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New Pics from Deb/Boys

By Margot | May 27, 2008

Andy in tree

 

brothers copy.jpg

 

 

charlieHalfSmile copy.jpg

 

 

peaceOut copy.jpg

 

We took pics at Balboa Park Sunday with Deb.  She was great as usual.  Charlie was determined not to smile much for some reason but she caught him in a couple of pics. 

We had a nice long weekend. We went to SeaWorld with the O’Kanes on Saturday, and the boys had a great time.  Sam’s tummy was hurting toward the end of the day but they got to see some shows (Pets Rule is their favorite, it plays the song “Who Let the Dogs Out” and it’s really funny to watch all three boys sing and dance to it) and go on the helicopter “ride.” We went for a bike ride yesterday around the bay.  Sam’s legs got tired soon after we started and I was worried. Neil had dropped us off with all of the bikes (I won’t go into the logistics of getting all the bikes and all three kids down to the bay but it’s involved) and then he got lunch and met us at Fanuel park with the car.  Well, we had to stop and rest several times because Sam was getting tired.  I was worried we wouldn’t make it to the park but he made it.  The boys played chase at the park after the picnic and Sam ran around just fine.  As Neil was putting his bike in the car, he said, “Sam has a totally flat tire.” We’d filled up all of the tires before we left but Sam’s bike must have had a fast leak.  Nice observant mother.  My son on chemo rode around the bay with a totally flat tire.  Nice.  The boys saw the new Narnia movie with Mimi and her dad on Sunday afternoon and they thought it was a great movie and yesterday afternoon I took them to Speed Racer.  Fine fine film making.  Sam laughed at all of the jokes where the little brother hides out in Speed Racer’s car and Andy took it very seriously and yelled “Go Speed Racer Go. ” several times during the movie.   They both can’t wait for the next Speed Racer movie to come out.  I suppose if I had girls I would be watching Hannah Montana movies.  I probably wouldn’t be able to chase the trash truck all the way down the alley as Andy and Charlie and I did this morning though.   We do it every trash day and the guy waves at us.

Sam is hit and miss with eating. When his stomach isn’t hurting, he’s eating well.  Zofran helps and we are talking with Jayne at the hospital about a couple of other meds to help out with nausea.  We have a CT scan and blood check tomorrow. Hoping for no nasty surprises with the CT scan.  Just because we don’t have enough doctors appointments and we needed something else to fill up our time, we’ve started the process of signing Sam up for vision therapy.  Our friend Johnny was over for a playdate a few weeks ago and Nancy was telling me about Johnny’s vision therapy.   She started explaining why they started it, he was reading “saw” for “was” and vice-versa, his eyes were getting tired after a couple of pages, he was losing his place a lot, etc. etc.   As she was talking, it dawned on me that Sam did all of the same things when he reads.  He’s doing fine in school and this year he has caught up almost totally with the kids in his class but his reading is slow and still not quite up to par.  I thought it was just a matter of time since he missed so much school.   It turns out that instead of just time, he needs vision therapy.  We went to a free screening at the place that Johnny goes for therapy and Sam scored “at risk” in eye teaming, eye movements, visual form reproduction and right/left and number reversal.  As they were giving us the results of both boys tests (Andrew’s was perfect) and she said Sam is “at risk” I thought it was a funny choice of words and felt like saying, “Lady you have no idea.”  So, something to do for the summer, we’re trying to get it set up quickly.  The good news is that she said once kids start vision therapy, their reading and schoolwork in general sky rockets (don’t know if I can use sky rockets as a verb).  Mostly I just don’t want Sam to struggle, he has enough to struggle with (a mother who let’s him ride a bike with a flat tire, for instance) and reading need not be part of it.   Also, with hearing loss, reading is obviously essential.

That’s all for today’s update.  Thanks a million to Deb who spent her Sunday morning with us.  Will post after the CT scan.

Margot 

 

Topics: Progress Reports | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “New Pics from Deb/Boys”

  1. tom Says:
    May 27th, 2008 at 9:59 pm

    Beautiful pictures of the boys…Sam is so spunky and expressive…Andy with his arm around the Charlie..Charlie in black and white..Deb has got it going on..see you this weekend..T

  2. joan hutchison Says:
    May 28th, 2008 at 1:03 am

    Beautiful pictures. Love the crooked smile on Charlie’s face. The freckles on Sam are so cute- reminds me of someone named Neil. Andy, as always, is set to go!
    Can’t wait to see you all.
    Love
    Grandma Joan

  3. Colleen Kuhn Says:
    May 29th, 2008 at 4:28 am

    FABULOUS photos !!!!!!! Gorgeous all the way around !!!!! One boy is cuter than the next !!!!! We love them all !!!
    Deb certainly knows how to capture their personalities !!!!
    Hugs to all,
    XO, Colleen

  4. Laura Carlson Says:
    May 29th, 2008 at 9:44 pm

    Great photos….love that Deb!
    Hey also, could you e-mail me about who did your vision screening….
    I’m thinking Natalie needs to be screened…
    Thanks!

  5. Jill Maguire Says:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 2:23 am

    I HAVE ONLY ONE THING TO SAY ABOUT THESE BOYS…. GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS AND GORGEOUS!!!

  6. Rhonda Dudley Says:
    June 3rd, 2008 at 7:29 pm

    Magicwater is on perezhilton.com!!!! hey, it’s a start!!!!

    ps….. love love love the pictures!!!! You sure do have darling boys!!!!!!!