It's been a while since I posted something fun about our lil' guy...so this post is going to be about things he's done lately...

What Ryder has been up to these days...

So Ryder got a new Speech Therapist...and she is a bunch of fun! He loves her already! Her first visit she evaluated him...to find out what to do with him...She told me at his age (19 months) he should be at about 15-20 words. I was like really? hmmm...cuz he says more then 20! so that night I added up all his regular words...and came up with almost 50!!!! Those do not count the ones he'll repeat...they are ones he says daily on his own. So he is one brilliant kid!!! here are some things he says...and phrases

"dog"----"duck,quack"---"go in car"----"going in car"---"Kira!"--"Greg!"---"greg, come"---"buddy come here"---"moon!!"---"Bike!"---"gu-gu-tar" (guitar)----"Bruno"---"eat"---"eeeew, stinky!" ----"go-gma" ---"play"----"owie" ----"A, E, O, I" (his version of ABC's)---"eieioooooo"---"OH YEAH!"---"hey Kid!"----"hey you"---- "yes"---
AND MANY MANY MORE!!!!!!

This kid is a talking machine...it's so fun! The crazy thing is, is technically we are still supposed to correct his age, since he was born so 3 1/2 months early... so really right now we are supposed to consider him 16 months old....so all these words!!!!!!!! WOW!!!!!!!!!!! AMAZING! MIRACLE!

So a recent story about him and his intelligence....

Greg and Ryder and I were at my parents helping Aaron fix his car. It was dark out...so Ryder sat in his wheelchair staring at the sky. He loves doing this! He watches the stars, and airplanes fly overhead...and he ALWAYS points out the moon and says "moon, moon."
Well that night Ryder noticed this really big-bright star. He knew it was different then normal. He pointed at it and said to me, "huh? huh?"
I said, "oh Ryder that is a planet."
he said "huh?"
I saw that he obviously was curious about this "planet"
So I said to Aaron and Greg "hey what planet is that?"
Aaron said "I think its Saturn???"
So I told Ryder "Hey that's Saturn ryder, it's the moons brother, we live on earth the moons sister, and the Sun is the moons sister to."
About a half hour later Greg comes over and says "ryder where's saturn?"
Ryder looks directly at saturn and says "ss-urn" and points.

We were sooo shocked! he remembered! so we said Oh RY you are our NASA genius!!!

So then three days later or so...we got home one night...at our house...not my mom's where we showed him Saturn ( if it was saturn may be venus) a few days previously.
Greg says "Ryder where is Saturn?"
Ryder looks, searches, and finds that bright star and points at it...
"ss--urn."
Then we ask "Ryder where are the stars?"
he looks all around and points and moves around finger...meaning everywhere!
He always shows us the moon to...
So dang! how smart!!!!

Another story...

We have been teaching Ryder his ABC's lately. He loves them! So one day he was playing in his room with toys and books...
I peeked in to check on him...
he had a book opened and was pointing at the letters saying "A-E-O-I_H"
He totally thought he was reading! haha...I was so proud of him, and he knew it!

Today he told my nephew Zakry "I Love ooo"

This kid is always doing the coolest things! That seriously make us sooooo proud!
Ya know this kid may have his struggles physically, but mentally NOT at all! And that makes us soooo happy! It makes it easier on us...takes away from us focusing on his physical disabilities...and getting down about that.

Dang Ryder is soooo cool!!!

Ryder and his awesome wheelchair!

feeling yucky headed to hospital....

Happy to be feeling better...

sick boy...

Headed home!

So what's our latest craziness happening in our life??? well, well, well.....oh where do we begin???
Since our post forever ago...we came back from Idaho...life was normal for us for a bit...then one night I (Kira) cut my heel to the bone...barely missing major tendons...and whatnot... in the end I got 8 stitches. How did this happen?? Well I made my lil' Ryder a cute vintage cowboy curtain to go with his room...and I was putting up the hooks for the rod...and stepped off the stool directly onto the curved part of the Rod....slicing it to the bone. It was crazy cuz Greg had just left for an hour with out the cell phone...Thank goodness for great neighbors! Lorenza and her family came to my rescue...and cared for Ryder.
This past week Ryder has been and still is in the hospital. Why?? well...We went to my grandparents cabin in forest lakes Az...were having a great time...then Saturday Ryder got fussy....and a fever. I thought, "oh it's just his molars (sp?) coming in....well his temp sunday morning was at 101 ish... so we headed home early to go to urgent care. By the time we got there his temp was at 104 plus....so they said ok with Ryders "lovely" history he needs to head straight to the ER now. So away to Phoenix Childrens we went!
They have done many tests...and have come up with nothing...except its a virus. Motrin took the fever down to 101 ish til yesterday. Now he's back to normal on his temp...thanks to IV and fluids. Of course Ryder got dehyrated quickly....he does that no matter what when he is ill. Ryder is getting some tests tomorrow from a team of GI dr's ( intestinal drs...and such). While he has been in the hospital they found non related stuff to his virus....but they found he has some stuff wrong with his intestins...from an infection he had called "NEC" in the NICU. So tomorrow he gets some fun xrays..and tests. Hopefully after that he can come home but who knows...they said they are taking all precautions with him cuz of his crazy history...so we shall see.
NOW AS FOR MORE GOING ON....GEEZ...um to begin...the other night our van kinda broke right when Greg pulled into the hospital, so we were borrowing my mothers blazer. Well lets just say the blazer is no more....and I'm in major pain.
I was driving home yesterday to get a break from the hospital...and was in rush hour traffic..at a dead stop....all the sudden someone going 55 MPH plus...rammed right into the back of me. It actually hit so hard she went under me and pushed me into the HOV lane with cars coming right at me...fortunately God was def watching over me...cuz the cars missed Tboning me...and also I easily could've been thrown into oncoming traffic on the opposite side of freeway. So Yes I am in TOTAL pain...but I won't take much meds cuz I need to care for Ryder.
So thats our crazy crazy life. I just hope Ryder gets well soon and gets home.