Braces, Brandon, Thomas & Prepping for Halloween!!

  Back in August we saw a child orthopedic specialist for Eliot (for which we were on the waiting list for months and months).  Eliot, since he began walking, walked only on his toes.  We finally learned that it was not because of anything devastating (it could have been because of a number of terribly scary disorders), but because his heel cords are too tight.  He has excellent range of motion everywhere else in his body except with his heel cords (or achilles tendon area).  The Dr. told us he needed to get fitted for braces that he would need to wear 20-24 hours a day for 6-16 months.

  We got an appointment with an orthodist (I think?) who made Eliot's braces to fit right to his little legs.  He even got to pick a pattern to have them molded in-- and wouldn't you know it? He picked trucks and vehicles.

  We're having SOME trouble wearing the braces as much as he's supposed to.  Some days are easier than others.  We call them them his Super Boots (thanks to the orthodist for coming up with that term).  Eliot was very proud of them at first, but the novelty seems to have warn off just a little.  He even confessed to me just a couple of days ago, that he doesn't really like them.  I have a strong feeling he will be wearing them on the longer side of the range too due to what I am seeing in his physical therapy.

Back in May, there was a news story that was caught a lot of attention about a pit bull dog named Lilly.  Lilly had been adopted from a rescue by a Boston Police Officer who thought she would make good company for his alcoholic mother.  One day, Lilly and her new owner, (the officer's mother) were out for a walk in Shirley, MA when the lady collapsed unconscious on the railroad tracks.  A train was headed for the lady, and brave Lilly pulled her out of the way, leaving Lilly to get clipped by the train herself.  Several surgeries and physical therapies later, Lilly is doing much better.  She did lose a leg, but she can walk and even run again.  

 Eliot had heard about Lilly in the news and even followed her on Facebook with Ted.  We had heard one day about a month ago that "Lilly the Hero Pit Bull" was going to be in Salem, MA at an event to end Puppy Mills.  Having nothing else to do that day, we decided to go take Eliot to meet Lilly.

Now, we were not really in the market for another dog, but when we met Brandon---- and eleven year old senior Pit Bull that came from a neglectful, abusive family and never knew love and couldn't get enough of it---- it really was love at first sight.  We went home that night and talked about Brandon.  I think it was that night that Ted called Brandon's foster Mom.  We set up a home visit and we went back to visit Brandon in his foster home environment.  Brandon and I bonded instantly.  He's been my very best buddy ever since and I (personally) am SO SO happy so announce that Brandon is the newest member of the Baker family.  He is the best dog that I have ever met-- the best dog that I could even dream up! He's perfect! And he doesn't chew ANYTHING!! (Not even dog toys!!!) See? PERFECT!!

 

Then, we had our annual Day out with Thomas trip! Nana came this year and was excited to see how excited Eliot got about the whole thing.  It even amazed me how excited he still is about the whole thing-- he doesn't even really watch Thomas anymore, but he still got excited to ride on that big blue engine! Not to mention the other rides, games, and fishing!

And finally, we started early this year (early October, late September) with our Halloween preparations.   I was excited because this was the first year that Eliot was really into decorating with me (Christmas is going to be SO FUN!) We made a family of ghosts (can you guess which one Eliot made? even though he claims one that I actually made as his own), we put some pumpkin sticks in the ground and we covered our windows in Halloween (removable) stickers.  And we've already even made a couple of Christmas gifts!  Less than two months away!!

