Monday, November 23, 2009

10 funny things about Rye


Self-portrait
  1. Riley likes to sleep with his hands down his pants, holding himself. When we pull his hands out, he stuffs them back in, while he's asleep. It's pretty funny, if gross.
  2. In addition to his hand down his pants, he has to pull his shirt up above his tummy. Some sort of sensory thing makes a shirt on his tummy bothersome.
  3. He's been working on combing his hair in the morning. He hasn't quite grasped it yet, but he's trying and the results are always cute.
  4. He is in love with all things Mario. His dad (me) is a complete geek and he is totally taking after me. A friend of ours gave us an old Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and all Rye can do is ask me if I can set up the "Nintendo Machine". Mom bought him a Mario shirt yesterday and you'd think he just won the lottery.
  5. His speech is getting better. Weekly visits to Seattle Children's Hospital and one-on-one therapy helps. I've been on his case, too, trying to remind him that "ess" sounds come out his mouth, not his nose.
  6. He loves to swim and is a complete nut in the pool. When it's time to do the end of lesson jumps, he stands on the edge of the pool and wiggles his butt very gracefully.
  7. We've been working with him on his handwriting. It is coming along nicely and it's a really cool thing to watch his improvement. Of course, anyone else reading his writing would be completely baffled, but to me and Marci, it's awesome.
  8. He's developing a love for soup. Unfortunately, he's not supposed to have soup unless it's thick, like a nice hearty stew or chowder. Tonight it was beef stew and he porked out.
  9. Sometimes he says the funniest stuff. Yesterday our family, Knight and Shannon and my mom were all at Target. The boys got separated from the girls. I called Marci to find where she was and Riley said to Knight, "Um, let me check my map," and started drawing on his hand. Awesome.
  10. He has an imaginary friend, Hum, who pops up at the most interesting times.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

One year ago!



Riley had his head shaved and we were about to slice that melon open one year ago tomorrow. One year later, his hair has grown back, except for on the slice, and life has improved for him. He's still the same old goof ball and we're still learning about how to work with his continuing issues, but the main concerns of his Chiari worsening are pretty much behind us.

Yay for Riley and keep up the good work!!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Up!


Up!
Originally uploaded by gwonchang
Riley's great in the yard!

Friday, October 9, 2009

Patience

Every time I take Rye to one of his therapies (in this case, speech) I'm amazed at how patient he is. I'm sitting here listening to him practice saying words with his therapist Wendy and it's just amazing how well he rolls with everything.

In fact, when he has trouble (as he did at first today), it really makes his patience that much more noticable. It's days like these that make me want to let him do whatever he wants. TV, video games, whatever.

He's making progress, but it's a slow go, definitely.
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Ouch!

Shiner courtesy of our friend Jax.
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Thursday, October 1, 2009

Sick at home...

But still working hard!

Riley's been stick at home with a fever since Tuesday. He had some homework sent home today so we're hard at work.


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Thursday, September 24, 2009

Who knew?

Riley took swimming this summer and had all the grace of a stone. Now he's at the new YMCA and he's like a fish! It's pretty awesome to see. Makes me proud. He just loves it.


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Thursday, September 10, 2009

More stuff about Rye

Well, since I updated Haley's blog with a note, I should do the same for Rye, right?

Around Riley's birthday, he had an MRI to check the progress of his recovery from surgery (remember that?). I went to Children's with him and Marci to meet Dr. E and see what the MRI results said.

Well, way back last year when Riley had the MRI that showed the syrinxes (cysts) in his spinal column, it was determined that he would have the decompression surgery to try to remove or reduce them. The surgery went without a hitch and he's been recovering ever since.

When we sat down with Dr. E, he showed us this new MRI result and pretty much said the syrinxes were gone! In looking at the before and after MRIs, it was clear that they were much, much smaller. So that's great news!

The thing is, Riley is still having issues with regards to the Chiari and Syringomyelia. He still has problems with fine motor, swallowing, headaches, tummy aches and speech (fine motor). We are getting a lot of help with those things, from speech to occupational therapies, pain management with accupressure and medications.

All this, and he's 5!

As promised, pictures, almost a month later!

The big day!

Time for breakfast!

Excited about a car that can drive on walls.

Rye poses with a necklace from his grandmother.

Oooh. Cake!


Thursday, August 20, 2009

Today is Riley's 5th birthday!

Happy birthday buddy!

Pictures to follow later!

Monday, August 3, 2009

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Monday, June 8, 2009

An Update!

Well, it's been 31 days since our last update so I thought I'd drop in with a note.

These days, we're winding down with school. I'm at home a lot and spending a lot of time with Riley and co. It's been fun walking him to the bus, picking him up from the bus (sometimes asleep), going to the zoo with him (went on a field trip) and just hanging out.

Though that's not to say it's all been fun and games.

Friday, May 1, 2009

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Friday, April 24, 2009

We are back!

And it was superb! Check this out:


And this:


And, best of all, this:

Check out the cool hat!



Saturday, April 18, 2009

Dr. Seuss merry go round

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Bright and bushytailed

Rye was up early today. Up late last night too. We are at our villa waiting for Hay to wake. As Riley said, "This is the life!"


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