Challenges

Today was Landon's first day at a 3 day summer camp at a local gymnastics studio (Gymsport if you are local)... There was a deal on Living Social and my sister-in-law was signing my niece up for a camp. The class is for 3-6 year old children which made me a bit anxious because Landon is such a young 3 year old (physically, socially, verbally etc).. But, Jimmy suggested that we give it a try. Jimmy is a big advocate for exposing kids to those a little older so they can learn from them and be challenged a bit- I agree so we went for it. I knew that it was not going to go smoothly. His cousin, who he adores, is in the class but I knew that it probably wouldn't help all that much. Landon does or does not do whatever he wants and no one can change his mind. I know, I know.. if he stays that way I will be a very happy mother of a teenager, but sometimes now I would like for him to give into peer pressure (sometimes). We got there 40 minutes early (shame on mommy for not confirming the time before we left).. Anyway, I thought it may work to our advantage to let him check things out and talk to his coach for a little bit before he was asked to leave my side. When it was time to start, his teacher led the class onto the mat and asked Landon if he was ready. "Yes!," he said excitedly. He then turned to look at me, sitting down holding Jordan, and he freaked! Coach Dana took him and sat him on her lap and began the class. He cried and cried and cried despite the fact that I was about 15 feet away and he was facing me. After a few minutes, she let him go and he ran back to me. So I had to think.. how was I going to handle this one? The never ending question for parents, right? I told him that if he chose not to go with his teacher, that he needed to sit and watch and was not allowed to run around and play. It kind of backfired. Landon is a people watcher so certainly didn't mind sitting safely with me on the bench watching the other kids. His coach tried a couple more times to get him to come out and then told me that I could come out with him if I wanted. Luckily, my brother-in-law was there with my niece so he took over baby duty with Jordan. I started off by staying close by and encouraging him to participate, but again, he was perfectly happy to sit next to me and watch. So, with the okay from his coach, I "assisted" in getting my son to participate in the class. I watched as she picked him up, placed him on the balance beam let him walk across and then immediately put him on the bar for the next activity. At the next station the kids had an opportunity to go on the little zip line and fall into a pool of foam blocks, go down a sliding board into the foam blocks, jump on a trampoline among a few other activities. All Landon wanted to do was jump on the trampoline, but quickly got off or ran away if another child got near it. So, I picked him up and put him on the zip line (holding onto his hands as he held on and kept a hold of him as he went into the pool of foam blocks.. then picked him up and put him on the slide a few times each. There is such a fine line between respecting his personality/temperament and encouraging him to try things and take chances. His bone health is good now (we have scans to show that)... I am sympathetic that he may get tired more quickly than other kids and that he is behind in his gross motor skills. I keep an eye on how he is acting and responding to his environment, but I want to help him to build confidence and know that he is capable. I think I may try to sign him up for another camp or even a class at this gym. It will challenge him a bit and hopefully keep him on track for going back to preschool in the fall and going without me. He also can use the help with his gross motor skills. I think if we stick with this that it help build confidence in him. He is so cautious which is not a bad thing.. it will keep him safe and he probably will never be a kid that I have to worry all that much about as far as getting hurt, but being anxious and scared is a tough place to be. We're up for the challenge... Landon has amazed me in so many ways and has come such a long way. This is just another step...

Fundraiser Updates!

Below I included the link to a video that Jimmy and I (mostly Jimmy) created that includes pictures that our friend, Leah, took at the golf outing. http://animoto.com/play/E0g2gY92m7wXcwJg1zVDfw This event raised over $16,000 for the Cystinosis Research Foundation! I have to tell you all about another fundraiser that was done. My dad's cousin works in the special education department at a local high school. As part of the program, they have a cafe in which students can purchase drinks and snack items. Each month, they choose an organization to donate their proceeds to. For the month of May they chose to donate to the CRF in honor of Landon. They donated $2,000! Isn't that awesome?! In other news, a friend of ours, Amber, talked to us about the possibility of holding a motorcycle ride to raise money for the CRF as well. A family member of hers has done this before and expressed interest in organizing it when she heard about Landon. Incredible, incredible, incredible! People are so good and so kind. We are also beginning to think about the Halloween event. Mark your calendars for November 2nd. It will be held at the same location that we have had it the past 2 years- The Home Economics Building in South Park.

Fundraisers, Eating, Eyes Drops and probably more..

