Rule #156: School is cool

Preschool was so good for Evan. It pushed him out of his comfort zone. It gave him the opportunity to socialize with kids that weren't related to him. He learned a ton (because he had some amazing teachers). I'm so grateful for the chance he had to go to two different schools. He loved both of them.

He had one program from each preschool last year that I never documented. There was a Christmas Program held at a Senior Center. This group was Mrs Butters and Mrs Everett. (They are also Evan's swim teachers)

This is when he saw Grandpa Doug! So cute!

He was fairly uncomfortable during this program. But I was proud of him because he stayed up there with the rest of the kids. Smiled...sometimes. He didn't say his line, but that was okay. It's all about the progress and the baby steps.

At the end of the year his preschool at Hannah Holbrook Elementary had a program. This was six months after the Christmas Program and he did AMAZING! He did all of the actions, with a big grin the whole time. Shame on me for not remembering more clearly, but I think he at least said his name. It was in a whisper, but I think words were said. :)

His best friend in school was Tyann. She LOVED Evan, and he was fond of her as well. :)

Miss Jessie and Miss Amanda. Two of the best teachers. Ever. They left gigantic shoes to fill. I am so grateful for how much they loved my son!

Fast forward to last week. It was our Primary Program in church. That morning I had a talk with Evan, trying to prep him for the day. I bribed him and I'm proud of it. :) He has been working on a sticker chart to earn Eyebrawl, a skylander. I told him that if he stayed up on the stand all by himself he would earn 4 stickers. (Last year I had to go up with him halfway through. I squatted on the floor, trying not to block the view of the other little Sunbeams). Then I told him that if he said his part, loud enough for people to hear, he would earn Eyebrawl. That was 16 stickers!

He seemed excited about it, but I still didn't expect him to say his part. I really was just hoping that he would stay up on the stand. :)

And he did. But then he rocked my world.

It came time for his part. And I was nervous. It seems so silly to me now, he should have been nervous, he was the one speaking in public. But I was really nervous.

And then he spoke! Spoke! Out LOUD! He said his entire part!!! There are not enough exclamation points in the world to express how I felt. I. was. shocked.

And then I cried.

Like, sobbed.

I was SO unbelievably proud of him! And surprised. I think I would have cried anyway, but he took me by such surprise that my emotions overwhelmed me.

It turns out that one of the primary teachers had turned to Evan before it was his turn to speak. She said "I bet if you say your part, and say it loud, you're mom will fall off her chair." It must have been motivation enough, because he said it. Then when he was done he said to the teacher. "She didn't fall off her chair." Ha! She told him that he got a much better reaction than falling off my chair.

My boy has come so far. When we started the ABA therapy I had to fill out page after page of assessments and history. Good thing I started my blog, I wouldn't have been able to remember when he hit his milestones. Reading back on his young life shocked me. He was SO delayed! There were so many things he didn't do. It made me sad. It was really hard to look back at how he used to be.

But when I think back on the child he used to be, and place him side by side the child he is now.....well, it's amazing to think about. He has come so far, and I am so proud of him!

To say that I am no longer worried about him and his future would be a lie. Of course I am. I think all mothers worry about their children, and I just have a few additional worries. :) But I have such HOPE for Evan. We have been so lucky in the therapist that have come into his life. Blessed to be picked for the Autism Waiver Program so that we have an ABA therapist for a year. That is something we would never be able to afford on our own and has proven to help children with ASD.

Evan is a great kid. He is super smart, and extremely literal. He loves his brother and sister. He wants to teach Rory all that he knows. He changes more and more every day.

I'm very proud to say that he is my son. I feel lucky to be called his mother.

Rule #155: It's who you know

The day after Aurora was born a photographer came by the room offering her services for newborn photos. It turns out since I am employed by Intermountain Healthcare, that I could get a CD for free!! Sign me up! I wish I had known that these were going to turn out so cute, or that I would be IN these pictures. I would have brought different clothes and tried to get ready for the day. Regardless, Aurora looks darling in them, and that's all that really matters!

Enjoy the cuteness overload!

 I love this one!

 Yawning pictures are so cute!

 Love!

