Build-A-Bear

The kids got a Build-A-Bear gift certificate for Christmas, and after a couple of calender dates were aligned we finally had our date!
It was a whole family affair  - Kyle had Katheryn and I had Nick. Also my brother-in-law, sister-in-law came with my niece and nephew, and my mother in law.

I've seen the store before and thought it looked interesting, but never really went in to see what it was.
You get to personalize everything.
You get to pick the type of bear, add some sounds, add stuffing and then pick out all of the clothes and accessories.
Sounds fun right?

First there is a whole row of empty bears. And you get to pick one.
Ideally the one your kid wants.
Nick liked all of them. Every one he was in front of he wanted.
Katheryn on the other hand knew exactly what she wanted.
The polar bear. Because "polar bears are my favorite"

After picking the bear you want then you stuff it.
They have a whole machine filled with stuffing!



The kids get to stuff their own bears by stepping on a lever and fill it as full as they want.

Nick kept crying when we gave him the bear. He still wasn't too sure about what we were doing.



Nick and I got to tag-team the lever. He was a little unsure at first, but once he figured out that what I wanted him to step on actually did something. Then he got into it.

We got some sounds in it as well. For Nick's I chose giggling and a multi-sound from Happy Feet 2. So when you press the hand/foot it makes a sound.

After the bear is stuffed like you want it, you get to choose a heart to put inside of it.
Awwww

Katheryn had to rub the heart against her heart, against her hand, tell it a secret (Katheryn looked at the lady completely confused with that one), give it a kiss and then put it inside.

Then it's time to get dressed!
There are a TON of clothes to pick from (alot more girl clothes than boy clothes).
But everything from holiday clothes, pajamas, costumes, work or just every day clothing. They even had underwear!

Nick didn`t really care about the clothes. But the sun glasses were a definite hit!
And those cool shoes!

Nick just really wanted those sunglasses!

And yes I know it looks like he`s strangling his bear.

But we finally got Nick`s bear all cooled up!

All of the kids got some accessories.
Accessorizing at the toy store!

Katheryn`s polar bear not only came with a red dress, shoes, hair ribbon and red purse - `red is my favorite colour`. But also the stroller and a cell phone!

Katheryn was happy with what she got!

Nick`s bear came with the sunglasses, and his very own wheelchair. Including a rocking shirt - that plays the guitar!

And his very own guitar! (which doesn`t actually make any noise)

Definitely a super-fun adventure for the kids!

Speaking in Tongues

I have talked about how Nick's language has blossomed! OK, he's a boy, so I guess I should say boomed!
He talks all the time.
And it has meaning.
I just don't always know what it is.

One morning he's eating breakfast and just talking, talking. I have no idea what - it's like I can pick up a couple words here and there. I swear he was talking in French! (a language I took all through school and know how to say "je ne parle pas francias". Anyone who knows french I'm sure just realized I butchered their language.)

There are alot of words that I understand. I started making a list, but everyone day there are so many more to add to the list that I can't get them all. He probably has 100, maybe more. And sentences.

I know other moms said it would happen, and I know that at the time I knew that it would happen (most of the time I knew it would happen), and I find it magical that it is actually happening now.

This is of course after we finish our block of speech therapy for 6 months! where we worked on communication and not actual speech.
Right at the very end of our block Nick was just starting to get his words, but he was still shy about it. Still not talking that much outside of the home.

We are no strangers to speech therapy.
Katheryn is still in speech therapy. Has been since I referred her at 18 months because she had about 6 words and should have had more than 10. It took about 9 months for her to be picked up, but we have been able to apply everything we have learned back and forth between the 2 kids.

Katheryn we have goals for pronunciation of specific letters (especially K, F, G but other letters as well). For Nick I have to make up my own goals because we just finished our block and the things we learned there just don't seem to apply any more.
I'm hoping that next session we can have the same speech therapist for both kids so we can all be on the same page.
I'm trying to figure out where to start, or if I'm pushing too hard for something that will come naturally on it's own. But i just have to remember how we progressed with Katheryn. I know it will come.

All about Wheels

So I said the last post that we didn't have anything that exciting in our house. Well we did buy a new van!

Kyle and I were very specific about what we wanted. We wanted a Grand Caravan, 2 rows of stow and go seats and a built in DVD system. And of course a good price. I never realized how small my old van is, until we got all of our stuff in this one and realized we still had lots of room. We didn't really get a good choice of colour. This one may look black, but the colour is actually blackberry. I'm told it looks purple when it's in direct sun - we'll see!