I will begin by saying that the 2nd Annual Lots of Love for Landon Golf Event was a success and we are so thankful to so many people. I will include more information when we have a final amount raised and pictures to share. It was great!! I was thinking today as I watched Landon sit at his picnic table in the back yard eating his lunch how proud I am of him, but also how sad I feel at times that as normal and healthy as he seems it is just a bit more complicated. I have posted a lot in the past about our struggles in getting him to eat. We so desperately wanted to sit at the table or go to a restaurant and for Landon to eat with us. And now he does! It was a nice day today so we played outside for a while and ate lunch at the picnic table. Landon sat with his plate in front of him including macaroni and cheese, lettuce with Ranch dressing and strawberries. He ate every bit of what was on his plate and finished it off with apple juice. This is not unusual for lunch and dinner, although like any other kid, he has great meals and some not so great. Yes, like any other kid. I feel like Landon eats as well now as his peers. He probably doesn't snack like many of his peers do because generally he has a good lunch and a good dinner. Breakfast is tough- he sometimes will have a few bites of scrambled eggs but generally he isn't interested in having breakfast. But it made me think, I wish that's all it took- to be just like the other kids, for him to not require the calories that he gets from 24oz of toddler formula. I still shoot that formula through a syringe, 2oz at a time, several times throughout the day. And today I thought- if I only gave him mac n cheese, it would have had more calories than the salad and strawberries. It's another struggle. Do I offer healthy feeds that don't contain a lot of calories in hopes that he will develop a healthy diet in which he eats a variety of food or do I not worry about that now and focus on getting the calories in him and getting him off the formula. My mama instinct tells me to get over the fact that we still need to give him this formula- yes, get over it, Lauren! It's more important that he eats, tries a variety of food and eats healthy foods with great nutritional value. On to the eye drops. It's getting easier. He is consistently getting them 3 times a day. Today I had to give them to his teddy bear, myself, daddy (when he came home) and then to Landon last. Daddy was told to choose a prize from the prize bag after he got his drops- not sure why this wasn't offered to myself or teddy. I have to work to open his eye to get the drops in and he screeches and then gets down when we are done, picks his prize and plays with it. He's not really even crying anymore- just squeezing his eyes shut and trying to hold onto my hand as I do it. I can't say I wouldn't do the same thing. You should see me at the eye doctor's office when they try to shoot that air into my eye for the glaucoma test (I think that's what they are testing?). Nothing in the world makes me more anxious (except getting my eye brows waxed)- okay I digress.. So that's about it... I will post a link to a video that Jimmy and I are working on that will display pictures taken at the golf event.

It's hard to title these posts anymore...

I think I always begin my posts but stating how busy we've been. So, I will not this time! (We are though!)... All is well, very well! This Friday is our 2nd annual Lots of Love for Landon golf outing organized by some pretty awesome uncles that Landon (and Jordan) have... I cannot say enough how awesome our families are! If they are not taking something like this head on, they are supporting us in making things happen! Every one of Landon's aunts, uncles and grandparents are involved in some way whether it be organizing, helping with support that day, watching the other kiddos so that moms and dads can give 100% to the event.. whatever.. they are there! We also have some pretty incredible friends who have insisted that they are helping without giving us opportunity to say "no, that's okay!" I will update about the event after it happens! Stay tuned! Landon is doing so well! We get little reminders every day that he is no longer our fragile baby but is a rambunctious little boy! His personality shines through more and more all the time. He's funny- very funny! He dances (and tells me "sing mommy, sing!- no buddy, you want me to dance, not sing!").. He tells stories which are hysterical because he is very animated and he still adds some mumble jumble in with key words. He likes to agitate, mostly me which he probably learned from his dad. He seems to be pretty athletic which makes me (and particularly his dad) excited. I am far from athletic so I hope my poor boys don't take after me! He throws and hits a ball well and can handle a soccer ball pretty well! I can't wait until he's older enough to participate in sports. We started giving him the eye drops. I have to say that the first day seemed a little too good to be true (it was!).. I decided to allow Landon to give me eye drops for a few days before I introduce his to him (we used general eye drops- not his). He enjoyed this and the first day, told me that he wanted to take a turn. I went with it and he laid on the couch giggling and kicking his feet and let me put eye drops in his eyes. He seemed a bit shocked after I did it, but kept a big grin on his face. Well, the next day, no go.. He did not want to take a turn. We had a few more days of him giving them to me without me expecting him to take his turn. But as of yesterday, he has to take his turn. Is it going well? As well as can be expected. He doesn't want to do it and he cries but we do it and then he picks a prize from the prize bag (yes, each time)... Tomorrow he has another day of getting a prize each time and then we will change it to getting a prize at the end of the day for getting drops. We need these prizes to last a bit! I thought it would be harder for me, especially since he puts up a fight. It's not though.. I prepare him that we are going to get drops in a couple minutes and that he will get to pick a prize. I pick him up when it's time, sit him on my lap, lean him back and do it. He kicks, he yells.. but it's just not an option. I don't make a big deal out of it and tell him when he is done that he can pick a prize as soon as he is ready. This usually stops the tears and he picks a prize and we play with it. I know it won't always be like this. He'll get used to it and frankly, he has no choice. For as long as I have control, he will do what he has to to be in the best health he can. Some things are inevitable- but we'll prolong them as long as we possibly can. I will never look back and say that I didn't do everything in my power to make him okay. I try hard not to make anything a fight because once I don't have control I want him to accept and be okay with what he has to do. I tell him that I know it's not fun to put drops in his eyes, and it hurts to get blood work etc.. but that it only takes a moment and then it's over. It is.. It sucks, but it's over. Easy for me to say, it's not me, but I hope that he develops a similar attitude. On another note- can I tell you how awesome it is to have these little boys- brothers? Jordan ADORES Landon and Landon is so good and really enjoys being looked up to! The other day, I was on the phone and heard them both laughing. Jordan was in his jumperoo. I went to check on them and Landon was squeezing Jordan's cheeks and they were both laughing. Too cute! I do have to remind Landon that he needs to be gentle with his brother. I don't want to rush time but I really look forward to the days that they can play together. So, that's all for now. I will update again soon!!