Just for fun

Yay! Look who's loose enough after botox injections to ride on mommy's shoulders!! He thought this was as much fun as the picture communicates!

Spring has (prematurely) sprung! Owen, Leah, and Rinnah had the first picnic of the year today.

It's really too warm for the sap to flow well (there's a story in there I may or may not ever get to), as you can see by my oldest daughter's attire. I don't know that *I* was quite ready to get a sundress out, but I was okay with her wearing one. It was so nice we all went along to help Daddy collect the little bits that ARE flowing. (If you know anything about maple syruping, too warm is not a good thing for sap flow - you want to fluctuate between the 20s and the 40s - right on either side of the freezing point.)

But this was Krassi's first time to really be out since last fall, and he was absolutely delighted.

I'm asking him here, "Krassi, are you so excited to be outside?" And he was responding by clapping his hands. By the way, have I mentioned how much I love it that he can clap his hands? I'm just realizing now that this is a relatively new skill - really since last fall when he's been more able to open up his left hand on his own.

Back inside we spent a bit of time in the afternoon down in the basement on the platform swing. Krassimir and a pink and purple butterfly went on it together. His posture still leaves a LOT to be desired, but activities like this give him good opportunities to work his core and build those terribly underdeveloped muscles.

Love that happy face!

I included this one just so you can see what he's able to do with his left hand. It has been such a beautiful thing to watch this hand open up like a flower unfolding and to see him trying and achieving so many more things with it. For so many years it was gripped in a tight fist in an attempt to give him some rigidity to compensate for his low muscle tone, and as he's growing stronger in other ways, and through work with his occupational therapists (and mom under their direction), we're seeing tremendous improvement.

And one more - this one a day after the others - we realized that bigger grips would be better for Krassi, so a trip to Menards and $1.94 later we have nice soft foam grips in a 1.5" diameter instead of 3/8" rope. How fun to have all three of these little ones on there at once! You can't see it, but Reuben's got his Bible on his lap. ;) He rarely goes anywhere without it. He kept counting for me, "Do, doo, dee!!" "Yes, Reuben, there are one, two, three! children on that swing!"