"Cleo"

John brought a little friend home from Matthew to Luca. Most people would call him Clifford and that is what his name tag says, but since Luca loves girls he has decided that Clifford is a girl dog and so he calls her Cleo (a girl dog in the Clifford book series). He loves "Cleo" and is sure to have "her" with him whenever he is in his bed! He asked me yesterday to take a picture of him and Cleo, so here it is! Thank you Matthew!

Chicago

Here are a few pictures that John took during his week in Chicago. He spend much of the week at the hospital with Matthew and Heather and Moises. He also got to play with his niece and nephew a little bit and here are a few pictures of Amelie and Nathan playing too. Amelie is Matthew's amazing big sister and Nathan's is Matthew's cousin who also lives in Chicago!

Daddy's little helper

Luca and I are very happy that John is back after an important week in Chicago with his family helping to care for our little nephew Matthew. We just got word from Moises that Matthew is feeling a little better this afternoon and even at cheerios and went on a wagon ride. I hope a sign that he is feeling better and will continue to.

John and Luca had a lot of fun this afternoon working on the future basement bedroom (Luca or baby girl's new bedroom). Luca thought that the drill was a little loud so wanted to put on daddy's earmuffs. Similar to the ones he wore at Children's when his casts came off. Luca loves to help John work on the house and all the projects. The end of the drill has a magnet so he can pretty easily put a screw on it for daddy. It is very for him to participate!

Airplane Museum

drumming

Update from Chicago

Matthew is showing signs of recovery today. His dad wrote, "Matthew woke up several times on his own throughout the day which is a good sign. He interacted with us some and after about an hour went back to sleep. The EEG results showed overall inflammation instead if localized which is also a good thing.  They also indicated overall slowness which is consistent with his condition since the brain is trying to heal."
Please continue to pray for him and his family. 

Casting

We went in to Children's for Luca's last cast. Side note: When we pulled in to Children's Luca asked, "is Matthew at this hospital  Can I go see him?" I explained that Matthew lives in Chicago which is far away and is in a different hospital there. Luca was disappointed this morning that he could not go on the airplane with Daddy to go visit Matthew, of course.
Back to Casting:
 I told Luca this morning that this next cast was going to be on longer (2 weeks) and to pick a color he really liked. He had decided on purple again. (I think purple was my personal favorite), anyway, we did the cast removal routine, put the ear muffs on (so he couldn't hear the sound of the cast saw) and the old one came off. I cleaned his foot and got it ready for the new AFO's to be molded. Greg, the great guy who makes Luca's AFO's, came in and tried his old ones on him. He thought they still fit pretty well. Then Dr. Mosca came in and checked out Luca's feet and his AFO's. Dr. Mosca said, "These still fit great and have great position." I don't need to cast him. I was shocked. Luca said, "Thank you Dr. Mosca."
Greg left the casting room to put new straps on Luca's AFO's and I got our things together. Greg came back about 10 mins. later, put Luca's AFO's on and I told Luca, "time to go." Luca said, "I want my cast, and then louder and louder, "I WANT MY CAST." This kid could be the poster child for the cast room. He did not want to leave without his purple cast. That is what he sat quietly in the backseat of the car for 45 mins. to get here to do right? I told Luca, he didn't need a cast and put him in the wagon we were using. He got over it quickly but I cracks me up to no end. I am very grateful for no casts and I can't wait to give him a long bath this afternoon!

Matthew

John's nephew, Heather and Moises's son, Matthew is still very sick in the hospital. John flew out this morning to be with his family in Chicago this week. I am glad he can be near them during this difficult and scary time. Please continue to pray for Matthew and his family.

pray

Please pray for Luca's cousin, Matthew, who is two years old and in the hospital with meningitis and is very sick. He has been at the hospital since Sat.

Playing the drums

Outing with Layna

Luca, Layna and I went on the bus to the junction in West Seattle this morning. Luca wore undies and stayed dry the whole time (thankfully there are lots of places with potties at the junction) We went the the pet store and the toy store. Luca quote while holding Layna's hand, "I am so glad that you are my friend, Layna."

Another new cast

Luca got another new cast yesterday. He picked for it to be blue like Choo-choo Thomas or Thomas the train. Luca did great during the casting, it was the hour waiting in the casting room for the dr. to get there that made us both struggle. An hour is a long time when you are two or a two year old's mom. It also took an hour to get home because of traffic. I was so glad Luca feel asleep in the car, it helped us both relax.

Potty Training and growing up

We have started potty training...again...today. Already had three wet undies and a chunk in one of them...but since he is going every 10-15 mins. there isn't a lot of mess on the floor...This is a tiring process, but after spending another $40 on overnight and reg. diapers yesterday I thought....I want to be done buying diapers at least till Feb. I am motivated again and hopefully this time we will get it.
Growing up:
Pacifier/Binkie is gone. Luca bit holes it in and we threw it away...no more binkies for this big boy! I am proud of him and glad he can sleep without it now. He is very attached to his elephant blanket and his little panda stuffed animal at the moment.
Naps...another thing I am not ready for him to grow out of but he seems to be struggling to fall asleep in the day. I would say every other day he skips his nap. He always has rest time which is really important for me to survive but he is much happier in the evening if he can sleep too.
Below are a few more pictures from the photo shoot with Heather Dickerson. Luca loves going down the slide!

New Cast

I took Luca to get his cast changed today. He was a little more weepy then last time. He did not want the vacuum to cut is cast off and cried  and kicked pretty hard through that part (which didn't last more than 2 mins.) After that part was over he was calm and content. He picked pink again. As Dr. Mosca put it, "Luca is trying to change gender stereo types one cast at a time:)" Real men wear pink he likes to tell Luca.
Luca got a little ice cream in the Children's cafeteria after the casting and told me, "this is a fun day." so I guess it really can't be that bad.
Luca also asked on the way home when the pink cast will come off. I think he gets the idea that it won't be on for too long, I told him five days. He will be able to start walking on it in a few hours which will be nice for everyone.

Luca talking

Yesterday during Luca's "nap" (he was in his bed but never fell asleep) I heard him talking and started typing down what he said. Here is what I heard:

I will play with Kianna and

then mommy will say "what is going on" and daddy will say "what's up" 

Isn't it wonderful to have a good day in my bed

then I get on a big bike and go weee down the hill 

then we play baseball bat and get our hands dirty, that is a fun game, and then hit panda and the ball with the baseball bat and crack the ball with the baseball bat and crash

off we GO, off we go, off we go, off we go, off we go......

I wonder what the whole two hour conversation with himself was about since this was just a few mins. He is hilarious!