Life has been busy lately. That???s always the case isn???t it? Seems like I am always a day behind and a dollar short. My ???To Do??? list just grows all the time and I feel I???ll never really catch up. I love my life though. I realized today in the car that even though I always feel like I am running just to catch myself, I enjoy the things (mostly) that I am chasing after. My list of ???things??? feels long, but I am thankful for all the friends, and ministries, and opportunities, and special interests and hobbies that I have. They are all an abundance of gifts from God. (My laundry that is overflowing is not on this particular ???joy??? list though LOL).

Here is a little update on the happenings at OCOC Hick Horse:

The Gimp

First of all, we have had a visitor off an on for the last week. You know that saying ???All is fun and games until someone gets their eye poked out???? That line is used often with a houseful of boys. And I need to reiterate the word ???boys??? ??? it matters not that they are all over 21 ??? this definitely qualifies as a ???boy??? issue.

We were all at Aunt Becky???s house for Sunday lunch (celebrating her birthday on the 10th). Daniel, Darin, and Aviel decided to spend some quality time together on the trampoline ??? you know just the casual jumping to an fro, flipping, double bouncing without a guard ??? the usual. Aviel does a front flip and lands wrong. Jodi and Aimee from ACROSS the yard hear the excruciating pop. Daniel and Darin ignore the apparent minor injury and???.yes???.they continue to jump. Finally, they decide Aviel may truly be injured so they stop their continual bouncing to inquire. Aviel can barely speak. Turns out he broke a couple of bones in his leg and had to have surgery a week ago. Aviel is 23 and lives with a friend in a 2 story home. Stairs are not on the list of things he can do at the moment, so he has enjoyed my lovely couch off and on for the last week. (I say off and on because Daniel and Brooke and Darin and Jodi and Aunt Barb have all taken turns too. Daniel and Darin out of guilt probably. Nah.)

The boys have gotten accustomed to Aviel being on our couch and they look for him every morning. I love the way Ty say???s ???Aveee ??? El??? so cute. In fact, Ty has thoroughly enjoyed Aviel and his stuff. He particularly favors his toothbrush. Ty has been caught brushing his teeth with it a few times now. Poor Avie! Nothing his own any longer ??? not even his toiletry items ??? rough life he is now living 🙂 .

Easter

We had a fun Easter and I was especially celebratory because this was the first Easter in two years that we were able to attend with family! Tanner and Ty cleaned house on the Easter Egg hunt too. We went out to Brooke???s parents house for Easter (they live on a ranch too) and there were so many kids! Too fun! Tanner and Noah did their first 3 legged race together and an egg toss too! You???ll see pictures of all this on the April slideshow.

Nieces and Nephews

??? Karsyn celebrated her first birthday the day before Easter!!!!

??? Brooke has decided on the name of her daughter and it is NOT a name on the poll! How dare she do that to all of us who invested our time? I???ll let her offer apologies and explanations for THAT! I should have warned you up front ??? I just KNEW she was going to do that;)!

??? Zandi ??? in case Aimee doesn???t think to share this, I have a funny Zandi story for the week. Recently David made himself a nice big sandwich. Zandi thought it looked good and told Daddy ???That is MY sandwich???. David looked at her and said ???Do you see this house? This is MY house. Do you see those toys? Those are MY toy???s? Everything in this house is mine. I just let YOU use them. Not to be discouraged, Zandi looked him straight in the eye and said ???I want YOUR sandwich???. LOL. (Zandi is 2 by the way 😉

Tanner James

Tanner is closing in on his fourth year and mama???s heart is sad. I don???t want him to turn 5! I told him that this week and asked if we could skip the Lego party and just stay 4 another year. He said ???Mommy ??? the sun is going to grow me up!??? (Heidi ??? that would have been a cute one for your newsletter LOL). Yes indeed. As the sun grows everything in the springtime, it is also growing up my boy.

Tanner is getting so crafty lately. He loves clay, and floam, and loves loves to color and he colors in the lines perfectly. He can spell ???Tanner??? and ???Ty??? and ???Jim??? now and he recognizes about 10 letters. I need to start paying more attention to counting now.

He is getting most of his words right now but I still laugh at somethings. This week he asked if he could do something ???Too-later???. LOL. He still asks if he can stay up early and I won???t be correcting that one! He and Ty both love Sonic Cream Slushes. Tanner asks for a Swush and Ty asks for a Yush ;).

He also is singing Quando Quando at the top of his lungs and is telling ME now that I have to sing louder to be like him :). Aviel has enjoyed these concerts too. And yes Heidi – I listened again to my answering machine greeting and realized your criticism. LOL! Ooops! I told you I am just not a multi tasker and frankly I don’t really want to answer YOUR phone either hee hee!

TyJo

So I forget where I left off on the head banging saga. Remember the whole goose egg paramedic incident last month? Did I mention that the same thing happened the next week on a lesser scale and Tanner insisted he did it to himself? Did I mention that Papa later saw Ty purposefully head banging as well? I was choosing not to believe these too. Who could possibly hit their head hard enough to end up with a concussion and do it on PURPORSE? Not my son.

