So Thursday night Atticus took an extra long bath and we let the water run and the bathtub was super full of water. He loves bath time and loves splashing around so this was an extra treat. He would let himself float a little and actually had a very nice leg kick while sitting on his bottom. At one point he flipped onto his tummy, put his feet against the back of the tub and started doing push-ups in the bathtub. I couldn’t believe it. He got so tickled because his face would touch the water when he would go down he just kept doing his little “push-ups.” Starting his work-out routine early I guess.
When Atticus gets himself to sleep at night he sleeps much better and longer. However, getting himself to sleep often involves playing quietly in his room until he gets sleepy. We took out the large furniture so that he wouldn’t get hurt. He loves getting between the mattress and the wall and pushing the mattress out away from the wall. The other night he had gotten very rowdy so Justin went up to check on him. I was in the kitchen and Justin called down over the baby monitor — “you gotta come up here.” So, I came up the room, not surprised to see the mattress and box springs away from the wall toward the middle of the room. I stood there trying to figure out why in the heck he had called me up there. We’d seen the mattress moved before… Then Justin said — “I didn’t turn the light on”. Apparently Atticus had figured out how to move his mattress just right so that he could reach the light switch and turn his light on. We couldn’t help but laugh. If you will remember Atticus did the same thing by sliding his feet between the slats of his crib about 2 years ago. He figured out how to put his feet through the slats and push against the wall to move his crib 2 1/2 feet to the light switch. Never a dull moment…
Wow, it’s been too long since we last posted. Hopefully we’ll have a little more time to keep our friends and family updated on Atticus. We had a great Christmas and New Year’s, we really enjoyed getting to spend time with our families. Atticus actually fell on December 23 (jumping on the bed no less) and fractured a small bone in his left foot. That made two casts (one in March, remember?), two heart surgeries, and our 2nd ear surgery all in one year. In addition, Justin lost his Grandmother very unexpectedly in November, a woman whom we all adored and miss terribly. We also lost our dear Mr. Boo a week later to a long bout with cancer. Needless to say, we were all happy to say goodbye to 2008.
But, some wonderful things came out of that year as well. Atticus started talking! Hooray! We are seeing a LOT more language than ever before. Many thanks to the wonderful people who worked very hard getting him to voice his wants and needs. Granted, most of his words involve food and drink, but those things are very reinforcing!
We also decided to work on some of our challenges in a home-based setting. So, we have 4 very wonderful and dedicated individuals who come to our home through the week and spend the day with our little boy. He loves it and seems to be thriving under all the new attention. This means an end to the 2 hours spent in the car each day driving back and forth to Birmingham. Our hope is that we reach a point when we can return to the classroom and be with our friends without any assistance.
Being at home more will allow me to keep everyone posted a little easier. Our previous schedule involved leaving the house at 6:15 a.m. and arriving home at 4:30 p.m. 5 days a week. Our new schedule has been a bit more conducive to family life.
More posts soon and new pictures too. Hugs and love to you all.
