Thank You, Dr. Reinhardt

Dr. Reinhardt has been Caleb's pediatrician since the day we brought him home from the hospital. She has been with us through his successes, and some of his toughest times; through the diagnosis and learning with us what it all means. She has always worked with us to create a plan for Caleb, realizing that protocol didn't always work for him. It has been clear to us that she was not only caring for Caleb as a patient, but for him as a little boy, and for us as a family. She has been a wonderful pediatrician for Caleb.

But, Dr. Reinhardt is moving out of state to be closer to family. Although I completely understand her motivation for leaving, she will be missed. Her future patients are very lucky to have her.

Good luck in your endeavors!

Caleb Walking!

Check out Caleb taking 10 steps independently!

Silly Moves and Singing "The Firing Song!"

Here's Caleb showing off some silly moves and making up a song he calls, "The Firing Song!"

Remember to pause the music on the right to hear him better.

Caleb Reading Some More

Caleb's reading has been really coming along lately. He is sounding out words regularly and is starting to understand that when he practices enough, he can read FUN books and so he can learn about things. It's really exciting to see him expanding in this realm. Here's a book that he's been practicing lately. It gets harder for him later in the story (it's 40 pages!), and we haven't made it all the way through, but we're amazed at his memory for the written word!

Don't forget to pause the music on the right to hear him better.

Bowling, bowling, bowling!

A couple of weeks ago we got to spend the day bowling to celebrate cousins Braden and Bella's birthdays. We had so much fun! And if you're wondering, "How the heck does a kid with muscular dystrophy go bowling?" ... there are ways!

The Birthday girl and boy.

The bowling ally has adaptive equipment!


What do you think, Papa? Is it a good one?

Showing off some standing skills.

Is that one a strike?

Gotta get that 6-10 split!

Doing the chicken dance.

It's all fun and games...

til someone gets sad :(

Apparently, Caleb wasn't done dancing... he wanted to dance on the tables.

Caleb - The Frog and The Fish

Caleb has been doing some pretty spectacular things in the water lately. He is mostly independent with his maneuvers/stunts. Enjoy!

I don't think I'll ever get tired of seeing how much he can do in the water and how much freedom it gives him.

Holiday Party

A few weeks ago we had a fantastic holiday party in our neighborhood. It was a pajama party, with activities for the kids, a gingerbread house contest, and blind wine tasting for the adults. There were tons of things to do, see, loads of fun and a room full of amazing neighbors.

Santa came near the end. We had told Caleb Santa would be there, but he was very reluctant to talk to him. We told him that he didn't have to talk to him if he didn't want to. When he first came, Caleb was very nervous and just wanted to sit on the couch with me. Eventually, as he watched other kids talking and laughing with him, he decided the big man in red was OK and ended up on his lap.

Thumbs up!

Caleb's gingerbread house (he obviously had a little help). He kept finding excuses to stick his fingers in the frosting just so he could lick his fingers.


Caleb and Daddy. Nice PJs.

The family.

Happy Holidays!

Messes

Sometimes Caleb enjoys a good mess with his food.

Blackberries

(Real) Whipped Cream

Chocolate!

Happy mess-making!

MDA Firefighter Event

A couple of weeks ago Caleb got another opportunity to be an honorary MDA Ambassador (he's still too young to be official, but we're honored to have the chance to help out). This was a convention for the California Dept. of Firefighters. I'm not sure who had more fun, Caleb or me... OK, who am I trying to kid. Caleb was kind of a pill for most of the day, so I obviously had more fun chatting with all those hot firefighters... er, um, I mean fine gentlemen in uniform.

Anyhoo, even though Caleb was in a bit of a mood, I still managed to get some cute pictures of him.

Caleb and Abby Umali, the National Goodwill Ambassador. Isn't this the cutest picture?

Mommy and Caleb having a "chat" about cooperating with getting pictures taken.


Caleb posing with a couple of firefighters.

He would look good in uniform, don't you think?

Appeasing Caleb by letting him take some pictures. He's getting pretty good at centering the camera.

He loves Katie!

Caleb with some of the wonderful MDA staff, and some more of the patients.

Happy Hannumas!

I finally made a tree-topper for our "Hannumas" tree!