On Easter weekend we were at Grandpa and Granga???s. (Ty calls Grandma ??? Granga). I was videotaping Ty in the backyard. He got angry with the tractor because it wouldn???t go where he wanted it. Try not to think I am sadistic for taping instead of helping. Sometimes watching children move through trials is interesting to me and I was just amused with the whole scene (less we all forget the glowbaby video LOL). Sure enough, Tanner and Papa were right about Ty. The push bar is METAL not plastic by the way. Want to see this? Click here.

What to do? I am afraid if I call his neurologist they will recommend I helmet him when outdoors if this keeps up. So far I haven???t seen this in the house but this would be at least the 4rth time this month he has done something like this. Why in the world? His PT and OT believe it may be sensory issue related. He doesn???t feel pain like other people do and he has to self inflict on a much higher scale to get any consequence. It almost seems that pain is stimulating to him. For example, sometimes he will walk over to you and for no good reason pinch the life out of you with a completely sublime expression on his face. It???s like he is evaluating cause and effect. Like any good mother (LOL), I have on occasion pinched him back to show him that other people don???t enjoy this case study. I have learned that I can???t pinch the kid hard enough to get my point across. It simply doesn???t impact him. This is quite unfortunate for cousin Graham who is the usual drafted test subject. Graham does not like Ty much right now and starts saying ???NO!??? the minute he see???s him. Ty is not put off in the slightest.

Eye Doctor and Vision Therapy

Ty had his routine eye Dr. visit yesterday. The Dr. and I are both on the same page right now. Ty???s eyes are about as straight as surgery is going to get them, they stay straight most of the time though not when he is tired or sick, or over involved. This morning I got him up earlier than usual and it was all he could do to get both eyes on my face. His balance issues are still pretty crummy though and all fingers keep pointing back to the eyes. I have felt that it isn???t his vision itself but more of a neuro vision issue. In other words, his eyesight isn???t too bad but his brain doesn???t interpret what he sees correctly. The Dr. agreed and proposed a theory that I find interesting. He thinks that Ty MAY have a form of CVI (Cortical Visual Impairment). This was a major fear of mine actually because PVL (which Ty has) can cause severe CVI which is (as I understand it) untreatable. CVI is a neurological issue that can ultimately render a person legally blind and glasses will not help. Dr. Cassidy thinks that Ty may have minor CVI in his lower field of vision and that Ty doesn???t want to look down because he doesn???t see as well in that field. As a result, his depth perception is off and he stumbles over everything in his path. Interesting thought and quite possible. Thanking the Lord though that if it is CVI, it is very very mild. (Shayla ??? interesting perspective on balance and PVL don???t you think?) He also turns his head to see more than turning his eyes. When he runs he is often shaking his head and we are wondering if he is trying to look around fast?

Ty also had his first visit from his Vision Teacher who is also an Early Interventionist. Ty LOVED her! He kept calling her Jamie because apparently she reminded him of Jamie. Ericka was excellent with Ty and is excited to work with him. She works with all legally blind children so she thinks Ty???s case will be challenging for her. His issues are different than the other children???s so she???ll have to gain a better understanding of IVH???s and PVL and how they can relate to balance and neuron visual issues. She is from the Foundation for Blind Children so I am glad to have the opportunity to work with her. She see???s many kids with CVI so I???ll be anxious to tell her what Dr. Cassidy is suggesting. (So yes, now we are up to PT, OT, and VT with ST on hold???.good grief).

Reflux

Ty is off all bouts of medicine but seems to still struggle with reflux some. He will randomly just vomit sometimes and all I can figure is it is associated to his slow digestive system. Hopefully he won???t need to go back on meds for this in the future.

Texture Issues

Noticed recently that Ty doesn???t like Tanner???s pipe cleaners :).

Things Mama Loves to Watch Ty Do

I think it is so cute when you break into my hope chest and pull out your NICU pictures. You just sit and study ???Ty??? for the longest time. I wonder what your thinking when you see that tiny little person embraced in wires?

I love the way you raise your eyebrows at me to see if I am watching you.

I love the way you live a joy filled life. You live life large and I hope to be just like you.

Things Mama Loves to Hear You Say

???Dat One???
???A show!??? ??? As in let???s watch a show on TV
???Crash Up??? ??? Name of an Xbox game that he is always asking for
???Uh HUH! OOOOOOKAy???
No fanks
???Read Ty???? = Will you read to Ty
???Tickle Ty???? = He asks EVERYONE to tickle Ty. He loves tickling!
B I B I B I = This is how he sings ???The B-I-B-L-E??? ??? he prefers the Go Fish version;)

He has really been loving singing. Last week in the car I heard him sing ???Show me da way! Quando Quando???. Then he switched over to the Go Fish version of Jesus loves me and was singing ???YES Yuves Me Yes Yuves Me Yes Jesus Yuves Me???.

And my favorite as of late???.

I was listening to him entertain himself in his crib via our baby monitor and I heard him say ???I happy. I happy. Uh huh. Uh huh???. Oh baby boy ??? I love your happy spirit!