I would teach him a few things. He knows where Russia is and China and where Wheel of Fortune is at. ( Las Vegas!)

After trying to find all of the party stuff we stopped and ordered his cake and he is so excited that he got to pick it out. He is LOVING it.

Today when we asked him what his party was going to be like he said " Hot Dogs, Mickey mouse and cake."

He has is Right. Cake and Mickey mouse. Come ready for Limbo, and games!

A 2 milestone day

I think in real life it was more like a 3 milestone day and possibly even more( OK... I think it was 4.. we will count at the end... UPDATE: final count is 5!!!!). Despite the efforts of my migraine, Ty had a really good day and we left the CP clinic with our head held high. It is tough to not be worried or to get down at appointments like today but Ty held his own and he rocked the rest of the day.

Today was the CP clinic at Shriner's hospital. Again, I can't say enough about the Shrines and for the care they give Tyler. It is impressive and done all on donations.

At the CP clinic we see our rehab doc, her nurse practitioner and usually a developmental pediatrician. The developmental pediatrician is only there when and if we have major developmental concerns on the side of the rehab doc. For a first time in a long time I am proud to say NOPE. He is doing really well. Does that mean he is caught up.. OH NO! But he is progressing and quickly which is nice to hear.

The rehab doc we have is Dr. Gooch. She is great. She gave us a great bill of health and wonderful encouragement. She still thinks that Tyler will continue to improve with speech and was pretty positive with his phenol shots. This is the first follow up for them we have had.

So the plan for Tyler is: Increase his PT and get him to do better with hip extension and stamina. She gave us some games to play with him and is really encouraging playing soccer or kicking the ball as something he really needs. She also encouraged playing obstacle courses ( which he rocks at because he THROWS everything.)

While we were leaving Shriner's we walked past the HUGE statue and Ty wanted to go closer. He called it a tree and then he licked it. It was interesting to see that what he saw and what he associated it with was something big. Like a tree.

And he was LICKING the "tree"!

After we got home his dad played outside with him for awhile. Dallas would tell him to go to the middle and he would go right to the middle of the yard. Then when his dad asked him to use his words he would sign Dad, the sound K (The sound K was for kick. ) and then sign please. HUGE.

Ty has his dad!

After awhile his dad had to go back in to work so we went to the local park. He LOVES the park and especially likes it when there are other kids there. Since we are pretty active in our local ward lots of the kids know Tyler and know that he has extra needs and most of them are really nice about them and most can't wait to show him or take him somewhere.

We hadn't been there for all winter but Ty ran right up and went up the stairs and down the slide. He was so excited to be outside. As he got more confident in going up the stairs,I looked up to see SOMEONE standing UP and going up the stairs. YEP he was going up without crawling.

Seriously... Look at that smile!

Next up he kept going... and went down the big slide. He always says "Weee" when he goes down. The big slide takes his breathe away and he said it when he got to the bottom.

NEXT he got even more daring and climbed UP the climbing wall. He needed such a little bit of help on the bottom but he did the rest himself and up he went. ALL by himself. That is HUGE. He is on his way to being able to maneuver himself all alone at the playground.

Next up.. Learning to ride a tricycle with no help. I was thinking of getting an adaptive one from Shriner's or to see if they can help him get even better!

For those not sure WHAT milestones we hit here is the quick cap!

• Walking OUT of Shriner's with no assistance
• Getting good news on his appointment
• Standing up and walking UP the stairs
• Going down the big BIG slide
• Climbing up the climbing wall