"look at all the presents"

"Oh My God... It's Spiderman"

Christmas Day!!!

WOWW!!! What a great morning... The boys slept until 7:30! It's a Christmas MIRACLE! The only reason Andrew got up was because Matthew was up in our room with a fever. He was just miserable. I got up to get him some tylenol and as he sat in the chair in the kitchen he was falling asleep... he obviously did not feel well at all.

Sean woke up Andrew and whispered to him that Santa had came and he hopped out of bed and flew into the living room... His eyes were HUGE. He just could not believe how many present Santa had brought. There is a video of him on the Picasa Web Album showing his commentary on the presents... very cute, check it out. It's labeled “that's a lot of presents!”

Matthew was not feeling well so he was not as excited.. poor little guy. But Andrew was extremely excited! He was very patient about waiting until we got our coffee before tearing into his gifts. After opening about 20 packages with just clothes, it was obvious that he was getting disappointed. Then came the good stuff. He got lots of spiderman and cars toys. But he was getting anxious that he would not get his most wished for gift... then we came to the end of the presents. It was the "best for last" gift. You HAVE to check out the video of his reaction.... it was a Black Spiderman costume. He literally SCREAMED he was so excited. It was the best reaction that I have EVER seen! So that was his Favortie gift.
The boys also loved that we got them the Leapster Max with gift certificates that their Aunt Wendy & Uncle Jeff sent. That was a huge hit too. We weren't sure if Andrew would "get" the concept of the games or if he could navigate the controls, but it's clear that his fine motor and cognitive skills have improved so much that it seemed much easier for him to play. We also got the "cars" game for it. We're so glad that it is something that he is interested in. Something that can grow with him as he learns more. He'll be able to use it until 5th grade because there are games all the way up to that age.

The rest of the day consisted of trying to clean up, organize and put together all of the toys. In all, it was a GREAT Christmas, even for us... I (or WE, I should say) got a new laptop, so now hopefully it will be easier to update the blogs more often. Sean got his new Golf Bag, which he needed so badly. And we both got a variety of little gifts and the Pottery Barn "Daily System" for our much needed organization.

We hope you all had a Merry Christmas and have a Happy new Year. And be sure to check out Matthew's blog to see his Christmas experience. http://roarslikealion.blogspot.com
Here is a direct link to the Picasa web album http://picasaweb.google.com/thefavilles/Christmas2007

PS... We will be starting the "Faville Family Blog" soon to post our Family blog. This will be more "daily" than Andrew & Matthew's blogs. We will be using the boys blogs for more personal posts for them. The family blog will be more of a daily journal. We'll keep you posted on the progress.

Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve was spent finishing up last minute wrapping and trying to get the boys to take a nap... that didn't go so well. They were just so excited about Christmas. We went to "Nana & Grandpa's" house for dinner of a special carrot, raising & celery stick salad, Gazpacho soup, King Crab legs, twice baked potato and Andrew's favorite.... Filet Mignon. The boys finished eating and we opened gifts. Andrew & Matthew go a nice big indoor bounce castle that will be perfect in helping to get Andrew jumping and help build his muscles. when he opened it he thought it was a pool! lol. They also got a variety of cool toys and clothes.

Then we came home to meet up with his Uncle Jay, Aunt Liz, Grandma & Pop Pop, and their cousins Kamden & Killyan. It was such a great night. The boys were so tired by the end of present openings. They got LOTs of fun things and had so much fun with the family playing with some of their toys. Uncle Jay & Aunt Liz got Andrew a Star Wars Light Saber which Andrew enjoys weilding around. This is great for his upper body strength and flexibility. Grandma & Pop pop got him lots of fun toys and some clothes.

After opening gifts, Andrew wanted to go to bed so he wanted to place the cookies and milk out for Santa and remembered that Santa told them that they had to pick up their toys and clothes so he would not trip over them... Andrew remembered this and tried to clean up his room before getting so tired that he just HAD to go to bed.

