Happy 5th Birthday, Dawson!

Looking back it seems like so long ago when this little bundle was placed in my arms. Yet I remember the moment so clearly. It was fun taking a walk down memory lane, focusing only on Dawson. It made me proud to remember how far we'd come, sad to see how things changed over the years and how for a while he had to stand in the shadow of Tyler, yet still blossomed into such a smart, adorable little boy!

Dawson Joseph, named after me, my middle name is Jo. 9 pounds, 1 ounce, 20 inches long. Induced July 10th, born July 11th at 5:33pm. Perfect and so adorable!

I thought he was a big baby at the time, but looking back, he looks so tiny!! I was excited to get him home.

 1 day old

 6 days old

11 weeks

 4 months

 6 months

 8 months

 9 months

10 months

 11 months

12 months

 Happy First Birthday!

 13 months, in the hospital for Roseola

 14 months

16 months

Video of Dawson walking, he was so little!!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjG8uXiN5Xc&list=UUW8XREkbp2o-Pijg5nK4ZKQ&index=2&feature=plcp

 17 months

 18 months

Video of him doing some ECFE song moves http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LCcnU7xcO4&feature=autoplay&list=UUW8XREkbp2o-Pijg5nK4ZKQ&playnext=1

 19 months, he became a big brother!

 20 months, he enjoyed playing with his new brother

 21 months, this picture is amusing because he still does this, picking up and watching rocks drop

 20 months

 24 months.

Happy 2 years Dawson!

 2 1/2

Dawson playing with Tyler http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4M4OBfS8c0&list=UUW8XREkbp2o-Pijg5nK4ZKQ&index=2&feature=plcp

 Ronald McDonald House. I forget he was so little when we first lived there!

This video goes with this picture. It's so cute to hear how his talking was when he was 2 1/2. He rarely said much, this was about the most he would ever say. He's saying "hello, hi, bye"

http://s100.photobucket.com/albums/m23/gpxchick/Boys%20Oct%20-%20Dec%202009/?action=view&current=MVI_3082.mp4

 Home for Christmas! Helping put the tree together

3 years old

Dawson reading "8 little monkeys" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34_BS3B83_4&list=UUW8XREkbp2o-Pijg5nK4ZKQ&index=3&feature=plcp

4 years old!

 Getting ready for bed at RMH

Dawson singing ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqdoPQDO3UQ&list=UUW8XREkbp2o-Pijg5nK4ZKQ&index=8&feature=plcp

 5 years old!

I took a few videos of Dawson a couple weeks ago. I hope to do this often to compare his progress. He's doing so good! He knows his numbers and can count, read and write them into the hundreds. He knows his letters, upper and lowercase and can write them all. He can identify, draw and cut out shapes. He can read about 100 words, knows simple math, recognizes emotions ( a huge deal for autistic kids!), can categorize objects, follow 3 step directions, stay close to me in the store (a goal we've worked on for a long time), put on all his clothes and his shoes. He can pour a glass of milk or cereal, make fish sticks in the toaster oven, make toast and use the microwave. He can get in the car and buckle the chest clip on his carseat. He can tell people his name when asked (huge goal that he just mastered!), he tries new foods when asked and he listens to directions about 80% of the time even if he doesn't want to.

One of the biggest things that is very recent is his pretending! He now has a pretend pet squirrel and a mouse. Today he brought an acorn in from the playground for his squirrel. It lives in a pretend cage on the computer desk. I am over the moon excited about this!!! It's a huge step for him and he is now starting to pretend other things as well!

Oh, and I can't forget, he got potty trained this year!!! Just a few weeks and he's only had 1 accident since, and that was months ago. Day, night, out about about, he is good! (Now we just need to work on getting his underwear back on afterward without the need to bring them to me to make sure they're facing the right way. ;)

I asked him some questions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXvRbfnK7aA&feature=autoplay&list=UUW8XREkbp2o-Pijg5nK4ZKQ&playnext=1

Looking back on everything he used to do, it's just amazing to see where we are now. I wish I could've told myself 3 years ago where he'd be now, because that was such a frustrating time and it seemed like progress was moving so slow.

