Typical stuff

Thought I would share some video from some every day stuff with Logan

Here he is doing his homework...

Unfortunately our cleaning lady quit to find a real job.... So lately we have all been pitching in and cleaning the house.  The first few time Logan sadly watched feeling left out.  Then we figured out ways to involve him!!  He was so happy to help (wish the others were that happy to help!)

It's been fun to watch his developmental growth.  When he first came he only wanted to play with infant toys.  He then progressed to big cars, then was crazy about trains... Thomas, Percy, James.   This week he has moved onto Spider-Man.  He doesn't remember he was Spider-Man last year for Halloween.  (This year Uncle Jimmy made him a cool Thomas to ride in)

But now life is Spider-Man.  He has the theme song from the old cartoons on his iPad .  Here he is just being wild and crazy with his new favorite song- being played for the 500th time tonight...

Several have asked how his English is coming along.  I typically can understand him.  At this point it is more his speech issue (end consonant deletion) that challenges people.  Here he is telling on his sister, Laura, for slamming the shower door on Dawsyn's fingers.

Hockey Monday - Awesome Night

Last night was awesome!!

Mason and Logan started sled hockey!!

Words cannot describe the excitement Logan had on Sunday night when we told him he would be playing.  Honestly he had no idea what it was he was going to play but he has watched enough sports that he understood it was going to be his turn.  He was thrilled that it would be him and Mason and that I was going to come watch.  He understood clearly that not everyone was going to play and that it was just the two of him.  He squealed with delight, bounced up and down and screamed "Thank you Mama!" and gave me his biggest hug.  All evening he kept saying "Tomorrow Logan and Mason hockey"

He woke up early Monday talking about hockey.  He greeted me at the door after working saying let's go to hockey.  Here he is talking about it as I gathered what we needed to go.







For Mason this was his first time back on the ice since he fractured his neck playing hockey almost two years ago.  He was happy to be getting to skate too. (Not quite as excited as its not the same)

 

We had some challenges trying to figure out how to attach the hockey stick to his arm.  It would stay attached for awhile and then fall off.  We would have to take him off the ice and reattach.  As we would take him off the ice he would start saying "More hockey! Go more hockey!"

The head coach came over twice and said he hasn't stopped smiling.

I could hear him yelling at Mason to "go go"

 

 

 

 

 

The first thing he asked when it was over was if he could come play hockey tomorrow. 

We have heard a million times

"Hockey Monday!!"

It's been one year

It's been one year!
One year ago today we met a little boy who is missing most of all four limbs.
Today we celebrate a year with him!

 

 

Logan is doing GREAT!!!!

 

He is happy and loves life!

 

Daily we hear " HE IS AMAZING!"  and he is.

 

His English is picking up - actually he has become quite the talker - sometimes he won't stop.

 

He has gained 20 pounds in the last year.  His prosthetic legs only lasted three months because he grew so much.

 

Set number two of the legs are being built.  They will have a new design and functioning knees.

Pasta is his favorite food - good thing as Papa is Italian.

 

Swimming is his favorite activity. 

 

 

He will spend hours putting the cars in the "Bucky."  Thanks to Mamma J we have several "buckies."

 

 

His favorite non pool toys currently are trains.  He will sit and watch the train go round the track for a long time. He has a really nice train set now thank to Aunt Jettye and Uncle Marc.  He also has lots of geotraks thanks to cousins Davis and Dacey.

 

He has a backpack to take to his siblings games with a small train track that he can assemble and play with the train.

 

School has started back.  He likes school but is always eager to come home.

 

Only took four days for him to get in trouble at school this year.  He slyly pushed Mrs. Meyers chair out from behind her as she went to sit down.  She went tumbling - he thought it was funny until he realized he was going to lose swimming time because of it.  He quickly started saying he was sorry and he won't do it again. He is smart!!!

 

His teacher is excited  - she thinks he will learn to read this year!

 

We spend a lot of time at doctors and therapy appointment.  Last Wednesday alone we had three different appointments.  In the future he will have at least three different surgeries.  At this point we are putting them off as they will greatly affect the way he can do things.  We are hoping he can master the new legs first so we do not take away his independence.  There is very little he can't do right now and we want it to stay that way for him.

