No more thickener for Alex!

One night at dinner everyone was throwing food on the floor so they all ended up in time-out at the same time. Can we say party in the pack-n-play? Clearly Ella was devastated by being put in time out.

Alex playing and minding his own business

Helen likes to "feed" everyone bites from her cup and spoon. Ella is a willing recipient (until recently when Helen got the spoon a little too far down Ella's throat and then Ella decided she did not like it all that much -despite Helen repeatedly trying to get her to "eat" more)

One of the rare occassions when Ella kept her hat on outside

Alex is trying to figure out where his hat went

Helen and Alex playing on the back porch (we call this hat his crocodile hunter hat)

I tried to get everyone to sit for a picture and this was the best I could do before Helen took off

Ella and Alex relax during play time

One day I went in to get them up from a nap and this is what I found. I have no idea what Ella did with her shirt and she did not think it was out of the ordinary.

Helen is very good at climbing down the stairs but usually Ella will refuse to. This morning they both came down together - which I thought was especially sweet since had the same outfit on today too!

This week Alex went back for his final swallow study. I was pretty optimistic that he was going to pass because he has been doing really well with drinking lately. They told me to make sure I bring him hungry so that he will drink the barium solution that will show up on the x-ray. I told them not a problem, this kid has not met a food he would not eat. So of course what does he do when we get there? Refuses to eat. I think he got scared when I could not hold him and there were these strange people shoving a sippy cup in his mouth. We ended up using a syringe to squirt the stuff in his mouth but it was enough and he passed! No more thickener in his drinks and his laryngomalasia (underdevloped cartilage in his larynx) is all gone! That's my boy! I'm so glad we don't have to use that thickener anymore. It is hard to believe it has been a whole year that he has been on it. When they initially diagnosed him, they said it usually resolves itself about 15-18 months. He's 16 months so it is good to know he is on track.

Everyone is doing great. They are learning more and more words and trying to talk and communicate more. They are learning how to sign more words and it is really helpful with knowing what they want. They say "please" a lot - I just don't always know what they are saying please for! They have the walking down pat and are starting to a run a little too. They love going to the beach and playing in the ocean. Helen is already starting to get tan like her Daddy, Ella has more of a tan than I do, and Alex is "blessed" with the same fair, fair skin as mommy.

Now we are getting ready for the Easter bunny this weekend. Our first Easter egg hunt is on Saturday and then the Easter bunny comes on Sunday. Of course we have adorable Easter dresses (with hats and purses ) for the girls and a cute outfit for Alex too. Pictures coming soon!