Dawson wakes up each morning and is excited for the day. He asks me what we're doing and who is coming to work with him. He loves his therapists, and that is a huge improvement from a couple years ago when he fought against the idea. We schedule many fun days off from therapy. For his birthday we went to ChuckE Cheese for the first time, he loved that. Next week we're going to a ranch to ride horses and pet animals with HopeKids. We're going to the zoo soon as well, and next month he starts his Fall session at Astride horse therapy! We're going to a friend's house this weekend, as well as having his Friend Birthday Party at the splashpad.

He moves on to Kindergarten in September! When he was smaller, people would say "oh just wait until your baby is getting on the school bus at 5". Well, my baby did this a month before he turned 3, so it's nothing new to us! For me, Kindergarten is just the next year of school, but it's also a change in schools and staff. He's used to the school routine and the integrated classroom. He is a role model in the classroom and does really well, so I'm not very worked up about Kindergarten. This is amusing to me, since most other things have been so tough and such a process, but this very normal BIG process of starting Kindergarten isn't phasing us. Go figure!

This summer of progress has given me so much hope. We will continue to enjoy each day and every bit of progress, bit or small. We have good days and bad days, but we will continue to look up and be hopeful! I think 5 is going to be a great year for him.

Eight Months and Small Victories

I read this inspiring little story from a friend on facebook and I just had to share. "Our oncologist became a doctor because his baby sister with leukemia did not survive a bone marrow transplant for which HE was the donor. Today Dr. Armenian sat directly in front of Rafael, pulled him close, removed his little baseball cap and gathered him in his arms. He said to Rafael: "I want you to know that you are so very brave and I am proud of you." I don't think nurturing siblings are technically in his job description." Her son Joaquin is a Leukemia survivor.

I sometimes wonder what to tell Gabriel and what he will think. It is of course not his fault and without him we wouldn't have had any hope at all. Stories like this are so inspiring and make me hopeful that something good can come out of something tragic.

July 2nd marked 8 months since Tyler died and the day was rather uneventful and it didn't even bother me. Today, however, it did hit me. 8 months is a long time, it almost seems like it was a dream. Yet the memories are all so fresh, all of them. I look at pictures and they're all so different. Tyler on steroids, all chunky with a puffy face, then Tyler on just chemo, so thin and little. Today I was thinking back to July 3rd last year. It was a good time for us. We were inpatient, but he had energy and we had so much fun running up and down the hallway, playing in the playroom and giggling. He got to be unhooked from his IV more too. It was a time where most kids could've gone home, but with his history our Oncologist had a gut feeling that sending us home would be too risky because things happen so fast, and they did. I remember Dan spent the holiday with us at the hospital. The 4th of July we spent celebrating inside, it was a day of excitement. We watched fireworks from his hospital room and the boys both ran around the room with glow sticks waving. I can still hear the eruptions of giggles. It was the latest Tyler had been able to stay up all week. He fell asleep before 10, so happy. I miss those days so much. Even though we were living in the hospital, we were still together and that's what matters most.

These pictures are from last year, beginning of July. Playing in the playroom, free of IV lines!

 He loved this car

 Tired boy taking a cuddle break

 He loved his pom pom, they would throw that thing around a lot!

I saw this the other day and thought it described it very well

This is our newest toy, I found it for $4! The boys love it. I let Gabriel play with it supervised since he still puts things in his mouth. He's very good about just playing with it.

 So tall!

 Happy boy

 Love that smile, he came over for his meds. I've never had a child so willingly take meds before! He even begs for more after he's done.

 So much hair!

 Dawson called me to the window tonight all excited about the moon. It was orange! So pretty.

 Sharing the ipad! Something we've been working so hard on, sharing with Gabriel. Dawson is doing so much better about those things lately!

Another exciting big goal is the "L" sound, he actually made one!! He doesn't often, but he's getting closer to being able to say it when he wants to. It's something he's been struggling with. I do silly tounge exercises with him and it seems to be helping. Hopefully soon he can start saying the L in some words as well. So exciting!