He loves his siblings and they love him.  It is really cool how he has different relationships with each of them.

Mason is the strong one who Logan loves to have throw him around.

 

Bransen is the sneaky one who teaches Logan how to tease and play his siblings. 

 

Dawsyn and Laura are his helpers!

 

He has been swimming, been skiing, been to Disneyland in California, and been to Disney World in Florida.  He has watched countless cross country meets, volleyball games, softball games, football games, and basketball games. 

 He is loved by all!  It has been a great year!!

 

 

 

Happy Helicopter Day

Logan's birthday was Tuesday.  Everyone except Laura has had their birthday since he came home so he had a general idea of what it was all about.  Actually the last few cousin birthday parties we attended he was mad he didn't get presents.  A few weeks before his birthday he caught on to askng for what he wanted.  His list consisted of 3 things:  A remote control boat to drive in the pool, a new helicopter and a car he could drive.  He said repeated "Happy Helicopter Day - Di (give) me boat"  (He was not being bossy he just has severe speech issues and that was all the words he could string together)

He LOVED his birthday!! We celebrated with my family and Grandpa Vilardo on Sunday.  He received 2 helicopters, two remote control cars and some pool stuff.  He was thrilled.  The three big boxes of presents from us were left in the living room for him to open on his actual day. 

On his actual birthday the boy showed incredible patience as we would not let him open his presents until the whole family was together.  So finally around 7pm he got to open the presents.  He was happy but not as happy as he was yesterday when he actually got to play with all three of them (all the batteries needed to charge)

Yesterday after work we took the boat down to use it in the pool.  Mak and Mamma J were here and got to see how much fun it is when he is excited. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Walking is coming along slowly.  We are at a point where if I push the walker he can walk at a fairly normal pace.  If he pushes the walke it is still super slow.  We have ordered a new walker for him so hopefully that will help.  He is enjoying the freedom that legs give.  He left church before we did because someone opened the door for him.  He loves that he can walk up tot the water fountain and get a drink or play in the water at the kitchen sink.

 

 

 



Spring Break 2013

Because of Mason's scheduled surgery at Cedar Sinai we decided to all go to California for spring break. We spent two days in Santa Monica with the hopes of spending a lot of time at the beach.  Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and the sun only came out for about an hour the two days we were there.  The rest of the time it was cold and wet. But we took advantage of that one hour of sun.  I cannot tell you how many times I watched the big kids interact with Logan and felt my heart swell.  They are so good with him.  He loved it when Mason would throw him up on his back/shoulders and take off running to the beach.  Dawsyn and Bransen were both great for pushing him in the wheelchair and plotting to runaway and hide form everyone else.  Laura is so patient with him.  She carried him up the steps to the waterslide countless times.  No small feat when he weighs as much as her.

 Logan LOVED the ocean.  He was mad he couldn't go out farther and kept saying next time he was wearing his legs and going out deeper.

 

 Rhonda and Raven were sweet enough to host the clan for Easter dinner.  We all enjoyed her delicious lasgna.  After dinner we headed to Disneyland.  The plus of them bumping Mason's admission back a day was I got to go to Disney with Logan for his first time.  Here are the kids enjoying the pool. Some serious matches of chicken fights took place!

 

Logan found out some of the fun of being taller.  Although he can walk slightly with the walker he cannot walk on his own yet.  He did figure out how to rest on the counter and move around.  Then he realized he was tall enough to pull himself up, turn on the water and get a drink.

 This is how we toured Disneyland.  We kept both legs on as we moved around in the chair.  Then when it was our turn on the ride we would pull off the right leg so he could fit on the ride. He is an adrenaline junkie.  The faster and crazier the ride the more he loved it. 

He loves the pool! For hours this is what he would do.

This was the last thing I got to do with him before Mason and I headed to the hospital.  Robert and the kids got to spend three more days at Disneyland before flying home on the day of Mason's surgery.  I think everyone enjoyed spring break.

LEGS!!!!

