3 Years Old

Abe just celebrated his 3rd birthday last week. Since he loves the sound of fire truck sirens we had a fire truck themed birthday party. He loved having kids over to play with. Instead of traditional birthday gifts we gave people the option to donate to Bremerton Beyond Accessible Play thru the Holly Ridge website. Bremerton Beyond Accessible Play is a group of parents of special needs kids and special education teachers that are trying to get Evergreen park in Bremerton, WA remolded with new play equipment and landscape. The remolded will take into consideration children with physical as well as sensory disabilities. In addition the goal is to make the park a place where all families can play and have access to the play equipment. For example an active duty military person may have been injured and is not able to access other play equipment to participate with their "typically developing" children. Changing the play equipment at park to be handicap accessible will also allow elderly grandparents that are not as mobile to actively play with their grandchildren. I can not wait for the grand opening after the remodel is completed. Abe continues to amaze us. He is still developmentally delayed but is making huge progress. We decided that he will attend the developmental preschool with all ambulatory kids. He will be the lowest functioning kid in the class however this may motivate him to want to do more things. He will start next week. He recently has enjoyed being in his stander, a piece of medical equipment that holds him in a standing position. It has wheels and he enjoys moving around in a circle. This will help strengthen is trunk muscles. I added pop beads (usually put on bicycle wheels) to the wheels to give auditory feedback while he is moving. He loves them. I know I had them on my bike when I was a kid. I only could find them online and at REI. When I was a kid I think a lot of places sold them. Abe started pool therapy 2 x a month with a new PT. He absolutely loved it. She thought maybe he would last only a 1/2 hour but he did over 1 hour. She worked very well with him. He will continue regular PT as well but only 2x a month since he rotates each week between land and pool PT. The pool PT really helps with his constipation problem too. He has lots of big changes now that he is 3 years old. He sees neurodevelopment, eye doctor and will have a thyroid ultrasound this week. If his thyroid ultrasound shows a normal glan then he will be taken off thyroid medication. We really don't know if his thyroid problem is congenital, related to prematurity or the brain injury. He started the medication while still in NICU. He was left on the medication for 3 years because thyroid hormone assists with brain development so even with normal TSH and free T4 levels endocrine said he would remain on it. Now that he is 3 years old we will make a decision based on the ultrasound results. Here is what is going on with us, I have a 7 mm kidney stone that is in my ureter. I was concerned that my diverticuliticum came back again since I continue to have bladder infection symptoms. Last week I had a lot of pain, of course on Abe's IEP day, and 2 days later a CT scan which showed the deeply embedded kidney stone decided to try to leave. I was put on a medication to help relax the urinary system which makes it easier for the stone to leave the body. Next week I have an x-ray scheduled to make sure it was passed. I would really like to try for another kid. It seems like everywhere I go someone is just about to have a baby or is pregnant. I really think Abe would benefit from having a sibling around 24/7. I am still very nervous but am having more peace about it. We would like the kidney stone to resolve and our Bremerton house to sell before trying for another baby. I also need to lose some weight. Last week I was asked at church "when are you due" and I 100% NOT pregnant. This was a wake up call. After my last surgery it took awhile to get back into normal daily activities plus since we live further away from Abe's therapies I spend more time sitting in the car than I use to. We did walk today since the sun was actually out. I am hoping that as the weather warms up we can get out more. Also I can walk while Abe is in preschool since they want him to be without me in the class. I will update after my follow up appointment or if I know for sure the stone passed.