Easter

He is Risen! Our church does a neat thing with the children on Easter. They have a cross that is covered with chicken wire and the children bring in flowers to cover it. Here is a picture of Landon putting his flower in the cross with his Sunday School teacher Ms. Jamie. I don't have a picture of the cross filled but it was beautiful.
The meaning of the cross:

The living flowering cross of Easter Sunday dramatically and visually represents the new life that they are celebrating as thy witness the very instrument of death and endings transformed into life and new beginnings.




Of course also was visited by the Easter Bunny though we didn't make it a major part of the day. His basket contained, among other things, a bag of Jelly Bellies... Yum Yum!! Here is Landon having his first taste of a Jelly Belly, not a jelly bean- Jelly Bellies are MUCH better.

Thank you Jesus for dying on the cross and Praise you God for raising Him three days later.
Happy Easter!

A short update on Landon

Well, we have been home from the hospital for a week now. Landon seems to be tolerating the medication well thus far. We still have 9 more days until he is up to the therapeutic level. He is still having seizures while he is sleeping but we have only noticed two in the week we have been home which is great. I say "noticed" because the doctors told us that he was having 1-2 per night that were so small that we just didn't notice them. We are assuming that once the ones we are seeing go away then the ones we aren't seeing will be gone as well. We go to see his doctor the first of May.

We are so thankful for all of you who have been praying for him. We KNOW that God the Father hears the prayers and will answer. Please continue to pray.

Landon met some little lambs

Landon met a little lamb its fleece was white and brown. And everywhere that Landon went the lamb was sure to go. It followed him for the milk, but he didn't mind.... (And that's the end of mom's terrible rhyme!)



Today we were able to go and see the little lamb's that were only 2 weeks old. It was muddy and cold but Landon didn't care. The first thing Landon did when he saw them was say, "Baa". Everyone there just laughed. It was so cute. The farm belongs to the parents of a lady that Travis works with. They only fed the babies part of their bottle this morning so that Landon could feed them the rest. They were just too cute. There were about 20 babies total but the rest were out in the pasture with their mom's. The mom of these triplets isn't around anymore so they feed them by hand.

This is a "real" farm so they also had donkeys, cows and chickens. We didn't get up close to any of those animals today due to them weather conditions but we do plan to go back when it is nicer.


Once we were done at the farm we had to take Dad back to work. We all had lunch together, which was nice. Landon liked playing with the hard hats that were laying around.

What a great way to spend the morning.

Let it Snow, Snow, Snow

We awoke yesterday to about 8 inches of snow on the ground. Needless to say, Travis stayed home. He spent a lot of his morning cleaning off the porch, steps, sidewalk, and cars. With 8 inches of snow, that's a lot of work. Landon just looked on hoping that one of two things would happen: one being he could go out and help dad do "whatever" it was that he was doing. Or two, that dad would stop and come in a play.






The morning started with one of Landon's favorite things when Travis is home in the mornings...sharing his cereal. Landon will not take a bite of it if Travis offers him a some while standing in the kitchen. He waits until Travis sits on the couch, Landon climbs up to sit next to him and then he will take some. He knows his dad pretty well and keeps an eye on the bowl to make sure that Travis is sharing.



At about 11:00 I got Landon dressed and ready for the cold outdoors. Bags went on his feet, over his sock and under his shoes, to keep the snow from getting in his shoes and to keep his feet dry. He thought it was funny when I put them on. Once he got outside Landon thought the snow was OK....but there was just too much of it and it was COLD! The snow was so deep that he couldn't really walk around in it but it was fun to see him try. We didn't stay out long, just enough to say he had been out in it and to snap of few pictures. It was such a nice day to be home with the family just being lazy and having some fun.

So much learning going on

I have discovered that Landon learns things very quickly. Sometimes I don't even realize that he has learned something until he just randomly shows us. A couple of weeks ago I found a great site, www.letteroftheweek.com , that has some simple lesson plans for children from birth up through school age. It has simple ideas for working on the alphabet, numbers, shapes, colors, etc. Here is a picture of the first week's learning poster. The poster shows all of the things we worked on during the first week.
Landon did the coloring and the placement of stickers. To put the macaroni on the "A" I put glue all over the letter and just pointed were I wanted him to place each piece. Of course the pieces that ended up not on the letter just didn't stick. The web site also gives a great list of books that go along with the theme and so each week we make a quick trip to the local library to pick some of them up. It has really been a lot of fun.

