trips during April

When I wasn’t feeling well during the past few months and also because of the cold weather, Jake didn’t really get to go anywhere on the weekends other than to grandma’s house. After a few months of hibernation, we finally started taking Jake out on the weekends in April.

Let’s see, we went to the Science Museum in Queens earlier during the month. While some of the more complicated stations were not big hits with him, Jake was into some of the hands on stations which was nice to see. Here is a picture of Jake “unbuilding” something at one of the stations.

During Easter weekend, we also went to Potomac Park in Washington DC, it was a beautiful day and Jake got to ride a pedal boat with Daddy, cousin Michael and cousin Cynthia.
The next day, we all went to Luray Caverns, which is located in Luray, VA, the caverns were first discovered in 1878, and every inch of the formation takes 120 years. Amazing, isn’t it? Being that the caverns are all underground, it was rather disable friendly. Once you get down the initial 70 some steps, the entire walkway which was about 1 ½ miles long was built on flat pavements, so Jake was able to ride in his stroller the whole time. My sister helped carry the stroller while my husband carried Jake down and up the initial steps.

This past weekend the weather was unseasonably warm, we went to Bear Mountain State Park in Bear Mountain, NY. I remember we went there back in 2006, I even wrote about it as one of my first blog entries. So I thought it would be fun to post pictures of Jake during last trip and this trip to the park. Can’t believe how much he has grown, and I clearly have as well.



That is it for now, we do have more trips planned for in May, come back to visit us if you would like to know when and where!

First update in 2009

I haven’t updated once in the New Year?! My bad. I was very sick for a few months, but no worry, I am much better now.

Jake had a fairly uneventful winter season, no major illness – knock on wood. There was also a lack of outstanding improvement to speak of, another reason for my lack of update. However this week, while still recovering from a cold, Jake showed improvement in his walking. Today he took 64 independent steps without falling, which is his best record yet. I was just thinking about 3 years ago, he couldn’t even stand independently for one second, today he walked 64 steps. This transformation probably takes less than a month for a “typical toddler” who is learning to walk, (it is a rough estimate on my part since I have no personal experience raising a “typical toddler”), and it has taken Jake over three years and countless hours of physical therapy. But as the saying goes, it is better to be late than never. I am more hopeful than ever that Jake will be an independent walker, at least for short distance indoor ambulation.

In March 09, we also had a stair glide installed curtsy of the NY State Medicaid Waiver program. It is a program for disabled children whose families do not qualify for Medicaid. One of the benefits is once a year the program pays for a home modification project if needed. Since we moved into our new house, Jake’s bedroom is on the second floor, we thought it was necessary to install the stair glide for Jake. Here is a picture of Jake thoroughly enjoying his new ride.

The third big update is that … well, remember I wrote in the beginning, I was very sick for a few months, yeah, very sick. Let’s see, the symptoms were extreme nausea, frequent vomiting, fatigue, couldn’t keep any food down, felt horrible all the time, etc. The good news is by month 5; most of the symptoms have significantly reduced. If you still can’t figure out the source of my illness, then there is only one thing left to say, Jake will finally be a big brother this August. I just had the 20 week anatomy ultrasound, and according to the medical professionals, all is well with the baby. Still, I am nervous and I am keeping my fingers crossed that this one will grow up on “auto-pilot”, as how one of my friends who also has a special needs child describes her typical second child.

That is all for now, I hope it doesn’t take me another 4 months to do a second update.