Wow, What a wonderful Christmas...

We had an Awesome Christmas!!! It was a bit stressful leading up to Christmas, but the end result was worth all the work. We had two HUGE snowstorms the days leading into christmas which made it difficult for all the last minute shopping. The first storm dropped about a foot of snow. The second storm total was about 18 inches!! The boys loved making snow angels, climbing on the snow mountains and building snowmen and snow forts. There was too much snow to even go snow sledding! They got new shovels to help shovel the snow and enjoyed every minute of it!

You will notice a new slideshow to the right of the page showcasing a new web photo album that we've created with for you to view. You can click on the photos to enlarge them which will bring you to a new window where you can toggle through the photos using the arrows at the top of that page. You can order prints and gifts from the website also. If you have any trouble with it, let us know.

Andrew was SOOO into Christmas this year and the magic of Santa! The boys even got letters from Santa that were personalized to them. They got some Magic Reindeer food for them to sprinkle in the front yard so that Santa's reindeer would see it and it would make them come to our house in a flash! They were VERY into this and had a great time distributing the "food" in the front yard. The sparkles in the food shined bright in the snow and sun.

So busy....

So things with the holidays have been so hectic!! We had a wonderful thanksgiving and are anxious for Christmas to arrive. Andrew is excited for christmas and keeps asking when Santa will be here. It is going to be a great christmas this year since he is so involved with the coming of it. He's been helping to wrap presents and sharpen his fine motor skills using scissors and tape and using his new folding skills to wrap. He's also been doing a GREAT job with his writing skills lately. We owe his teachers and therapists a huge amount of praise for the work they have done with Andrew this year. We were a little reluctant at accepting a new OT and SEIT teacher this year and him starting in a new preschool class this year, but it has proved to be a good change for all of us. His teacher, Pam & Stacy are diligent at following through with his therapy and are encouraging him more and more to do a good job at his work. Andrew is really enjoying his writing exercises now that he knows he can do it. He's able to write his whole name with minimal assistance. Even though we are concerned about his writing habits, we are told that he should outgrow his patterns. He tends to write his letters from bottom to top and right to left rather than top to bottom and left to right. It kinda makes me wonder if he will decide to be left handed. Most of the time he uses his right hand mostly to write, but sometimes tends to eat with his left and the way he starts of his walking makes me think he is left handed, but we wonder if it is because of his weakness in certain muscles.
We are also so grateful for Michelle, his new OT, for the new perspective she has on Andrew's treatment therapy sessions. Although we dearly miss Marybeth and so does Andrew (Talks about her all the time), we are happy to see that Andrew has accepted Michelle and listens to her well. She has some new exercise that she uses on Andrew and it is a fresh start this year. I think he was due for a change as he was getting too lax with Marybeth and had some meltdowns with her... knowing her too well I think and trying to manipulate her too much. Andrew tends to want to call the shots. We miss Marybeth and enjoy hearing from her now and then. She is genuinely interested in the progress of her previous cases.
We are also very happy with Andrew's new SEIT who is a Special Education Itinerant Teacher who comes to Andrew's class a few times a week to help increase his congnitive skills and learning skills. Andrew has made major improvements this year and being able to curb his frustrations and try a little harder to succeed. He's now able to complete more tasks in one sitting without having to be prompted constantly.
He is also still working with an aide that has been a tremendous help with keeping him on track with dressing and encouraging him to be more independent. We've noticed a huge improvement in his listening skills and his ability to be more independent with helping himself rather than relying on an adult to do things for him. Now that he is able to put his shoes on & off by himself, put on his own coat and other clothes, zip them himself etc, it makes things easier than you will ever know. He now enjoys choosing his own clothes to wear in the morning AND likes to choose ours too! lol.

So, time is running out and I've got to run, but I'll try to update again before christmas. Christmas cards will be out as soon as our photos come back. Be on the lookout... Also, be sure to check out Matthew's website too! http://roarslikealion.blogspot.com