18 years old

 First of all, thank you to those of you readers who keep gentling prompting me to post something! This isn't much, but hopefully enough to show that we're still alive around here. :)

Anyway, today is a milestone day! Krassimir is...EIGHTEEN YEARS OLD today!!! I snapped a photo of him as he and I were waiting for his occupational therapist at the therapy center this morning.

Looking pretty good, huh? I'm so proud of how big and strong he has gotten. (Well, "big" is a relative term, as he still weighs just around 70 pounds as a bona fide adult...) But he is definitely so much stronger than he's ever been, and look at how he's just grinning right at me and the camera! That is a skill that, nearly nine years into this, is still emerging and developing.

I'm so dreadfully behind on keeping you readers anywhere near up to date on everyone, but hopefully this is better than nothing! And I'll share one more photo - kind of fuzzy, but it captures a moment from after supper when Krassi was opening his presents from his siblings:

Lucky guy got not one, but TWO cools rolls of duct tape (his sisters know what he likes! See his still-favorite hobby if you click HERE...and HERE and HERE) and the littler girls made him the neat cardboard bracelets that you can see him wearing (by the yellow tape) and holding (under the striped bag.) He had a hard time leaving them behind when it was bed time, but when Dad reassured him they'd be waiting for him in the morning, he was able to take them off and set them down. That's my boy. :)

He is such a confident, contented go-getter. His world may be small and severely limited, but he's the king of his world, and he's good with it, and that's something that all of us are better off being able to do!