We are in Kyrgyzstan

We made it!!!

We safely made it to Kyrgyzstan with out any problems.  God definitely took care of us.  It was 24 hours of traveling and everyone did great.  Logan pretty much defied sleep the whole trip and was unphased.  The rest of us did a lot of sleeping in awkward and uncomfortable positions.

The only heart stopping moment was more of a cultural thing.  When we arrived at the Kyrgyzstan airport they told the Vilardo 5 we could not get off the plane because we were waiting on a wheelchair.  We assumed they were getting Logan’s chair out from the bottom of the plane.  We waited deboarded and were met by 5 Kyrgyz military men with one wheelchair – not Logan’s.  They motioned for us to place him in the chair and asked for his passport.  Two of them started walking pushing him and motioned for us to follow.  We reached a set of doors and they went through it and pointed for us to go down the steps.  We walked about two blocks and came to passport control where the rest of the group was waiting at the back of a huge line.  So for about 10 minutes we were Loganless.  Obviously the Kyrgyz military does not know it is not cool to separate a Mama from her child in a foreign country.  All is well.  Logan didn’t care and my blood pressure is back to normal. 

We then all got our luggage and made it through Kyrgyz customs without any problems. John Julie and team were all waiting for us as we exited. 

We had a great dinner with the team back at John and Julies apartment.  Logan got to play with their new rabbit.  They asked him to name it…  he said “rabbit” but with his speech issues they all thought he said “Robert” and named the rabbit after Papa.

At about 9pm Kyrgyz time we divided into our two groups and headed to our apartments.  We have a very clean and small apartment.  We have a bathroom, a kitchen and one room where the 5 of us sleep.  It is perfect.  The rest of the team is staying with Emma and Jengish at their apartment.

In the morning we will be picked up for breakfast at 7:45am and then headed to church in Tokmok and then off to the lost village.  This village was once home to 150,000 and now has 150.  We will be delivering Samaritan Purse Christmas shoeboxes.  How cool to get to deliver them as in past years we have made them….

Here we go

Time to dust off the blog and start some new updates.  We are on our way to Kyrgyzstan.  We will serve there for the next week! (No we are not adopting- We have left Robert and Bransen home to work) We are blessed to have 5 others joining us. (Three from Church and 2 from MVCA). We have completed the first flight and have transferred from La Guardia to JFK, successfully made it through security and have a three hour wait before we board the plane to Moscow.

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.