Although the city we live in has a great Children's medical facility we found it too hard to navigate for a boy that has lots of physical issues.  We started at the adoption clinic, then were sent to pediatric rehab, then to ortho for spine, ortho for arms, ortho for legs, then to the missing limbs clinic.  (Umm why didn't we just get to start there?)

Finally we gave up and headed to Shriner's in Lexington.

 

In one day we met the doctor, prosthetist, did OT and PT.  Then scheduled back to get started with making legs.

After being casted we waited 8 weeks for the legs to be made.

Yesterday we went for a fitting.

Legs ended up being a lot of work.  They are hot, heavy and require muscle usage that have not developed.  One little boy was not so happy when we got home.

But Mom is the queen of pushing her kids to do everything they can and would not let one depressed boy quit.

Very shortly one boy experienced success!!

We still have a long ways to go but in just a few hours we went from not wanting to put on our legs to asking to do it.

It is still hard!

Stamina wise we can only tolerate them on for about 5 minutes but now we can stand on our own for 30 seconds!!

The prosthetist didn't think that would happen for several weeks.

I wonder if we will surprise him by walking when we go back in two weeks???

Overdue Update

Logan is doing great.  We are muddling through many many doctors appointments. We had a great experience at Shriners in Lexington in December.  Saw a couple of different doctors, OT, PT and met with the prosthetist.  Legs are in the works.  We were going to start while we were there but I had made the comment that I thought the little stretching I was doing on his legs was helping.  His legs are always spread apart.  His right leg will not come to the midline and his left leg does not raise in front of him.  Hearing that I thought stretching was working they have decided to wait a month.  They are skeptical it will work but feel strongly that if we can get his right leg to line up underneath him and his left leg to move forward in front he will walk more normally.  So we have been stretching the boy like crazy.  All the kids know how to stretch him so if anyone has free time with them they stretch him.

I was amazed last night with the progress we are making.  I can't wait to show them what we will have accomplished. 

Ok so I am a horrible blogger - the above was written in December.  We did great at stretching.  The Shriner's staff were amazed when we went back three weeks ago.  They casted him for prosthetics.  We should have a trial pair of legs ready in a couple more weeks.

Logan's teacher was thrilled that she understood what he had told her.  He tells everyone he is getting two big legs and one arm.  He then looks at his left arm and says this arm is good.  Although the arm is a ways off we will only do a right arm as he does a bunch of things with his fleshy thumb. He has mastered the iphone and ipad with it. 

Speech wise he has significant delays.  The reality is that years in a crib and in a large group of special needs kids with just a couple of adults did not provide him with much in the way of vocabulary.  The speech therapist is a bit stumped as to how to diagnose him.  We did one round of testing and really did not accomplish much.  So she called back and asked to do more this time with more interpretors. So back we went  - had the ST asking questions, a Ukrainian translator on speaker phone and a Russian translator in the room.  They would show him a picture of something and ask him what it was - an answer in any laguage would have been correct.  He flat out doesn't know words.  He would physically show us what to do with the object (ex. a knife he would pretend to cut, or binoculars he would touch his eyes) but he did not the names of the object.  It was a frustrating hour and a half for all of them.  Not so much for me -  that is how we communicate - a daily game of charades.  He also very seldom will use more than two words together.  If we ask him to say "blue coat"  he will either say blue or coat but not both.  There are exceptions:  batteries nee harasho (batteries no good) and helicopter charge are phrases he uses daily.  This weekend he said two full sentences:  Don't pull Mama's hair.  Don't pull Lyosha's hair.   (Yes he has a hair fetish especially when tired or upset - every night he wants to nestle in my hair before bed - you can figure out what I am telling him daily.  The consequence of meanly pulling Mama's hair is a tug back on his hair)

He is a very happy, content child.  He will do anything we are going to do.  He will eat anything we eat.  He does need a lot of confirmation that we are going home after whatever it is we do. So he will ask if we are going home afterward.  The conversation is usually:  We are going to basketball now  L: damoines puja?  M: After basketball we will eat - Patome basketball kushet patome kushet damoines. He then repeats it over and over and tells anyone we encounter.

Going to stop and post this before I get interrupted again.  I will try for more stories and pictures or videos next.