Rule #154: Smaller is better

Graham had a neurosurgery appointment today. It's been a year since his last one, and this time was a LOT harder to get the CT done. Graham was so much younger for all his previous CT scans, easily distracted, and he had fewer opinions back then too. :)

I have been mildly anxious about this scan, not because I thought something would be wrong with his shunt. But because I KNEW he was going to hate every minute of it and I wasn't sure how we were going to help him lay still. Since I'm massively pregnant I didn't want (nor do I know if I would have been allowed) to stay during the scan. But I could hear him through the walls. :( The x-ray tech did a great job trying to get Graham excited and informed, but once we laid him down on the table it was over. Poor kid. I'm sure both she and Alex did everything they could. A CT scan usually only takes 3-5 minutes. It was longer than that, but less than 10. Since this is a children's hospital I'm positive they see this all the time, and know how to manage to get the pictures they need, regardless of the cooperation of the child. He was happy when it was all over, and happily went to go meet with the doctor. He's so quick to recover once he gets what he wants.

Graham's old Neurosurgeon, Dr Kestle, has moved back to Canada. We had to pick a new surgeon for Graham, and I really don't like any of the others that I have worked with, so we decided to give the new guy they hired a try. His name is Dr Bollo. He seems fine, but luckily we won't have to see him very frequently.

The nurse, Kathy, was the friendliest I've ever seen her. Maybe we caught her on a bad day the other 6 times we've seen her. :P

They pulled up the CT scan from today and from last year. Check this out!

Do you see how good that looks?!? Last years is on the right, with today's picture of the left. His brain has nearly recovered all of the lost space!! Something that we were told would never happen. I. am. thrilled. (to say the least)

Let's remind everyone what it looked like two years ago, right after the shunt was placed.  Nov 2011 on the left. May 2011 on the right.

Scroll back up to today's picture......

Amazing, right!?!?!

I asked if this means he will still need his shunt forever. They said yes. He still probably needs it. It is clearly doing it's job. But even if he DIDN'T need it, it wouldn't be worth the risk of another surgery, and all the potential complications that come with it. So, we'll keep it. And really I'm okay with that. As much as I hated the thought of a shunt, we have had a perfect run with it so far, and it's not that bad in the long run.

Do you want to hear even more good news? No more CT scans! Hooray! Just yearly visits with neurology to have a routine follow up. Awesome.

I am so grateful Graham is doing so well. He is smart as a whip and no one ever knows that he had this scary moment in his first year of life. He's such a rock star!

Rule #153: There is no age limit for childhood memories

 I found these pictures while looking through my phone and realized that I never blogged about it. Months and months ago we took the boys to a small circus. I had never been to a circus in my life. As a child my family all went to the circus. We were living with my grandparents at the time, and for some reason my five year old self thought that my Grandma would be lonely and feel left out. So I opted to stay home with her, and miss the circus with the rest of my family.

Years later, when I was a teenager, my boyfriend at the time had found out that I had never been to the circus. Ringling Brothers was coming in a few months so he bought tickets for us. Naturally, as fate would have it, we broke up before that time. He promised me that he would still take me to the circus, we were supposed to stay friends after all (and still lived in the same ward mind you)...but he didn't. I was sad I missed my chance again. Why I didn't just buy my OWN ticket I have no idea.

Fast forward to my married life. Alex found out I had never been to the circus before. And while he didn't really think it was a childhood tragedy, he recognized that I thought it was. :) While driving to California we stopped in Las Vegas for the night. He took me to see a Cirque Du Soleil show. And I love him for it. But it still wasn't a REAL circus. There were no animals. Lots of talented people, but no animals.

So in January I found a groupon for a Circus. I decided that even though it wasn't a BIG circus, it could still be my gift to my children. Making sure they experienced this childhood memory. Besides, having it be a smaller scale probably would be more fitting for Evan's enjoyment. Luckily my mom was able to come with us.

If I'm going to be completely honest, it was.....okay. Nothing really that amazing. We did leave before it ended, it took forever to start in the first place. They had stations where you could ride elephants, ponies, or a camel. But then they had to take it all down before the show could start. Unbelievably they set it all up again during intermission! Once we realized it was going to be another 30 minutes minimum before the show started again, and it was already 9:00 we decided to call it a night.

My boys seemed to enjoy themselves. And that's really what the night was about in the first place. They liked seeing the tigers and the little dog that climbed a ladder. Evan enjoyed seeing the acrobats do swings and flips.

I've never understood why the people in charge of a show think that eardrum bursting music = the best time of your life. It doesn't. If they would just turn it down a notch, I think everyone would enjoy themselves MORE. But maybe that's just me.

