Week 93

We had Ryan's CSE meeting on January 19th and as expected they qualified Ryan for speech services.  We are still annoyed that we wasted all of this time.  He could have been receiving speech services since September.  We are still not pleased with the progress that we are seeing with the program at Wappingers.  He made such great progress by this time last year we are now wondering if we made a mistake in not sending him to a full day program.  But we did meet with his new speech teacher and she seems really nice and we are hopeful that with the twice a six day cycle sessions we will start seeing some progress with Ryan.  We will keep you updated.
 

Getting ready to play in the snow!

Ryan loved throwing snow at Daddy and Julia!

Ryan with his cousin, Johnny.

GFCF brownies!

Making very elaborate paper airplanes with Nonna and Papa!

Happy Birthday Uncle T!  

PC

Ryan and Julia are both very excited about having a baby brother or sister.  Ryan now says he wants a baby brother and might want to name him "Batman Beyond"; too funny!  Now that the baby bump is evident we are getting tons of questions about the sex of the baby.  We are not planning to find out and want to be surprised.  So usually the next question to follow is which we would prefer.  I know it is somewhat of a cliche, but we truly just want a healthy baby.  Once you actually have your own child this statement really hits home.  I look at my children and am so grateful for who they are and what joy they have brought us.  I know we are very lucky!  As difficult as things may sometimes get, and the sacrifices we need to make, it is nothing compared to what others have to face with a truly sick child.  I would feel an enormous amount of guilt and sadness bringing a child into this world who would suffer from pain; sadly there is way too much suffering in this world already! 

DC

Week 82

Happy Veteran's Day!

Ryan had to do a project for Veteran's Day called "Hands for Heroes". He had to trace his hand and we wrote the names of family members serving in the military. The red represents those currently on activity duty (cousins) and yellow for those deceased (my uncle, who I was named after but never met). -PC

Remember Ty, the little boy with cancer who needed a miracle?  Well this week his MRI came back clean, so he may just get the miracle he needs! Back during Week 44 we dedicated our blog post to Ty:  http://theryanexpress512.blogspot.com/2011/02/week-44.html  Check out this news story about Ty's dad running a marathon:  http://www.nbcnewyork.com/video/#%21/news/local/One-Fathers-Special-Reason-to-Run/132827623

Thanks to Uncle T for our visit to Radio City to see the Christmas Spectacular!

Upon the suggestion from a coworker I made the family King Arthur brand GF brownies.  They were excellent; very moist and chocolatey.  The kids loved them, as well as our dinner guests.  I added some GFCF chocolate chunks before baking them, and they were yummy!  I had never seen the mega chunks before but we use Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips all of the time.  You cannot tell the difference between Enjoy Life chocolate morsels and your typical Nestle morsels.  Well, there is one difference... the price.  Usually the 10oz bag is close to $5.  We saw them this weekend at Nature's Pantry for $3.15.  We grabbed several to stock up!  I also picked up a King Arthur chocolate chip cookie mix and when we try those we'll be sure to let you know how they were. 

Ryan (and Julia) loved these brownies, mixed with Enjoy Life chocolate.  Mom, you are always looking for stocking stuffer ideas for the kids.  Hint, hint!

Ryan scored his second goal in soccer this weekend.  Unfortunately I don't have any pictures or video to share because his game was the same time as Julia's rehearsal for the Nutcracker and I haven't figured out how to clone myself just yet.  But I do have a picture of Ryan just before he left for his game.

And I have a video of Ryan kicking the ball around with his dad/assistant coach!

Practicing soccer with daddy

And as if we didn't have enough going on this week, we dressed the kids up in their Sunday best and took pictures for this year's Christmas card.  I will share one of the photos, but that is it.  You'll have to wait for the card to see the entire ensemble.

Okay, I know I said I would only post one picture, but I have to put up this one too.  It was the first one I took, and Ryan was so annoyed that he had to get dressed up and go outside to take pictures.  Good thing we finally got him to laugh, or we would have had to pick a new day to reshoot!

I'll end with the "Awww" moment of the week:

After saying that he loves "mommy, daddy, Julia, and Helen (our cat)", I ask Ryan, "Who else do you have room in your heart to love?" And he replies, "I don't know who else. Maybe if we have another baby and they grow up then I can love them too."

DC

Week 63

Ryan had a great Fourth of July weekend!  Let's start with the brownies.  There are lots of GF, and even many GFCF brownie recipes and box mixes out there, but it is not always easy to find an egg free mix.  Cherrybrook Kitchen makes a GFCF egg free brownie mix.  It's an okay tasting brownie, but the best part is that it is easy to make.  It doesn't call for a lot of ingredients and it is convenient in a pinch.  Making a recipe from scratch may give better tasting results, but Ryan really seems to enjoy these!



For his PARC graduation Ryan received a Melissa and Doug wooden train to paint from grandma.  He's asked several times and it was never a good time to take out the paints and work on this project with Ryan.  But this week we finally had an opportunity to work on it.  He sat with me for about an hour gluing the wheels on the axel, painting the train, and putting on the decals.  Ryan did most of it by himself.  He was patient and he tried really hard to do a good job.  He looked at the picture on the box and wanted his train to look exactly the same. 



So proud of the finished product!



Video:  Ryan's train

Ryan and Julia checking out the tent at papa's house

roasting marshmallows





Ryan having fun in the pool with his family





This week Ryan also went to camp at Noah's Ark for four days.  Besides swimming both morning and afternoon Ryan participated in lots of other activities.  Here are some pictures that were posted by the staff at Noah's Ark.

Ryan making pretzels with Ms. Jessie

Yes, he's petting a snake!



The class made smores one day.  Ryan couldn't eat the chocolate and graham crackers but he still looks so happy with his friends and content just eating the marshmallow.

I'll end with a quote that I just read on the Autism Speaks Facebook page:

"To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funnybone." -Reba McEntire


DC

Day 25

The GFCF brownies are in the oven cooking. We're sending them to daycare with Ryan so that he can celebrate his birthday with his friends at school. They smell good and I even added some mini chocolate chips (GFCF chocolate chips, of course).

Ryan did well taking his medicine tonight. He's developed a routine already. He has to sit in one particular spot on the kitchen counter. And he must take it in a syringe with me holding his chin. And after each small push of the syringe he swallows, takes a sip of water, and then continues to take the medicine. I tried to give it to him tonight in the opening between our family room and kitchen so that he could continue watching a show (another bedtime ritual) but he said, "No mama, I have to take it here" and he proceeded into the kitchen to his spot at the counter, where I had to hoist him up.

And we were able to get a third day of stool samples. We packaged everything up according to the directions, and FedEx is picking up the box tomorrow. I was getting nervous that we weren't going to get the third sample, and the lab has to receive it within five days of the first sample. So tonight was our last chance, and he pulled through for us! What a good boy!

Tomorrow is Ryan's birthday; 4 years old! Many friends and family members will be wearing our official t-shirt of The Ryan Express.

DC