Life with Luke (and his doctors!)

It has been so long since I last updated about Luke.  So much has transpired since.  First an update on all of his medical "stuff":

After Luke's appointment with his eye Dr. in January we decreased the patching of the right eye down to one hour a week.  At that appointment it was also noticed that he was in need of a new prescription.  Thankfully, our vision insurance has been wonderful through all of this, and they expedited our eligibility for new lenses, so Luke got those right away.  More recently we re-visited the eye doctor in April and received the good news that with his new glasses, Luke's vision is now 20/20 in both eyes!  She also decreased the patching even further, to just a few times a month for one hour and pushed out his next check-up to 10 weeks.

I found a new ENT specialist who will now handle all of his ear care (if needed).  She came highly recommended from Dr. Dugoni and is also at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital.  We met with her back in January and she had a good look at Luke's ears.  She thought that the ear drums looked healthy and as though they were healing well after the tube removal.  She also did not note any fluid behind the ear drums at that time, so suggested that we handle ear infections normally through Dr. Dugoni and come to see her only if they start to become recurrent again.  VERY good news!  A huge relief.  That being said, Luke had a great winter and managed to escape ear infections almost entirely.  The day after we returned from NJ, he did start to run a fever and complain of ear pain, but when I took him in his right ear was completely full of fluid, but did not appear to be infected.  He started on Claritin in the hopes that it would allow the ear canal to drain and would dry up any fluid.  Since then I have noticed Luke asking me to repeat what I say quite often, so I am concerned that that ear continues to be filled with fluid.  Although thankful that it isn't infected, I am concerned about his compromised hearing, so we may need to pay another visit to Dr. Dugoni and/or the ENT Dr. in the near future.

Now for the most exciting news:  Since the end of January, Luke has been participating in twice-weekly, one-on-one speech therapy with a wonderful (really, wonderful) speech therapist out of Lucile Packard, Miss Amy.  After Luke's initial assessment, she noted quite a few two-letter blends that he was substituting other sounds for that she determined necessary to work on.  So, Luke and I made the trek up to Menlo Park (NOT fun in rush hour traffic) twice a week to visit Miss Amy.  Despite the drive, I have to say that it was really worth our time and effort.  I can't imagine Luke loving his sessions or his therapist any more, and we were able to start seeing (hearing) results relatively quickly.  We practiced at home and Luke worked very hard ... and I am thrilled to say that after about 10 weeks of therapy, Luke was released on April 19th!   After taking a few weeks off, we went back for one last appointment to be sure that what he had worked on was being retained and generalized throughout his speech ... it was, and so we said goodbye and a very heartfelt thank you to Miss Amy (Luke was actually very sad to part with her ... I was not sad to part with the hours in the car two mornings a week).  We are incredibly proud of Luke and the progress he has made.
With all that aside, here's a bit about Luke and what he's like at 4 years, 9 months old:

He has gained some weight in recent months and is weighing in at almost exactly 40lbs.  Not sure on his height, but believe it is nearing 43".  He is now wearing mostly size 5 in clothing and size 11 shoe.  His food intake has increased drastically over the past few months - I suppose he was feeding that growth spurt.  However, he continues to be be the pickiest eater EVER. :(

Luke is very full of energy these days.  His brain is going about a bazillion miles a minute and he has a TON of information to share and questions to ask.  All. The. Time.  If he isn't talking, he can often be found singing, humming, or making other random sounds (whistling, squeaking, drumming, etc.)  Basically, unless he's involved with a task, he is not quiet!

He loves, loves, LOVES school (yay!).  He is always happy to go and gets excited when it's a school day.  He spends much of his time there playing with his best friend, Christopher (who he now refers to as "Chris").  Apparently they spend a good portion of their choice time at school in the sandbox, judging from the amount of sand that comes home in his shoes and pockets each day.  Luke has had the pleasure of being in Miss Sharada's small group this year and she was such a wonderful match for Luke.  She has worked quite a lot with him on his social skills, as well as really encouraging him to explore things that interest him.  As a result, we've seen his mathematical skills skyrocket (he's a whiz at addition, is starting subtraction, and has an amazing start at understanding the concept of multiplication - we can now see very clearly that he is very mathematical minded), and his reading skills begin to blossom (he is reading very simple rhyming words and sentences made up of such words).  Luke's end of year report card was very, very impressive - we were so happy to see the progress he has made throughout his years at Mandala (more on that in the coming weeks as our preschool boy "graduates!")

Luke continues to take weekly swimming lessons.  He is a "Sea Turtle" and is working on arm strokes while maintaining strong kicks (a bit difficult still to coordinate those for Luke), as well as roll-overs.  Luke is taking a break from soccer for a few months while we are neck-deep in tball, which he seems to really enjoy also.

Favorite things right now:
-swinging on the swings in the backyard (he's become an excellent "pumper" and is content to be out there and swing for 20 or 30 minutes alone).
-playing educational apps on the ipad
-Care Bears (that *might* be Mommy's fault)
-Building with legos or Daddy's old Construx (he can often be found doing this early in the morning before the rest of the house is awake)
-Helping cook in the kitchen or water plants in the yard
-Playing board or card games

Luke is still such a sweet, loving, affectionate little boy.  We are so, so lucky.  Aside from the difficulties he occasionally has with his sister, he is a very easy kid.  We love him to the moon ... and back.

Monster jammies

Trying out our new monster pjs and rocking on the deck on a warm April evening at Day and Paw's

Spring Trip to the East Coast: NYC

At the very top of my list of favorites things in all of the world is New York City.

No trip to the east coast is really complete, in my opinion, without a visit.  Luke has visited Brooklyn and Yankee Stadium, but this marked Mia's first visit to Mommy and Daddy's most favorite city.