We brought some headphones for Evan. A nurse that I work with, whose son doesn't have Autism wears headphones to sporting events. I thought it would be a good idea given Evan's sensitivity to sound. It works perfectly. They didn't fit properly and we have since bought some child size headphones for future outings.

Graham got his first taste of Cotton Candy. At first he refused to eat it, because it was my suggestion (sigh) but once he gave it a try he loved it!

This is our attempt at getting a family picture. It's always such a challenge, especially when there are ANIMALS to look at. Graham was in heaven. :)  

 Daddy and his boys! Love the men in my life!

 Doesn't this face just say it all?

 This is a picture that captures Evan's Self-Stimulating behavior. If you've ever been around him, you know that when he gets excited he clasps his hands together, wrings them back and forth, and most assuredly jumps up and down. Before his diagnosis I didn't know this was a "thing" It wasn't the "hand flapping" I had been taught to look for. This was one of the red flags that Dr Goldsmith saw immediately the first time he met Evan. But when I look at this picture, even knowing all of this and what it means, I can just see my little boy who is excited and happy. And that makes me happy.

I'm glad that I can finally say I've been to the circus, and I'm even happier to have shared the experience with my family!

Rule #152: Seeing is Believing

Can you even believe it? There is a little GIRL growing inside me!!!

A few people had asked me, prior to my ultrasound, what I "felt" I was having. Honestly, I didn't FEEL anything specific.

That said, I would have been surprised if this baby had been a boy. Not because of any feeling, per se, but just because this pregnancy has been so different than my other two. I wasn't sick on conception, and I started feeling better around 17-18 weeks. It seemed likely she was a she. But I didn't KNOW.

Now I do :)

 

We are very excited to welcome a little princess into this family. I'm excited not to be out numbered by the testosterone. :) My sister in law has said that when you have a little girl, you have a best friend for life. I hope that's true. I'll do my very best to create and keep a special place in this little girls' heart.

Alex is thrilled. He has always wanted two of each gender, and when we found out that Graham was a boy, he was excited, but yet nervous he might never get a little lady in his life. While he believes that we are having a little girl, part of him is remaining cautious. Until she's born without boy parts. :)

I love to see the relationship that my boys have with their father. And I can hardly wait to sit back and watch our little girl love on her daddy. Being a daddy's girl myself, and idolizing my father the way only daughters can, I am so excited for their relationship.

Now on to picking a name. For six years Alex and I have agreed on a name for a future daughter. Now that I finally have the opportunity to use the name, I'm not sure I still want to. I want to shop around a little bit and make sure. (I'm silly like that) As always, we won't be telling anyone the name until little miss is born. Blame it on Alex. :)

Everything looked great in the ultrasound, she's growing well and right on her dates. All of my NICU nightmares are appeased. ;) You may laugh, but sometimes I think it would be nice to be a little more naive when I'm pregnant. All the logic and statistics in the world can't tell me that what COULD happen, probably won't happen.

When I was pregnant with Evan, I had worked in the NICU for almost 4 years. I was really nervous up until I had my ultrasound. Then I was nervous around 23-27 weeks. Once I hit 30 weeks, I finally stopped throwing up, if he came early it would be okay, and I relaxed. It was a magical 10 weeks. Looking back I'm surprised I wasn't nervous about labor.

While I was pregnant with Graham, I was chill. I wasn't worried or nervous. I thought I had gotten that out of my system with the first baby. So with any future children I would be relaxed.

Not so. I think the ectopic pregnancy made me question the early weeks of this pregnancy. And even once I knew I was going to be able to keep this baby, I was still nervous. Not as crazy as with my first pregnancy, but definitely not as relaxed as with Graham.

While I know that the 20 week ultrasound didn't show Evan's autism (obviously) and Graham's arachnoid cyst wasn't there yet either, I still feel better finding out that nothing anatomically is amiss with my baby. It calms my fears. I have no idea what she will be like or what trials she will face, and therefore what trials I will face, but it still calms me.

Here I sit, 24 weeks pregnant. And I can happily tell you, I'm not the slightest bit nervous. Well, that's not true I guess. I'm a little nervous to have a third child. How we will juggle/manage/survive three children :) I'm certain we will do all those things, but I am a tad....anxious. It will be very different, very good and definitely what we want, but different still.