As most of you know I have done a lot of research dealing with children with DS and their ability to read. I have made Landon a few flash card containing some of the words Landon can sign. Each day we flip through the cards a couple of times just reading the words. It is amazing what he can already read. The following clip contains Landon finding the correct shape when asked and reading a few of his first words. He was not to into reading during the whole video but I think you'll get the picture that he can read a few words. I hope you are as proud of him as we are.



Last night Landon brought Travis his alphabet train ( just a little hand made book that looks like a train and has each letter of the alphabet on a separate train car). As Travis flipped through it he was surprised at how many letters Landon knew the sound of, I must say that I was surprised as well. All I can say is "Watch out world. Landon Kerr is here!"

Christmas, finally!

Yes, I know it is Jan 16 and I am just now posting pictures from Christmas. What can I say, I'm just a little behind but what's new. I did take Landon to see Santa. I was afraid that he would cry but instead he just looked at him. He was just so interested.

It was great to be in Knoxville with our family for the holidays. Landon and I make trips in often but Christmas time is special because Travis gets to come with us. As I grow older one of the things I cherish more and more is time spent with family and friends. God has so blessed us with such as supportive family and caring friends. We love them all.

This year "Santa" brought Landon a Little People race track. I thought he would like it but I just didn't know how much. Here Landon's cousin Megan is playing with him and the race track. He also got a tent/tunnel from his Uncle Brian, Caylin, and Megan. That's Caylin in the tent with him.


One of Landon's extra special gifts was from Gee. She has been working on the quilt for quite some time. She calls it a conversation quilt. Each 8 patch square is different which gives us something to talk about. Right now it is spread out in the floor and Landon points to pictures and tells me what they are. It is BEAUTIFUL! Thank you Gee.

The other special thing Landon had a Gee and Papaw's house was an outdoor Christmas Tree. Landon loved it. They would turn it on at night and when he got a glimpse of it you knew because he would sign tree over and over and point outside so that you could see too. Thanks Uncle Kevan and Caylin for hanging the lights in the holly tree.

We also had a great time with my family...though I don't have many pictures because my sister had her camera and I just let her take the pic and I'll get them from her later. Landon got his very first sit and spin....boy does he love that! His Aunt Jill was determined to find one and I'm glad she did. It has been a lot of fun.

As I said before, one thing Travis and I enjoy doing while we are home is visiting with friends. Travis enjoyed catching up with John Coatney and I loved watching them play with Landon. John and Helen don't think they have enough toys but who needs more than blocks and trains? The Coatney's have meant so much to Travis and I......Our first kiss was at the house you know!
We were also able to meet up with David and Mendy Henderson. It had been WAY to long since we had seen or spoken with them. I LOVED the dinner we had and can't wait until the next time.

This Christmas I spent some time thinking about Joseph. We always hear about what a faithful woman Mary had to have been to be chosen to be the mother of God's son but what about Joseph. As far as we know he loved Jesus like his own son. He agreed to lay his reputation on the line to marry Mary. Not only did God chose Mary but He also had to have also chosen Joseph. He couldn't just have anyone being the earthly father figure to Jesus. What a man he must have been. I just praise God for loving us so much that he was willing to send Jesus and give us a chance to be in fellowship with Him once more.

One of Landon's Busy Days

As most of you know, Landon is walking 80-90% of the time now. It is amazing to think that it was only about 3 months ago that he took his first independent step. Today I decided to take my camera along a take a few video clips and pictures during his physical therapy and speech therapy sessions. I know many have asked what kinds of things Landon does during these times so here it is.

Today during physical therapy Landon got to swing very high like he was on a trapeze. As you can see in the video, after a while he became extremely confident and tried to let go. Thanks to Ms. Theresa he is always safe.



He also spent a lot of time walking up the ramp and stairs, with out any help. Last week he walked up the ramp with a little help but this week Theresa was well pleased that he did it unassisted. Great Job Landon!



A new activity Landon was able to do today was "jump" on the trampoline. Now that was fun. Landon had never really been on one before but I think he liked it. The video shows him doing a little bounce all by himself.



