Milostones: My Big Little Boy

I can hardly believe how big Milo is getting. He is getting taller & he is finally gaining weight at a good rate but he is also becoming such a big boy developmentally. He is constantly wanting to help me, laundry is one of his favorites right now. We have a front loading washing machine and he figured out he can open the door and just loves putting things in it. Now I will admit, not everything he puts in is appropriate for the washing machine, but he's got the idea. I just have to check it before I run it to make sure there isn't, say a flashlight or playing cards, hiding in there :0) He also wants to help make his food. Everyday I make up his food by putting table food into a commercial blender and liquefy it so it can go through this g-tube. He loves helping to pour, he's not a huge fan of the noisy blender, and his favorite thing to do is put the lids on the bottles before & again after I divide up the mixture into his four meals. I finally got him a little step stool so he is tall enough to see and help. His little stool is hauled all over the house to help him play and sometimes get into trouble. Occasionally it has to "disappear"!

A week ago I broke down and converted Milo's crib into the toddler bed. I've known for a while that it is developmentally appropriate for him now. He only has one attachment at night (pulse ox) and it has a pretty long cord so I figured it was time. He just had to be in the middle of everything "helping" as normal but I finally got it done despite his help. He loves his bed! When he is upset and being overly dramatic he runs into his room and flops down on his bed crying and pouting...it really is too cute. I lost track of him one evening and found him in his dark room sitting on his bed, he was tired. My biggest fear was him repeatedly getting up when he was supposed to be going to bed. The first nap he took in his big boy bed I put him back at least 50 times in 45 minutes before he got the message, the second nap was around 30 times but the third was only a couple. Amazingly he has never tried to get up at night (knock on wood), he must be a tired guy!

Milo also had his pre-school evaluation this last week (sniff, sniff) I can't believe he's almost 3. At three years old the public school system is responsible for providing Milo with his necessary therapy and that typically happens in a preschool setting. The evaluation process was, um well, exhausting I guess would be a good word. I had a very active 2 1/2 year old to constantly watch is a new environment full of toys, chairs, and tables (the last two being his favorite things to climb on). They handed me a stack of papers to fill out including his medical history, yeah right like I can fit that in their forms! In the middle of trying to corral Milo and fill out this multitude of paperwork the school nurse comes to do his hearing and eye tests, get a weight and height. I don't think she was very successful at any of it and I had to help her rather than fill out paperwork. The actual evaluation with a speech therapist, occupational therapist & school psychologist went alright. He didn't want to sit and play the games they wanted him to so they could assess his skills. He bounced around the room looking at everything, touching everything and climbing on everything. I'm pretty sure they thought he has ADD :0) Finally he did show off his skills but only on his terms...my stubborn boy. They were all impressed with how much sign language he knows. In early October I'll go back and talk to them about which school he will attend and at what time (I'm praying for morning) and I get the every lovely job of writing an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for him. Oh, I finally did get that paperwork sort of filled out and briefly went over his medical history with the nurse at the end but Milo was bouncing off the walls so she let us go.

I can hardly believe that summer is coming to an end. We have had some fun times in the last month. We went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs with Marissa and Faith and some of our family. Milo and I also went to the Denver Zoo with one of his nurses a couple of weeks ago, that was lots of fun too. Yesterday was our party to celebrate Milo's Naked Neck and boy did we have a great time. Lots of family and friends came to help us celebrate. We are very fortunate to have such a wonderful extended family!!