Last Week of School for 2020, INI Visit, and Zooms

This week we went to visit our friends at INI and it was Theo's last week of school before the winter break!

On Monday, December 14th, Theo and I headed down to the Illinois Neurological Institute in Peoria so Theo could get his two stitches removed. The stitch from the EVD came out easily, but the one on the back of his head was a little stubborn. But we got them out and Theo was fine.

During the rest of the week, Theo worked on his school activities and participated in his school Zooms.

We made a Santa mask and I needed to take a picture of Theo with it for school. He was clearly not amused!

[Food play with Fruit Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch]

]Theo will roll almost completely to the right, but he won't put that right ear to the ground]

[Getting ready to play games on Zoom]

[It was "white day" so Theo wore white and shared his white toys with his class]

[Working hard at OT with Ms. Laura]

[Our kind neighbors continue to spread the Christmas cheer (aka sugar) with us!]

Theo has a lot of cool special needs devices, but this Squeezie Seat is pretty awesome! It gives Theo a little squeeze, which is good for sensory, and he is able to sit nicely and hold his head up.

On Thursday, December 17th, Theo's school got to participate in a reptile show! It was so fun to see all the snakes, lizards, turtles, and frogs. Even after Theo went down for his nap I continued to watch the show until the spiders came out. The nice man warned us ahead of time, so I shut the Zoom off just before he brought out the tarantula. No thanks!

We made "Reindeer Food" and "Grinch Dust" for one of Theo's activities. We are going to sprinkle them on our yard on Christmas Eve!

[Having a chat with dad while sitting in the Squeezie]

Theo had his final school Zoom on Friday, December 18th. He will go back to e-learning on January 4th and will go back to in person school on January 19th *fingers crossed*

Josh bought an Amazon Fire TV Stick and we put one of Theo's favorite YouTube videos on the big TV. He was VERY excited!

[Got my VOGM face mask! It's very comfortable!]

[Being silly!]

I didn't want Theo to regress at all during the Christmas break, so I asked his OT and teacher to give us some extra assignments. His OT suggested playing with Play Doh as much as possible. Theo doesn't like it, but he's tolerating it more and more.

And we made cookies!

[I REALLY NEED THIS!]

I hope you all have a great Holiday Season!

Staph Infection and Chris Kringle Market

After we got home from the hospital these envelopes filled with gift cards showed up on our front porch! We got gift cards to DoorDash and three local restaurants. Our neighbors are so kind!

We slowly got back into Theo's school work by watching videos and doing some work in his chair.

A couple of days after Theo's procedure, I received a call from the hospital. The nurse informed me that Theo's culture swab shows "heavy presumptive Staphylococcus aureus." She told me to extend his antibiotics from seven to ten days. We have an appointment on Monday, December 14th, with the Vascular Neurosurgery APN, so hopefully it will all be cleared up by then and she can remove the two stitches.

[Theo won't eat food, but he eats sprinkles and his Paci 🤷‍♀️]

I was my dads birthday on December 8th! Did you know that we have been to five continents together? Pretty crazy, huh? When't the next trip?! Happy birthday dad!

[Disneyland]

[Spain]

[Peru]

[Spain]

[Peru]

[Chile]

[Chile]

[Argentina]

[Egypt]

[Theo on "Blue Day" for school]

The NBA season is starting soon! Here's some potential good news:

Theo has been working on crawling. He kinda gets the idea, but still needs help.

Theo has been getting better and better at sitting on his own. He doesn't need help, but he thinks he does.

[I just LOVE him]

Our nerdy minds were blown during the Disney Shareholder meeting on Thursday, December 10th. We are getting so much new Star Wars and Marvel content! I can't even keep up with it!

[Just having a chat with Baby Yoda]

[Cuddling with BeeBo! Thanks Aunt Lisa for the super soft Baby Yoda blanket!]

Theo LOVES BeeBo, like he REALLY LOVES him. Theo will lift Beebo up and put him on his face and hold him there. He loves to cuddle with Beebo even though Beebo is made of super hard plastic and dances. Sometimes Theo pulls Beebo onto his face and it gives him a bloody nose and a fat lip. But he still loves him!

[Bloody nose and fat lip - it got worse later]

On Sunday, December 13th, Theo, Josh, and I drove out to the Chris Kringle Market in Ottawa. This year mask were required and all of the little shacks were spaced out over multiple blocks throughout the city to help maintain social distancing. We started down in Jordan Block Park and then walked north to Washington Square Park (the site of the first Lincoln-Douglas debate).

[Jordan Block Park]

[Hot apple cider wine]

[Washington Square Park - Lincoln and Douglas statue]

[Theo was nice and warm in his stroller and took a nice nap while we walked around]

After walking around Washington Square Park we went back to Jordan Block to get some Raclette with brats! SOOOO GOOOD!

[They heat up the cheese, scrape off the melted part, spread it on a baguette, and add a brat]

So much cheese!

On our way out we stopped and got some of the best hot chocolate I have ever had!

[Belgium chocolate, fresh cream, and a gingerbread cookie!]

[Treats from the market]

Here it is! Our official family Christmas photo!