The best part of going the the therapy center is that when we are toward the end of therapy we get to climb up the latter and go down the BIG slide and land in the ball pit! So much fun!





After we went to the therapy center we rushed home to meet Ms. Cary, Landon's speech therapist. Landon just loves Ms. Cary and I think one of the main reasons is that she doesn't make him "work" as much as the others. Now having said that, she does a lot with him it just doesn't seem like hard work like physical or occupational therapy does. Landon loves to pull everything out of Ms. Cary's bag as soon as she arrives to see what kind of goodies she brought to play with. His favorites today were the pig puppet and the cow puzzle piece. He made the cow "moo" and "jump", and best of all, "dance" on Ms. Cary's head. Cary got cracked up when we showed her how to pout, think, yawn, and yell. His new sign was "baby". We have been talking about Baby Jesus a lot this week and so he decided to learn that sign. I think he is up to almost 90 signed words.






I would like to say a special "Thank You" to Ms. Theresa and Ms. Cary for all of their hard work. Landon has to work a lot harder than most kids to do the normal things that other kids just "do" and thanks to these two special ladies he is doing GREAT!

Tomorrow I will try to catch Ms. Brenda as she works with Landon during occupational therapy. I hope this has shown those of you who don't get to see what all Landon is do a little insight into how well he is doing.

Last but not least is a little short video of Landon walking to put the ball in the basket ball hoop. Enjoy!

A Day Of Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for all year long. I hope that I never wait for this one day to thank God for all He does for me and my family. I guess that is one thing I have learned more about in the two years that we have had Landon, be thankful about all things always. Landon's speech therapist said the other day," You know, I have noticed that you notice and appreciate the little things that Landon does that other parent's my take for granted." and I think that's true but I also find myself being thankful for other people more and God's grace more than I ever had in the past. This year I have reconnected with some friends that at one time were very dear to me but "stuff" got in the way. I am so thankful that we have allowed time and God to grow us back together. I think I have also come to appreciate Travis more and more. He has always been a wonderful husband and father but when I take the time to see the little things he does to take care of us, make us happy, and set a great example for Christ I see how blessed I truly am to have been joined with him.

Thanksgiving day did not exactly turn out as planed...another reason not to let your happiness lie in tradition. Travis is given a turkey each year by his work. This year we didn't get the turkey until Tuesday and it was 18 lbs....that's BIG. Also consider that there was only going to be 3 of us at dinner. Well, needless to say the turkey was not thawed out by Thursday so we had home made chicken patties instead. But knowing that was not why we celebrated the day it was no big deal...just something to laugh at.

We are have turkey tonight instead.

On Thanksgiving morning we took a fun trip to the playground and a nice fall walk. It was a wonderful morning.

The best part of the day for Landon was having his Dad home all day just to play and play and play. He is defiantly Daddy's little buddy.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Fall

This post is written about a month late but I guess better late than never. Fall is such a beautiful time of the year. Living in the mountain we get to truly enjoy all of the changing colors. It's beautiful to drive from our house into Charlottesville.

This year for Halloween we, Landon and I were able to make a visit to Knoxville. Travis had a work trip to Florida and after that was working long hours along with everyone else he works with. Though we don't make a huge deal out of Halloween we did go to boo at the zoo with my friend Melani and her little girl, my mom, and sister. Landon's costume was a little skunk. It's amazing what you can dress your kids up as before they are old enough to know better. It was a nice day and we were even able to ride a camel. The best part was the Crispy Cream Donut at the end...YUM YUM!!



On Halloween morning Landon and I carved a pumpkin. This was the first year we tried it. I was interested in seeing if he would be willing to play with the guts and stick his hand inside. After a little "encouragement" he touched the seeds and at least half way put his hand inside. He was more interested in the fact that the pumpkin ended up with eyes, nose, and mouth. He loved putting his fingers in the eyes and mouth.



On Halloween night we went to our friends Jill and Ken Shinlever's to help pass out candy. It is just crazy how many kids that come into their neighborhood for candy. Ken and Jill had 5 gallon tubs to keep the candy in to hand out, now that's a lot of candy. It really is a fun time just to hang out with old friends and have a little fun.

This is Landon and Anna, Ken and Jill's little girl.





















Gayla and Landon