Lellow

What an amazing week it has been so far...and our little warrior may just be moving to the floor tomorrow!   Ryder had a good visit w/grandma and grandpa this weekend and I took Christmas pictures of he and Addy on Sunday - not going to lie, can't stop looking at them.  He is wearing a little Santa hat and looks like a chubby elf.  I could just eat him up. 

The other fun part of our week was Addy's very first parent-teacher conference for preschool.  She is such a big girl!  Of course Addy has been "a delight" in school - she is so funny I don't know how it would be possible to not be entertained by her.  She spends most of her day with "practical life" montessori activities - i.e. washing windows, polishing metals, sorting things.  No surprise there.  She is apparently very "busy".  Maybe that is why she can't sleep at night...still thinking of all she has to do.  She writes "lists" at home, an activity she of course picked up from me (and with help from the Frog and Toad story - if you haven't read it it's a good one - Toad starts his list after waking up with "wake up" just so he can cross it out).  The lists are great, since she obviously can't write, but she makes perfect little squiggles on each line of a notepad.  I can't even keep track of all the funny thinks she says.  The other day she was talking about Ross -she still is processing the fact that he works at Children's and Ryder lives here but one has nothing to do with the other.  She said I am going to see daddy in Ryder's room, but he won't be at work there because he doesn't do work.  Funny. 

It is so easy to look at our Ryder and see how far he has come; to see how much he has overcome, developed and grown.  If you don't believe in miracles, then you probably haven't see any of my photos.  Though no photo could compare to remembering how he looked after his first surgery or worse, how he looked when he had to be pulled of ECMO post-op day 3.  Frail, blue, cold, battered.  On full life support, surrounded by IV poles with so many pumps we lost count.  So sad I couldn't even take his picture yet.  Compare that to now.  He is so perfect.

What I sometimes lose sight of is how much Addy has grown since Ryder has been here.  Almost 9 months for a 2 (now three) year-old is an eternity.  In the last 8 1/2 months she became a big sister.  She moved daycare rooms and then stayed at home with our nanny (who we were hoping would be at home with Ryder), and she is now in preschool.  She started dance class.  She LISTENS in dance class.  She has a new BFF neighbor who she actually will shrare toys with.  She has learned all her letters, can [sort of] write her name and is doing great with numbers.  She stopped wearing pullups for naps.  She is awesome.  We are so lucky to have her - can you believe a toddler who has been carted back and forth to a hosptial a million times, missed time with mommy and/or daddy, is forced to try and figure out why other kids have baby brothers or sisters at home and hers is still at the hospital and she never complains.  She only cries about it when she can't come visit him.  She is such a good big sister.  She is getting soooo big.  Sometimes, I forget that.  And then the other day she said yellow.  Not lellow.  I asked her again what color her sun was - "yellow".  Seriously?!? My baby girl can make a "Y" sound?  What are we going to do.  Wait until she says Ryder instead of Wyder.  I will be a mess. 

Addy, big sis tattoo!



Addy, taking being a big sis seriously!!