Do you know the Ice Cream Man?

Ellie does! She has been trying to catch him for weeks and we finally succeeded this afternoon. Enjoy the pictures of her devouring her treat - yes, she ate the entire thing!





And cause we can't leave out our Ethan...I have been trying to get a picture of this forever and always forget to bring the camera when I put him to bed. Love the bum in the air!

Ellie News

I just wanted to update all on Ellie's upcoming appointments. I spoke with the Virginia Child Find program and they are going to evaluate Ellie next month (June 22). We should have the results from her speech evaluation (June 1st) at the hospital. If the therapist recommends speech, the Early Intervention program should be able to provide some sessions for her. I also scheduled an appoinment with an Opthalmologist for a week from Thursday. The neurologist wants her to get checked out to make sure that none of the vessels in her eyes were damaged by the stroke. We don't really have any reason to believe that her vision was affected by the stroke, but I figure we need to cover all our bases so we don't discover a problem later that could be treated now.

Auntie Ju Ju has been here this week and is a huge help. As many of you may know she has a pretty extensive background working with children with special needs and she really thinks Ellie is doing great. It really is amazing how well she has recovered. More often than not I forget that it hasn't even been a month since the stroke. The way she is able to run and climb on the playground...it doesn't look like anything happened. She is talking more everyday and is showing us that her memory is still there.

Ju Ju gave Ellie a real "Abby Cadabby" wand for her birthday. It was a huge hit. If you have no idea who "Abby Cadabby" is, google her...she is Ellie is puppet form!

Siblings

He wasn't trying to smack her in the head, promise.

No news is good news

Riding on the scooter.

One of her favorite spots on the playground.

Walking on the tight rope.

He's thinking about crawling...we just haven't found the right motivation.

Big man on the swing.

Sorry for the lack of posting lately. There really is not much new to report. I think that is a good thing, right. Ellie is doing really well. She is not having any issues with her motor skills and the speech seems to be improving slowly. Tim and I both noticed her making comments to us that she always used to say. Her personality is definately there. If anything, she is much more cuddly now. We will see if that lasts. Auntie Janelle spent the week with us and we had a lot of fun at the playground and shopping. No new appointments, but we did schedule the follow-up MRI at Children's National for the end of June. Hope you enjoy the new pictures.

Now for the update...

I got a call today from the pediatric stroke specialist, she has decided that she would like to do another MRI to get a closer look at the area of the brain that was affected by the stroke. She said we don't have to worry, that she didn't see anything unusual on the original MRIs, she just wants to confirm the exact location of the stroke. When we went to see her she was surprised that Ellie's motor skills had returned so well. See, she suffered from a basal ganglia stroke (this is how they describe the area of the brain that was affected) and usually these strokes have a pronounced effect on the child's motor skills. Ellie, on the other hand, seems to have had her speech most affected. This could mean nothing, especially since Ellie's recovery has been so positive thus far (she is talking more and more each day), the specialist just said that Ellie's case would be unusual. Well, we already knew that! This girl doesn't fit into any mold! I will keep you posted as soon as we know when the MRI will be scheduled. I am off to bed so I can get up early with Ethan and make my girl some chocolate cupcakes (Abby Cadabby wrappers, of course) with hot pink sprinkles!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Wow! We can't believe our baby is already three! What a year it has been! From the birth of your baby brother, to leaving our "Massachusetts house", to your new adventure with your stroke. Your are our uniqe girl through and through and you can handle any situation that is thrown at you. We will miss these days where all you want for your birthday is a balloon and chocolate cupcakes, but can't wait to see what adventures are coming your way! Smoochies for my girl!

Ellie Sings!