She respects him

I was in the pick up lane at William's school. I pulled up to the curb and saw him standing there doing a little jig because he could see me in the van. He was standing hand in hand with Mrs. Cindy, his classroom teacher. They were both smiling ear to ear.

She opened the door of the van and handed me his backpack. She then picked up the Hubba-Bubba and put him in his car seat. I said "Hi William! How was school today?" knowing full well that he would only smile back at me instead of answering me with a run on sentence of every thing that he did in three hours. I understood the smile as "it was a good day Mom!".

Mrs. Cindy looked at William while she was buckling him into his car seat and said "William, I am going to tell your Mom what we did today." She continued to tell me about playing with cotton balls, singing in circle time and riding in the wagon. She then looked in William's eyes and said "We had a good time today, didn't we William?"

In that 30 second exchange between the three of us, I knew that she respected him. She respects that he is a person that has thoughts and feelings. She knows that even though he can not express those thoughts and feelings with words he still has them in his head, in his heart, in his mind. Mrs. Cindy could have easily looked at me and gave me the run down of the day, but instead she engaged with Will. She spoke to him as she would have any other child. She was encouraging him to participate in the conversation that I had started with them.

She treated him with respect...

and I love her for that.

Feeding Update

Yesterday we went to see Will's nutritionist, Cassie. It was the first time we have seen her in two months. In the two months, Will didn't gain any weight which is actually a good thing since we were only giving him one tube feeding a day and he was eating the rest of his calories.

So now we are not going to tube feed him at all and let him eat all of his calories. This is so exciting. No more tubes!!

We are going to go back and see Cassie in a month to check Will's weight and make sure everything is okay. She said that even if he loses a pound it will be fine because he has a bit of a weight cushion.

Will's g-tube will remain in his stomach until we are for sure that he no longer needs it. Most doctors say that the tube needs to go unused for a year before they will take it out. The reasoning for this is because we don't want to go through another surgery in order to put in a new g-tube.

NO MORE TUBE FEEDINGS!!! Way to go William!!

We have hit a Milestone!

That's right folks! William has hit a milestone. A pretty significant one. What is it?

William has discovered that he can say NO. We have hit the terrible 2's!!! And I could not be happier.

If I offer Will something that he doesn't want...he shakes his head no.

If I ask him if he wants to eat...he shakes his head no.

If I ask him if he wants to take a nap...he shakes his head no.

If I offer him a toy that he doesn't want...he shakes his head no.

If I bring the spoon to his mouth to give him a bite...he shakes his head no.

He has learned that he can say no and we will listen. I love it.

Snow Angels!

I must have been good this year!

What did I get?? A Mother's ring...or rings, I should say! I have been looking for a ring that was different and didn't necessary look like the traditional Mother's ring.

A friend told me about Cassandra Erin and showed me the rings that she had made for her. I was in love. I had found my rings!

I told Josh about them and when he asked me in November what I wanted for Christmas I knew right away what I would ask for. I told him that I would take care of ordering the rings so that I would for sure get what I was wanting. :-) I didn't want details lost in translation!

Cassandra hand makes all of her jewelry and every that she makes is stunning! The rings were hand delivered to my door step the Monday before Christmas and they are perfect!

*Click on the photos to get a better look!

Each ring has a small inset stone that is the kid's birthstone. Green for William (August) and Pink for Caroline (October)


And on the underside are the kid's names.



*pardon my wrinkle, dry hands...I need some serious lotion!

I love my rings so much because they are discrete. You really have to look at them to know what they are or what they say. And they are meaningful.

Thank you Josh, Caroline and William!