One Year Anniversary

Today is Gabe's one year anniversary from his surgery. He is doing so good! I can't believe it has already been a year. It seems like his six month anniversary was just last month. Before we found out Gabe needed surgery I was a little nervous about his development. I could stand behind him and clap my hands or yell his name really loud and he would ignore me every single time. He never looked. He said several words once or twice, but wouldn't say them again. He would not communicate with me and his eye contact was very poor.

Six months after his surgery he was saying more words and giving more eye contact, but still wasn't using words to communicate. He would respond to his name when called about 50 % of the time. He didn't really follow directions very well.

Now, one year post surgery he is using his words to communicate, can follow simple one or two step directions, can count to 5 on his own with no help, can say a ton of animal sounds and will say them on demand, will sit in a circle with other kids, pay attention to what is going on and participate in the activity, will sing me songs (ABCs and Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star), tries to play with the big boys at McDonalds and is the sweetest little thing ever (I may be a little bias - this is nothing new though).

We went and got their pictures taken this morning and I was so proud of both of them. They both followed the photographers instructions very well and smiled very nicely. We were in and out in an hour and that includes getting the actual pictures. I think it was the easiest picture taking experience we have ever had. Here are the pictures we got:

I'm a Lush!

75%LUSH

Downtown Disney - March 5, 2008

Here are some pictures from Downtown Disney on the 5th. I'll post more pictures from The Magic Kingdom later.

The Piggies Got Painted

Today I took Madison to get a pedicure. She waltzed back to the pedicure area, took her sock and shoes off, pulled up her pants and hopped into the chair by herself. All the other customers were oohing and aahing over her. She loved it! She soaked her feet (the water changed colors) and then they filed her nails. The rubbed hot stones on her legs and feet and then wrapped her legs in warm, wet towels. She kept looking at me with the biggest grin on her face. She thought she was so cool. The Vietnamese women kept speaking Vietnamese and Maddie asked me, "Why do these ladies keep talking Spanish?" She also said, "I can say my colors in Spanish." (I was surprised to hear that - yet another thing she learned at school, no doubt). When we got ready to leave she gave the lady a tip and told her, "Thank you very much. I loved it!" Here is the finished product - they painted little white flowers on them:

Dinosaur Roar

A while ago I bought two bed-in-a-bag sets that had dinosaurs on them for Gabe's big boy bed. I got them at Target for $14.99 each and they are really cute. Now that Gabe is in his big boy bed I wanted to paint his room. I ended up painting his room Camelback on the bottom and Luau Green on the top. I also painted a brontosaurus on his wall. It says his name in the dinosaur's spots. Here are some pictures of the room: