Spring Has Almost Sprung!

We are so excited for Spring and warm weather to come. The days just seem a whole lot easier with the sun out.

We planned on a nice Valentine's Day, but I seemed to be sick an aweful lot this past winter. A strange virus that inflamed my heart, a bout of diverticulitis, a double ear infection and sinus infection...I had my share. I have been feeling much better since I started taking vitamins again and trying to eat more locally-grown, organic foods. So...Valentine's Day was a bust, but Nolan worked very hard on his Valentines Day presents. We used the opportunity to work with his right hand. He was so proud to pick everything out and make them. He even asked to buy wrapping paper to wrap them. So sweet. We ended up celebrating Valentines Day at the end of February at Maggiano's. Nolan got a flatbread pizza, but filled up on salad and bread before it came.

Nolan has been so great in his therapy. He's been wearing his night brace consistently and it is really helping to keep his heel cord stretched where it needs to be. The therapists are quite impressed with the progress he has made since starting at the new clinic in December. They recently decided that they would like to release Nolan from therapy for six months to work at home and see how he does. I am quite nervous about the prospect of this; however, when you look at what he's done so far, it's simply amazing in my eyes. But then again, I am his mother. Ha, ha. Nolan will meeting with "Dr. Brewski" as he calls him, it's Dr. Dabrowski, his amazing physiatrist in two weeks and he will evaluate him and make the final decision. I am planning on him being ok with it. I am sure that Jeff and Nolan will enjoy all of the free time they will gain by not having all those weekly appointments. We took Nolan to tour the pool at the Troy Rec Center which will become our new fitness home and he fell over backwards...literally. He is thrilled because there are slides. Nolan has always liked water, but now he tries to swim and dive in the tub which has become quite dangerous. I have to watch him very carefully. Nolan will dearly miss Miss Heather and Miss Claudina at the DMC. They have been so good to him and so good to us. They are wonderful at what they do. He talks about them constantly. He lights up when he sees them. Nolan is still waiting to get back into speech therapy. His therapist, Miss Sarah, again who he loves dearly, had her baby boy early and had to unexpectedly leave. She will return soon and hopefully Nolan can get back on her schedule.

Nolan will be starting pre-school on April 13. He will be going to Beaumont's pre-school for children with speech difficulties. We feel so blessed to be a part of this program. I think that, coupled with more therapy, we will have Nolan well on his way. His class is all boys which should be interesting. I am sure that Nolan will do great and I can't wait for him to experience this.

Nolan's language is coming along quite well. I always want to post when he says something cute or funny, but I swear I'd be posting all day. He LOVES to be read to and I think that this has helped him tremendously. Nolan loves all of his books and usually has his books picked out for nap and bedtime and we must read them in order. He has most of his books memorized which is so cute to listen to him read them. Jeff's trying to post them on You Tube. Nolan has a set of verb flashcards that he adores and it's so cute to hear what he thinks the people in the pictures are doing. He is so literal that his answers are just hilarious.

We've been to the zoo already since the new year and have been trying out new parks. We walk a lot and love to find new places for Nolan to explore. Anywhere he can run is ok by him. We have a very physically active boy which I am so thankful for. We've been to a few gatherings with families from a parenting board I am on. I am so thankful for their friendships and wisdom. Nolan is doing quite well with his peers and I've even heard him try to talk to others which is huge for him. He had a great time with a group of boys of all ages playing. I love to see him interact with others. We have an outing planned tomorrow with a group of families who all have a child with hemiplegia like Nolan. I am so happy to have found them for support. There's nothing like finding a family like your own.

One of my new endeavors is that I've started cooking dried beans and am always looking for recipes. They seem to go over well with Jeff and Nolan. We are also considering making a small garden this summer to get our vegetables from. We'll see if I can talk Jeff into managing one more thing in our household.

Nolan's birthday is right around the corner. We haven't decided what we're doing quite yet, but we're excited to celebrate as is Nolan. I am sure it will fun whatever we do.