Today is Sept. 22, 2000....alot has been happening with Colton lately. He has lost both tubes from his ears and he has started having ear infections again...he is just getting over infection # 4..(since July)...he is scheduled to have new tubes put in next month.

We have had a lot of exciting things happen lately...Colton is walking with a walker, and a week ago, he was standing with daddy and turned around facing me and took 3 steps all by himself!!! That was a pretty exciting day for all of us! He has also started taking horseback riding therapy....he loves the horses! So far it is going very well.

Big news in our family! Colton has started eating some real food!...(not pureed)... He has now had pancakes, angel food cake and blueberry muffins! He is working on graham crackers and arrowroot cookies!

This may not sound like much, but for us, well, it's a HUGE thing, this is another one of those things the doctors said he would never do. To watch him pick up little pieces of food and be able to chew them and not choke....what can I say other than......HOORAY!!!!!

It's November 9th and Colton has another ear infection, he was diagnosed on Sunday. He woke up from his nap with a fever of 103.9. He goes on November 20 to schedule his surgery for new tubes. I hope this will stop the infections for a while.

On a nicer note, Ashley and Colton's grandparent's (my Mom and dad) came down to visit for the weekend......it was a great weekend, dad took Ashley to a father daughter formal (since her daddy was away with work) and they had a great time! Colton has now started saying grandpa and grandma....he (and Ashley and I) really enjoyed the visit.....we are hoping they can come back again soon.

They were really impressed with the way Colton has grown and the things that he can do now......the last time they had seen him, he was not quite a year old and was still on monitors and on oxygen.....now he is trying hard to walk on his own, talking up a storm, and keeping me very very busy!

.....yesterday Colton had his new PE tubes placed and came through like a trooper! They also did another hearing test and we found out that his hearing in his left ear is not as bad as we thought it was, we found out that he only has a moderate loss in the left and it is servicable if we ever need it (meaning we could do a hearing aid and bring it almost to normal) The hearing aid isn't something he needs right now, but it's nice to know that he does have some hearing in that ear...............

Here we are in the new year and things are going well. We had a wonderful Christmas and New Year along with company from "back home".

Colton is doing well, he just had a check up today and his ears look great! He is now sleeping in a "big boy bed", which is a nice step from the toddler bed. He has started telling me when he needs a diaper change which is also good, maybe soon we will start potty training.

Colton is still doing well with his walker and is also taking more steps on his own. (he is up to about 4 or 5 at a time now) He is back on pureed food again, it seems that when he is on chunky foods his reflux acts up, so for now we have chosen to puree everything for him once again.

We have also discovered that Colton cannot have any foods or drinks with orange, red or blue dyes in it.....the only good thing about that is I found that the JelSert company, (they make Wylers ) has clear powdered drink mix....with no dyes in it! That is a blessing when you have light colored carpeting!

So far this has been a pretty good year. Colton recently had a bout with bacterial pneumonia (all 4 of us caught it at the same time) we caught it early and got it cleared up pretty quickly with antibiotics and no hospital stay!! Grandma came to visit this week and he was very happy with that, he surprised us a couple of times, he would be sitting in his chair and then stand up in front of it, look around for grandma and just start walking! He was taking about 5 or 6 steps with no coaxing. It was pretty cool! His speech is improving and he is still taking horseback riding therapy and getting stronger everyday! He got to go to therapy this weekend and demonstrate for Ashley's Daisy Troop and for the newspaper!

Here we are in June, Colton will be 3 years old in a month and is getting stronger everyday. He will be fitted with a new prothesis this week, and will be getting a new pair of dafo's (braces for the feet). We just found out that he has a leg length discrepancy of about 2 cm between the left and right (left side is shorter) They will make adjustments to his braces and he is also wearing a weight on the left leg. He is trying real hard to walk, he does well in the house going from one piece of furniture to another. He is very determined, if we try to take his hand and help him, he tells us loud and clear, "I Do It!". He will have an evaluation this next week for a speech computer board for a backup system. We have found that we understand him just fine, but, when he is talking to unfamiliar people, they don't understand him. It is very frustrating for him so we have decided to go this route. He has his first meeting about school next week also. The summer is starting to get very busy!

Colton is doing great! He received his new prosthetic hand on Tues. and he just loves it. He has worn it every minute, except during meal   sleep time, since Dr. Chaz placed it. Everyone we see Colton has to tell them about his "draw draw hand". He holds it up real high for them to see. Colton had his first OT appt today for training with his "draw draw hand" and did great. By the time we left, he was able to make it function (with some work) on his own. We are so blessed to have met Dr. Chaz and because of him we are able to open a new door for Colton that he is just running away with.
Thank you Dr. Chaz....