Ryan and Tia's Visit

We're were lucky enough to have Ryan and Tia come to Utah recently and even luckier that they got to stay with us for a couple of days. 

We went to check out the new Draper Temple, watched some movies, went to breakfast, and played cards at Aunt Kris and Uncle Jim's house. We played a couple of card games - Killer Bunnies, which sounds easy but requires some brain power and concentration (not a great idea late in the evening) -- But Ryan's really getting it down and getting ready to make his move!

Then Tanner and Uncle Chris joined us as we moved on to a card game called Five Crowns.

It's not as much complicated except while you start by holding a small number of cards you build up to holding 13 cards in your hand -- tricky for the adults, a little more challenging for the kids. But they were very strategic asking for help and then Tanner neatly smoked his Uncle Jim and the rest of us and beautifully played his hand ... nice Job Tanner. 

Of course the other benefit to having so many cards in your hand is you can, if you have long nails, make the coolest noise - according to Cole!

We had such a good time - we can't wait to get to see them again!

Even between the laughter, Cole is chatting them up!

And we're sitting ...

Well apparently even Cole has had it with just lying about. 

A few months back he started showing signs of wanting to sit up (yeah!). He would do 'crunches' whether he was laying on the bed, in his Boppy (think donut shaped pillow), working out with one of his 5 or 6 therapists, or just sitting in someone's lap. 

We can tell (and so can the doctors -- all of them) that his neck and trunk strength is really improving. He holds his head up when we're carrying him. 

Although, he's still a little stiff and although you can't really tell from the pictures a little lazy and wants to hold his head back on his neck (which takes the least muscle control). Our Physiologist (chief doctor over the physical, occupational, and developmental therapists) has advised us it's probably time to start the botox injections -- not for me (not that we don't need them. But the botox will help relax the stiffness while we continue to work on strengthening the muscles. We're going to start with two in his neck, a couple in his ankles, knees, and wrists. We talked to his pediatrician about it and after readdressing a lot of our questions and concerns, she reaffirmed the benefits and cited another little guy in her practice with some of Cole's same issues. So we think that will start in the spring. 

He just hasn't yet gotten used to the weight of that little noggin so sometimes once he gets himself up (even easier with a little propping up) he's toppling over.

But part of that may be our fault. 

Cole has always liked spinning motion (which is a good sign, neurologically speaking, that he can recognize movement and know which direction it's coming from). So we introduced Cole to a little game where he leans backwards and then we tilt him back up somewhat quickly (we'll post a video because I'm doing a lousy job of explaining it :-} ). He appears to love the sensation as you can see here even after we've set him down. So much so that besides yucking it up the whole time, he's started pushing himself backwards.

   

Oh Yeah -- Great Game!!

More on the rolling to come. 

[BTW, our little grease monkey generally looks like this before bed based on the aquaphor and the humidifier we're using to help with his eczema ... which is working great]