This year it was very apparent to us both that we needed to visit the 9/11 Memorial.  This was an emotional visit for us, but in some ways, since we had the kids along with us, I was very thankful that the museum is not yet open.  Months ago when we first planned our time to visit NYC, we started to talk to Luke about 9/11.  Obviously, we did it in the most age appropriate way possible.  I found it to be incredibly difficult to explain to a 4 year old ... after all, it is nearly impossible to explain to an adult.  We bought some children's books that broached the topic:  Fireboat and The Little Chapel that Stood, and helped to explain things that I simply can't find the words to.

Michael and I said to one another when watching the unveiling of the 9/11 memorial pools on TV what an incredibly beautiful, dramatic, perfect tribute they were.  Our visit to them reiterated this a million times over. 

Freedom Tower

Without talking about it ahead of time, Michael and I instantly agreed that there would be absolutely no photos of us or our kids standing in front of the memorial pools and smiling.  After all, what's to smile about?  But, this photo (taken by Peter with his phone) took my breath away when I first saw it.  Mia, looking over into the pools, her hands leaning on the names of the deceased, with the museum in the background mimicking a fallen tower.  It captures more than I could ever say...


I was so proud of Luke. It's really important to us that both of our kids realize what happened on that very dark day. When we first arrived, Luke asked when we would see the twin towers. I reminded him that they had both fallen down. He saw the pools and said very little.  After a long day of doing the city, he still very much wanted to visit St. Paul's (the chapel featured in his book).  When we arrived there, our last stop before heading home, he absolutely got it.  As I held his little hand, he told me what he understood, "So, Mommy, the towers used to be where those waterfalls are.  And, this is the church where the firemen hung their boots ... and some of them never came back here because they died with all of the other people who they were trying to help in the towers, right?"

Trinity Cathedral - just down the street from St. Paul's

It was certainly a day of mixed emotions.  As we walked the city, I realized how familiar it all still felt, how comfortable.  I love that.

 The city was absolutely gorgeous and in full bloom

Cherry Blossoms ... my absolute favorite

Mia enjoying a soft pretzel from a cart ... and me with the lovely blossoms

Battery Park

Tulips...

...everywhere!

Luke's request for the day was to be sure that he laid his eyes on the Statue of Liberty.  We determined that the best way to do that in a short(ish) amount of time was to take the Staten Island Ferry over and back.  

"There she is!"

Mia and I with the Statue of Liberty (fondly referred to as "Sherry" by Mia) in the background

Luke and his new BFFs, Stephanie and Peter, on the ferry.  He spent the better part of the day walking around the city and holding one of their hands.  He just adored them both (how could he not?)

I feel really badly that after all of that so that Luke could see Lady Liberty, I didn't even get a good picture of him with her in the background. :(

A few more snapshots of the city...

Mia eventually gave in and fell asleep in the backpack, amidst the hustle and bustle of the city.

In the car heading back to Grandma and Grandpas:

Spring trip to the East Coast: The Crayola Factory

My Aunt Chris has been suggesting for years (yes, YEARS) now that we make a trip out to the Crayola Factory during one of our visits to the east coast.  Somehow, our trips always seem rushed:  too many people to see, things to do, and "necessary" places to go ... anAd the Crayola Factory never happened.

This time, in planning this trip, we decided to spend a few extra days to give us the time to go and do things that we always seem to run out of time for.

All that to say, we spent a super fun day at The Crayola Factory with Grandma, Aunt Chris, and cousins Courtney and Kelsey during this visit!  And, I must say, the place is AH-MAZING.  So much for the kids to do (so much that I loved to do!).  There are tons of different Crayola products to try, some special items that you won't see anywhere else, and although there was so much to do, it never seemed overwhelming.  We spent several hours and I felt like we had the opportunity to try just about everything.  This is somewhere that I would love to take the kids back to. 

Dry Erase crayons on a "white board" car ("don't try this at home."  I might have said that a few times to Mia!)





So many crayons and coloring supplies everywhere!

Watercolors

Chalk

One area that utilized hot wax had a height limit to go unattended. After Luke stood to check if he measured up, little copycat Mia had to do exactly the same

Model Magic area (Courtney and Kelsey are experts!)

The kids loved all of their take-home goodies, including unreleased colors of crayons and markers, and tons of Model Magic.  Other prized items include the coloring pages that print a photo of each child onto them with their favorite character (Luke's is with Lightening McQueen, Mia's is with Cinderella).  Such fun!

Spring Trip to the East Coast: Easter

We had an amazing Easter in New Jersey this year.  The weather, the food, the egg hunt, the company ... everything was just perfect.

The kids found their hidden baskets by following the little chocolate eggs that the bunny left behind - color-coded, blue for Luke, pink for Mia

Checking out his basket goodies...

...while Mia goes straight for the candy (and yes, it is not even 9am)

Getting her hair tamed

Sweet Easter kisses

Happy Easter!

The family on Easter morning

The bunny came to the Zyla's!  An egg hunt in their picturesque yard.

Easter Tattoos

Exploring the creek

Swinging in the hammock

Cupcakes!

Wearing Courtney's sunglasses

Opening all of her eggs

Chocolate-dipped strawberries (and there was so much delicious food - the kids were in heaven with flower-shaped cheese sandwiches, yogurts, fruit, and cupcakes!)

On to Easter dinner at the Vitiellos' ... and the Bunny pays a visit!

Mia's not so sure...

Checking out the bunny from the safety of the staircase

Going in for a nose pat

Thank you to everyone who made this Easter so special for us.  Grandma and Grandpa, the Zyla-Endris family, and the Vitiello's (and the Bunny, of course!).  We are so grateful to have had this time with you all.  XO