We got a number of different options on it as well, so I'm still trying to figure it all out.
But it did come with Sirius Radio (which I have discovered has a Broadway station - and I'm hooked)

But that wasn't the only set of wheels that we purchased this week!
We (finally) put in the order for Nick's wheelchair!

I'm pretty sure it is the Quickie Zippie GS. I say pretty sure, because to be honest, I was a little lost about everything.

We got to trial a lighter weight rigid frame chair. I did not get a chance to take any pictures, but just picture a little blond boy in a wheelchair screaming and saying 'no, no, no' while pointing to his loaner chair.

I was disappointed because I really pushed to try the lighter rigid frame chair. But Nick is the one in it, he gets to pick. But lifting the 'lighter' frame and then the 'heavier' frame, really was only a 3-5lb difference in weight.
Add that to the fact that I had gotten used to some of the features of our loaner - namely the arms that will lift up and out of the way, instead of just come off and need to be carried. Also a stroller handle to help Kyle. These options didn't come with the other chair.
So in the end I was happy with Nick's choice too.
If you play the video, don't put the volume loud - there is a kid crying in the background that I didn't notice until I got to the computer

So that matter settled, Bill (our equipment guy) and Lori (our not OT) got down to business. Out came their notebooks and back and forth they talked about different options and measurements while I just stood back and wondered what I was supposed to do. (But not in a bad way).
Then it was my turn for some choices
Colours!

Our loaner is 'blue opal' and I didn't want that, it's a little plain. I wanted something brighter.
In the end I brought the colours home for Kyle to see what he liked. Luckily we all liked the same 3 colours.
Candy Blue, Candy Red and Copper.

This is a colour that Nick is going to have to like and live with for 5 years.
I was a little nervous.

But we decided on nice and bright and Orange!
It will be here in 4-6 weeks!
I never thought I would be excited for our own wheelchair. And when they talk about wheelchairs and buses for school I still get a bit queasy, but right now I am excited for Nick to get his own wheels!!!

Clinic Time

We haven't been that eventful in the Ridding house! Seems like I haven't blogged in ages!
We had our spina bifida clinic again on Friday.
Pretty unexciting - which is what I expected. Always a good thing.

We had actually been at Bloorview on Thursday to deal with a red spot that Nick had on his heal.
That red spot worried me. Nick's foot had been coming out of his AFO and Kyle had noticed a dime sized red spot on Nick's heal on the weekend. So no more AFO's, no standing, no walking and waiting to be able to see orthodics. But they hollowed out a bit more of the heal, added some padding and away we go!

Today was an actual clinic day. All good news.
Urology/nursing - kidney/bladder ultrasound, all clear, no problems, continue as we are doing, see us in 6-9 months
Physio assessment - all good, he is doing amazing
Ortho - no issues, all clear for 1 year
The only thing was that Nick's scar makes it hard to tell if his spine is straight or not just by looking. He also has a part of the scar that got infected and is all indented, the part that runs along his side and isn't red, it is actually indented while the rest is pretty flat. (Out of Nick's scar, this is part I hate the most, but what can you do?).
In the end, they think that yes, his spine is straight, but it's something to pay attention to.

The best thing about the spina bifida clinic was that I got to spend it with Shayna and her son Gage - who is absolutely adorable!!! (You might remember Gage as the baby who was born last May, and I got to be there).
Instead of sitting around waiting for everyone to come and see you, Shayna and I got to wait together and people pretty much just found us.
That was great!
I think every clinic visit should be like that!
We talked about getting a picture of the boys together but didn't get a chance to.

We had some time for Nick to play with the fish tank.
I have a video of Nick (slowly) wheeling his chair around the fish tank, but it won't load. So I'll try to load it for another post.
Nick likes the fish so much I thought it would be good incentive for him to stand at (still working on getting him to like simple standing at things). Needless to say Nick was less than impressed about standing at the fishies.

Once he got his balance and realized that no, he wasn't going to fall he got a little more brave with the standing. (Sorry for the lousy pictures, my camera's flash stopped working - something about not liking that last fall to the floor or something, electronics these days!).

 The clinic is divided into 2 half days. The morning is when you see the nurse, physiotherapy and get necessary ultrasounds. Then there is lunch, the physicians get the opportunities to review all of the tests and assessments. In the afternoon we get to visit with the doctors, get the results, get the plans and go from there.

At the end of all of this Nick and I still had one more exciting meeting (never thought I'd say that!). But I'm going to leave that for a new post!

Listen to your mother!

I didn't know who Wilma Rudolph was, so I looked her up here!