Eliot's 4th Birthday

I can't believe my little boy is 4 years old.  Where does the time go? Really.  The last four years have gone by so quickly.  They say that the days are long and the years are short and that is exactly how I feel.  Eliot has grown up to be my buddy, though and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I love the fact that he says "I love you" first now, without prompting.  I love that he still snuggles with me for a nap.  I love that he still touches my face for comfort.  I love that he tells me that I'm his best friend.  I love when he asks me to take care of him.  I love when he calls me baby (like I call him baby sometimes).  I love when Ted tells me how much he missed me while I was at work.  I love that one of his favorite thing to do with me is fold laundry.  I love our book reading time together.  I love playing legos with him.  I love his passion for trucks and machines.  I love how he teaches me and Ted (and everyone else) about trucks and machines.  I love the way he uses his hands to talk and sometimes bobbles his head too.  I love how he has compassion for people and animals.  There is just so much to love about my special boy and I am so beyond blessed that he is mine.  How did I get so lucky?

For his birthday, we let him pick the theme.  He wanted a garbage truck party.  Well, let me tell you, this is NOT easy! No one sells garbage truck anything! There are no garbage truck plates, balloons, party favors...nothing!  So I tried to get creative.

We picked green and orange for the colors-- the two colors you see most on garbage trucks (and because of the orange vests the sanitation engineers often wear).  Ted bought a galvanized trash can (I looked into getting minis to hold party favors but they were $6 each!).  We had Ted's co-worker do the cake-- a garbage truck, of course!  I found a garbage truck crossing sign on Ebay.  I also found some recycling stuff (books and stickers and bracelets) that I used for the party favors so we kind of integrated the garbage truck theme with recycling and called it a day.

 

When it came time to open gifts, the first one Eliot chose to open happened to be the one he's been talking about for literally months; a Bruder brand Snow Plow Truck.  He went nuts over this truck.  He could not believe his eyes.  His astonished reaction went on for about five whole minutes.  He was a very thankful and grateful boy.   Of course, he loved the rest of his gifts too, but nothing caused the reaction like that snow plow.... not even the next day (his actual birthday) when Ted and I surprised him with a ride on John Deere Tractor.  I mean, he was excited, but nothing like he was over that snow plow truck!

 

 On his birthday, we spent the day playing with all of his gifts.  We played with a rock excavation kit, a tool set, we painted monster trucks, built legos, rode the tractor, played with the snow plow (of course), dug with a bulldozer, and went to Grandpa's house so he could give Eliot his very special gift; an ipad.  It was a busy day, but Eliot said he had a great birthday!

Truck Day 2012

It's that time of year again-- that second Sunday in September when Eliot get's the most excitement of the year; Truck Day in Burlington.  This year we made the best mistake ever. One of the ads for Truck Day said it started at 9:00AM which is the ad that I read.  Apparently, all the other ads said that Truck Day started at 10:00AM, which is the time it actually started, but we went right at 9:00AM and about half of the trucks were already there and ready... and so were we!  It was perfect! No crowds, no lines, no loud honking horns from over-eager children (like there was when we left at 10:30)-- like I said: perfect!

Eliot had his usual fun time going from truck to truck.  He got to go up in a few.  He taught us about a few, explaining what they were, what they did, and why they had certain parts, etc.  At one point, one man (a truck driver) helped Eliot onto and into a truck and taught Eliot about a truck that he didn't know about.  I forget exactly what it was.... something about water, maybe sewer water... they had cameras they put under water and they watched from the truck.  I think Ted actually might have been more interested than Eliot about that one. 

At 10:00AM, we ran into some familiar faces (people who actually got there on time). 

 Before we left, Eliot really wanted to see his buddy, Mr. (Kevin) McGuire, who was the man who had an article written about him in the paper last year.  Gramma had found it and showed it to Eliot and Eliot had stated quite clearly that he wanted to meet him. He was going to be at Truck Day last year with his bulldozers.  Eliot wanted to see if we could find him again this year so we went to see if we could find him.  Not remembering what he looked like, I asked a man from the same organization if he knew Mr. McGuire and found out that I was speaking to him.  I was only slightly embarrassed.  We chatted with him a while, he gave Eliot another truck magazine and I bought a truck DVD from his table for Eliot (which Eliot loves!).  Eliot was sad to learn that his bulldozers weren't there this year, but he posed for a photo and we were off.... until next year :)