Wow! I can not believe I’ve let this much time pass since updating. Let’s just say better late than never. Ian turned 7 today! He is finishing first grade next week. We just got results of an end of year assessment today and he rocked all areas! He’s reading and writing and thinking critically. His imagination blows me away. He plays baseball and has been making some great plays at second base. I love watching him play and he puts his whole heart into it. He has also started performing and this summer he will fly as Michael Darling in a production of Peter Pan! Ian is an emotional little boy, but so far it hasn’t been anything we can’t handle. I recently spoke to a mom of a little girl with DWV and she is wondering if her child’s strong emotional responses is connected to her Dandy-Walker variant. It’s definitely interesting and something to look into for sure. If you’ve stumbled upon this blog because you are facing the unknown of a dandy walker diagnosis, you aren’t alone. Sorry again for letting the blog slip. I’ll try to update a couple of times a year. The birthday boy is going to blow out his candles soon! We are so blessed.

Four and Fantastic!

Ian Joseph turned four in May. I have no idea where the time has gone, but we've been enjoying ourselves! He continues to do well academically, socially, behaviorally, and physically; praise God! He's currently feeding himself dinner and pretending the write letters on the table with his invisible pencil. In two days, he'll complete his last year in preschool. He will head to Pre-K in the fall. He has many interests, but sports top them all! He loves to play, play, play! Baseball and street hockey are his current favorites, but look out if he spots a Frisbee! I am loving every second (okay, minus the whiny seconds!) of watching him grow and thrive. I'm not sure how his brain "works around" the malformation, but it's incredible. We continue to count our blessings and pray for all of our dandy friends. Have faith! 

Time flies!

I'm not good at keeping this blog updated, obviously! I apologize. I have heard from a couple of people lately, so I really need to be better at this. Anyway, Ian continues to grow and shine. He turned 3 in May. He is a super silly, active, physical little boy. People are amazed by him. I am amazed by him. He is daytime potty trained, and he drew his first family portrait this evening! He's a terrible eater and now works really hard at staying up way past bedtime, but I know these are both stages that we'll pass through. My parents babysat for us last night and when we returned to their house, they insisted I watch him play a certain app. They were so impressed with his "skills," haha. His reflexes are amazing. I have to limit tablet time for him or he'd never play with actual toys, but he is impressive (as most little ones are! Just admiring his brain's ability to help him react!) My dad made a sweet comment about his brain. His DW is often on our minds, but we just shake our heads in awe and thank The Lord above. Thankfully, he is finally sleeping, so I'm going to get some rest as well. Until next time......

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, Friends! While waiting for the kiddos to rise, I thought I'd update you all about my greatest gift: Ian's health. (And, yes, my father reminded me to do so.) Ian continues to do well. He is extremely active and loves to do all things little boy. He is super sweet, too. His speech has taken off. I can't even begin to count the number of words he has, and he is speaking in phrases and short sentences. When he gets a gift from someone he excitedly says, "What is it?!?!" before opening it and shouts, "Thank you, Merry Christmas!" I can tell that his speech isn't quite as developed/strong/clear as some of the children he attends daycare with, but he sure is getting there.  He complains about his eyes hurting about once a day, so we will have to have them checked, but he doesn't seem to be suffering from headaches or anything at this point. He isn't shunted because there wasn't any fluid issues before, but perhaps he's experiencing some sort of discomfort. It's times like these that I wish he hadn't been discharged completely from neurology. It would just give us peace of mind to have yearly check-ins and someone to quickly report eye complaints, etc. to. I know that's a pretty easy phone call and request, so I'll do that soon. Otherwise, we're just taking it one day at a time and thanking God for our many blessings. Merry Christmas and may 2014 bring you peace and good health.

Livin' Life

So my dad is bothered by the fact that I haven't updated my blog in a very long time. I apologize! Ian is amazing. Truly amazing. I don't think about Dandy-Walker every time I look at him now. I just think of Ian. Physically, he isn't challenged at this point. He walks, runs, jumps, plays on the playground (in your face doctor man!), kicks soccer balls; you name it, he tries it. His speech seems delayed, but who knows if that's associated to Dandy-Walker or just a 23 month old little boy. He has many many words, but not all of them are clear. He isn't speaking in many phrases, but I am confident that will come. He throws great temper tantrums and gets pretty emotional. This too can't be linked to DW at this point in time....we are entering 'terrible two's'! I have read that the cerebellum controls both language and emotions/behaviors, so only time will tell if these are issues we'll be dealing with in the future. I'll try to be better at keeping you all updated. I did rely heavily on blogs that I found and often wondered.....Now what? How are they doing/growing?......when the author just stopped updating. Thank you for thinking of Ian, and please continue to pray for him, other DW kids, and newly diagnosed families.

Just enjoying my little man!

Again I must apologize for not posting in a few months. No news is good news, right? Ian is doing well. He's an active little guy. He loves playing with cars and balls, wrestling with his sister, and making huge messes! He runs more than he walks these days. He amazes me. I could tell you my worries for the future, but why? We all know I worry and always will. Unfortunately that's my nature.   But, the worrying isn't stopping me from enjoying every single second with my little man!

Go, Ian!

Ian started walking last week! He's still quite unsteady on his feet, but he's getting better at it every day. I was recently contacted by a family that received the diagnosis of Dandy-Walker. Their little girl is due in October I believe. Her situation sounds a lot like Ian's. I am so happy that my blog has been able to provide hope and strength to another family. That's the main reason I decided to blog about Ian. If I hadn't found Shayna's blog about Mathew and spoken to Ava's parents, I just don't know how I would have made it through. It's so nice to hear from you Joe and Leslie. We're praying for your little one! It's all going to be wonderful. Praying for all the Dandy-Walker kiddos out there!