Evan has been very involved with this baby. He talks about her all the time, if she's hungry (ie. if I want to eat something for the baby) He talks about when she will be born, and how he'll almost be five. I love to see him so interested, and how much he cares for me and for his sister already. I hope the interest lasts. When she sucks my life and time away and cries frequently, as babies are known to do. :)

Exciting times here in the Davis Household. July 2nd can't come quickly enough!

Rule #151: Good things come to those who wait

Let me start out by saying I am an extremely lucky woman. I have been blessed with the fertility of my mother and sisters and have not had to experience the pain and longing of being unable to get pregnant. I know how fortunate I am and don't want this post to sound ungrateful.

That being said, the planning of our third child did not happen as expected.

I knew that I wanted more children. Probably two more. But I couldn't bring myself to want to be pregnant. I don't enjoy the majority of my pregnancies, because I'm sick for so much of it. The last ten weeks are the best. I've finally stopped throwing up, I have a nice, cute belly, and I can feel my baby moving. It's the best. The rest of it....I struggle. I had finally come to terms with the fact that if I wanted more kids in the spacing I desired, it was time.

I went off my birth control and promptly got pregnant. Although I didn't know it. With both Evan and Graham I was sick the day after conception. Seriously. But not this time. I felt fine. I assumed that meant I wasn't pregnant...but after being a week late decided to take a test anyway. Alex and I were shocked that I was pregnant but not sick. Excited and a little wary. My Due Date was March 31st.

The first week in August I started spotting. Bummer. That explained why I wasn't sick, right? I was likely to miscarry. But I only had pains on one side. So I called up my OB, told them what was going on. We drew some blood work to check my HCG level. (Pregnancy hormone) For how far along in the pregnancy I was, my level should have been >1,200. It was 112. Sad, I really was going to miscarry. Now I just had to wait for my body to realize this baby wasn't going to last. (I hate waiting) But I still felt pangs just on the right side.

HCG levels were drawn every few days to see if it would start to rise, which they didn't. But they didn't go down significantly either. (I hate waiting)

A week after I started spotting I found myself in the most pain I had ever felt before. Sobbing on the bathroom floor in one sided labor. That's the only way to describe it.  But it felt like the contractions never stopped, it was constant, unbearable one sided pain! At this point I was pretty sure it was an ectopic pregnancy. I had been worried for the last week because of the mild pain, but this! Now I was positive.

I called my doctor, unsure of what to do. Ectopic pregnancies can result in the loss of a fallopian tube if not treated. She told me to go to the hospital because I could barely breathe let alone talk to her due to the pain.

Here's what I should have done. I should have had Alex drive the 25 minutes to the hospital that my doctor works at. What we did do? Went to the hospital two blocks from my house. It made sense at the time, that closer was better. But it's not really.

The ER got me in quickly and checked me out, gave me much appreciated pain medication and did an ultrasound. My HCG levels were so low that they couldn't "see" a pregnancy. But based on my symptoms, it looked like an ectopic pregnancy.

They wanted to keep me overnight. That hospital doesn't accept my insurance. I asked if Alex could drive me to a different hospital, they said no, for fear of my rupturing and bleeding. They offered an ambulance to another hospital. (that's not cheaper by any means!) to which I said no. In the mean time, my OB called me to see where I was. She had been expecting me at her hospital. I told her the situation, and that they were going to make me stay. She said she'd call me in the morning if she hadn't heard from me. (I really like my OB)

I agreed to stay when they explained that insurance will cover an ER admission for 24 hours. I've come to realize that I am a hospital snob. And this was an old hospital. Nice staff, just old building and equipment. They took me to their observation floor and Alex left for the night to take care of the boys.

Observation my foot. I wasn't connected to any monitors, no one came in to check on me unless I called them for pain meds, and they wanted me to collect my urine to look for blood clots, (which I did on my own) but no one ever looked! I could have ruptured and hemorrhaged in my sleep for all they would have known! I'm sure they were just trying to let me get some rest, but if they were worried enough not to let me go home, or drive to another hospital, I expected a little more....observation.

Morning arrives and I'm greeted by a new nurse informing me that I would be having surgery!

The heck I am! (which is exactly what I told her....I was still in pain and huffy about the whole affair) There are other forms of treatment I will be trying first before I go to surgery (which increases your already higher chances of having ANOTHER ectopic due to scar tissue). And, more to the point, I'm not having surgery in a hospital that doesn't accept my insurance in an old decrepit building! I'm a hospital snob, remember?

