Summer days

Here are some little pieces of our June:

Let me introduce you to "the guys."  Lucy has a collection of 8 stuffed animals.  She used to just have one or two favorites and ignore the rest, but now they travel in a pack and accompany us at various times throughout the day.  Sometimes they can be found having their own adventure.  I came out of our bedroom one day to find the guys siting on the couch, each one enjoying his own book.

Here are the guys and Lucy pretending to sleep.

Here are the guys and Lucy having tea (they also have breakfast and lunch with us.  It's a crowded table).

We went blueberry picking with Lucy's preschool buddies.  We got to go on a bumpy tractor ride to get to the field and there was a lot of hysterical laughter.

 We then had a picnic by the playground.  The little boys are getting so funny together.

We've been staying cool, despite the crazy temperatures.  We are very lucky to have power right now, as a big storm rolled through this past weekend leaving tons of people in our area.  It's supposed to take up to a week to restore everyone's power.  Anyway, staying cool.  The work on the backyard has finally been (mostly) completed and we are loving it.  There is now a swing set and a trampoline.  We've been enjoying hot days in the dragon pool

 Charlie was not a fan of the dragon pool on this particular day.  I think he is scared of the hose.  However, he does find it hysterical if Lucy jumps in the pool, and she is happy to oblige.

Lucy story: she has discovered knock knock jokes.  She has the form down, but misses the point completely.  Here's an example:
Lucy: knock knock
Us: Who's there?
Lucy: Banana
Us: Banana who?
Lucy: Banana Havana!

Other punch lines include "apple ba-dapple" and "tomato potato."  If we tell her real knock knock jokes, she looks at us like we are crazy and proceeds to tell us one of her own.

Charlie news: they've discovered the cause of his hearing loss.  He has "enlarged vestibular aqueducts." If you're in the mood for some medical science, you can read more about it here: http://www.nidcd.nih.gov/health/hearing/pages/eva.aspx  It's unpredictable if his hearing loss will worse over time-- sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't.  If it does, he will likely become a candidate for a cochlear implant.

We've also noticed that Charlie is having some problems eating lately.  He won't take more than a few bites of pureed food, and if he does, he likely spits it up.  We is eager to eat cut up food, but then has lots of trouble digesting it.  His growth is plateauing a bit too.  We have some appointments lined up that will hopefully help him out.  Thankfully he is still breastfeeding like a champ!

The best Charlie news is that we have found a great natural doctor--a cranial osteopath-- to work with us.  Her focus is working with the body so that the body can heal itself.  It is so gentle and such a change of pace from our usual appointments.  A mom from the online support group for Charlie's syndrome kept telling me how much it has helped her daughter, who has been able to avoid almost all medication and is going great.  We had our first appointment this past week and are very encouraged!

I'll leave you with one last picture.  Charlie is teething.  He kept fussing and then finally shoved this bib in his mouth and his eyes just dropped.  Sweet little guy.