She seemed surprised by my response and just left. In come the OB covering their hospital. *groan. I've met this man before, 8-9 years ago when I was looking for a new OB because I was moving. He ignored me the entire visit until somehow he found out I was a nurse, and then we were best buds. No thank you. If you don't treat me well as a person, before you find out we are "colleagues", then you are not the doctor for me.

He discusses my options, doing things the "Pead way" or going back to see my regular doctor. I obviously chose my doctor. If this happens again, I don't care how much pain I'm in. The 25 min drive is SO worth it.

My OB and I decided to try an injection to absorb the still persistent pregnancy cells. At this point my level was still in the 90s. Not enough to make a baby, but enough that could still damage my tube if left untreated. The injection is a low dose Chemo drug...with no chemo side effects because the dose is so miniscule. But the drug absorbs rapidly growing cells, ie cancer and pregnancy cells.

I got two shots and then waited a week to watch my HCG levels go to zero. They barely moved. I seriously HATE waiting. We tried the shot one more time. Both of us REALLY wanted to avoid any type of surgery. I had more waiting time, finally saw some significant decrease in my levels, but had to wait until I was zero, and have a cycle before I could try to get pregnant again.

Finally, by the first of October, my levels were zero! I feel like it took forever, and was wasting my time! I had moments were I was sad, and mourned the loss of a baby, but my coping skills tend to get angry. So I was mostly annoyed and less sad until it was all over.

A few short weeks later, I was pregnant again! (I told you, I'm incredibly lucky!) I wasn't immediately sick, which had me concerned. Close to 6 weeks I got sick. Hooray! My gratitude for feeling sick only lasted for a day until I was just miserable and sick :)

Because of my (now) history of ectopic pregnancies, we needed to make sure this one was in the correct place. Levels were drawn, they were now 4600! I was able to get an ultrasound at 6 weeks, see my little diamond ring (amniotic sac and tiny little baby mound) and hear the heart beat! That's amazing! 6 weeks pregnant and we heard the heart beat!. Had the ultrasound been done a day before we might not have heard it. Amazing!

I am currently 16 weeks, my due date is now July 2nd. I'm really hoping for a June baby though. I didn't want to be pregnant in the summer, oh well. I'll take whatever I'm given. I'm still sick, though this pregnancy is different than my other two. I WANT to throw up all the time, but I don't, not as much as I want to anyway. Trust me, it's not any better that way. You still feel terrible. I had a few random days without medication. Far earlier than previous pregnancies! I was initially excited for the thought of not being sick the majority of my pregnancy, but now, I think it was just a fluke. I'm back to my regular, pregnant self. *sigh, it was nice while it lasted I guess.

Evan has been really aware of this future baby. He likes to look at pictures from my 11 week ultrasound, we talk about the new baby a lot. What month the baby will be born, I tell him June :) What month June comes after, how he came out of my belly in July. He says the baby will be a girl, and I wouldn't mind that one bit. It's been really fun to have him be more involved this time around. Graham on the other hand, has no idea.

We will find out if this new baby will be a boy or girl in a month and I look forward to sharing the news!

Rule # 150: Quality vs. Quantity

There are some people that just connect with kids. It just happens naturally. My step-brother Robbie is one of those people.

It helps that he's super cool, so all the kids want to be around him already. :)

Robbie works a lot, and therefore travels....a LOT. Yet it doesn't seem to matter how long it's been since he's seen my kids. Robbie finds a way to connect (with all the kids but I notice specifically with Evan) whenever we do get a chance to see him.

I hope you understand the significance of that statement. Evan connects with Robbie, someone he sees sporadically throughout the year. That's a big deal. Which means Robbie is a pretty special person.

I love this video. Evan was watching every move that Robbie made. When they were finished with the song, Evan beamed with pleasure. :) It was a wonderful Christmas.

Thank you, Robbie, for being the special person that can reach in and connect with my special son.

Rule #149: Better WAY late then never

Let's backtrack a few months shall we? Graham turned two. Three months ago. I posted his birthday party but was waiting for his well child visit so I could document his stats.

But I was pregnant. 

Apparently I don't post during my first trimester. :)

So, without further ado, here is the belated information about my THEN two year old.

Weight: 24 lbs 13 oz - 15%
Height: 35 1/4 inches - 70%
OFC: 19.5 inches - 70%

Did you check out his head? It only grew 0.5 cm in a year! Well, really his body has grown into it for the last year ;)

The best way to describe my little toddler is loving, joyful (when he wants to be) and WILLFUL! Holy Cow. Talk about being completely different from your sibling. At this age we were still working with Evan to have any opinion at all, and to express that opinion. Graham does not have that struggle. :) He knows what he wants, and he knows when he wants it. We are finally starting to take back some control with this child. I will freely admit that I let him get away with a lot over the past year, let him run the house if you will. It's because I was so excited he even cared, at all. Well, it's started to get a little out of hand, so we are working on reigning him in. Luckily, he is teachable, so it gets better every day.

Ever since we got a trampoline Graham has been a jumping machine! He jumps on the floor, the couch (grr), on people. He jumps across the room. It is so adorable.

He loves to draw, or have someone draw for him depending on his mood. He is still obsessed with all things animal. Since our trip to San Diego he is now enamored with sea life as well. Whales bringing the biggest excitement.

He talks non stop. It's hard for me to remember how much he was talking three months ago. Which is why I wish I had written this post three months ago. Oh well. I have no idea how many words he says, there are way too many to count. And he speaks more clearly all the time.

He knows all of the alphabet, and most of the numbers 1-10. He knows most of his colors and a lot of shapes. He's a pretty smart kid. It blows me away that he won't be starting preschool in the fall because he won't be "old" enough! The kid will be ready for some type of school, he'll be bored at home for another year! We'll have to come up with something...

Right around the time I got pregnant Graham stopped being a mama's boy. He started wanted daddy, all the time! (It probably had something to do with me not being able to move much, or quickly. And not being able to talk because it made me to nauseous...but that's for another post) I was thrilled for this change in preference. It had been me and nothing but me for two years! Don't get me wrong, I love to be loved...but it was exhausting! His daddy phase lasted solidly for three months. Now it changes from day to day. For the majority, I think he still prefers Alex, but at least he requests me from time to time as well. :)

Graham loves his brother. Every morning when I go into his room he says. "Finda Daddy?" Followed closely by "Finda Evan?" I love to see their brotherly bond grow. And it is very strong. They play so well with each other and seek one another out throughout the day. When Graham stops napping, I think he will be disappointed to realize that Evan is GONE for three hours every day! It warms my heart to see how much they love one another. Every mothers dream.

Evan also had a four year old check up the same day as Graham's appointment. Yeah, I know...super late on this one!

Weight: 32 lbs - 10%
Height: 44.5 inches - 95% (I'm not sure that's correct, now that I'm looking at it. If it's true, he grew 6 inches last year...that's some growth spurt!)

Evan is my darling little boy. Yesterday he told me not to call him "baby" (term of endearment, not mocking) and to call him "kid" He's obviously not a baby anymore. :) Evan is starting to use pretend play, which is amazing! Imagination and pretend play were aspects of childhood he just didn't seem to understand. But he's slowly starting to get it, and it is wonderful to watch. Now, to clarify, when he turned four he still wasn't pretending. But the last month or so we've been seeing it more and more.

For example: Uncle Jeff gave Evan a stuffed dragon for Christmas. Toothless from How to Train Your Dragon. I've never seen him get so attached to a toy before. He tells us that Toothless is his son, and tells us what food/drink toothless needs before bedtime. It's darling. Recently, due to a few power outages last month Evan has been into turning off all the lights, and he and Graham scream and run away from the monster/dragon/etc. I know that to most people who have children, that sounds commonplace. But for MY child, it is new and very exciting to see!

Evan has also become highly interested in clocks/time. He asks me "What number was it when I woke up?" And wants to see what time it is frequently. Last week Evan asked for a clock in his room. (Graham has one, why doesn't he?) So Alex took him to the store and let him pick out a clock. I had worked the night before, so when I woke up that afternoon Evan was very excited to show me his new clock. We had to look at his clock, then Graham's, then Mommy's clock. Then he wondered if his clock said the same time as mommy's clock and ran down stairs to check. We spent 15 minutes or more checking out all the clocks in the house. :)

There are still struggles in significant areas of his life. (dressing self/potty training/sleeping/social) But overall, Evan has made wonderful progress and I have high hopes that he will continue to do so.

My boys are the joy of my life. They make everyday special and exciting. I love to watch them grow and develop. I can't wait to see what remarkable men they become!