We've got a Walker! (and not just the metal kind)

...And then one day your kid decides he knows how to walk.

I just keep smiling. I'm so proud.

And I don't know how it finally clicked and I don't know why his knees still buckle and I don't know if it's a strength issue or a balance issue or a distraction issue and I don't even know if he's gonna keep taking steps like this tomorrow...

But I don't care. Because today, January 28, 2015, at 2 years 3 months 19 days old, Evan Michael Hudson independently walked better than ever before.

The Details, if you care to know more

The pictures on my camera revealed a few more details that I forgot over the past month. I love how so many of the pictures are Dada and Evan.

Isaiah's birthday started with a present for Evan from his running buddy, Nikki. It's a Stuffie. He calls it "Stuffie." Clever kid.

The family went out to eat at Cattleman's in Dixon. The waiters sang to Isaiah and he actually wore the hat for a while that night.

After dinner we took Maya and Evan to Candy Cane Lane in Vacaville. The street is lined with awesomely-decorated houses that you can walk or drive by. I recommend walking.

Costco chocolate cake and cheesy faces completed the evening.

Christmas morning...

Oh wait, that's last year. Exact same pajamas. Same crazy hair.

Dada got a back massage shirt that works as long as Evan stays focused driving his Hot Wheels around the streets.

Evan got two sweet new rides for Christmas--a plasma car and a pony.

When unpacking at our new house I went through all of Evan's baby clothes to sort and re-box them. He insisted on wearing this 18-month outfit all day long, including to the store.

Most of the time, Evan seems like a very clean child. If you leave a cabinet door open, he will close it. He will also close closest doors and turn off lights when you leave the room. Blinds should be closed. Hot Wheels belong in their Hot Wheels storage container. "Wash hands" is a common request.  For this reason, crafts are both really easy with Evan, and also fairly unsuccessful. He's definitely more concerned about the mess than I am.

He's more of the musical type. He plays the piano and reads the "hum bug" (hymn book) all the time.

He will also never turn down a chance to watch videos of his cousins on the computer. "Watch Baby Nuh-nuh-nor. Again. Now." Have I mentioned he's quite the chatterbox now?

It's been such a blessing that Dada gets to spend more time with us now. The new job allows him to sleep in a couple extra hours and come home by 4 pm. Dada has been working extra hard to help Evan walk around the house and climb up the stairs using the railing.

Two Bad Things about Spina Bifida

Isaiah got a new job.
Santa brought us fancy presents.
The children threw confetti at 7:45 pm on December 31 to celebrate the New Year and we all went to bed early.
We moved to Elk Grove.

That's our last month in a nutshell. Happy New Year!

Other details of note:

Isaiah works for CALSTRS in West Sacramento, about 30 minutes away. His office is the prettiest building downtown with the prettiest lawn that borders the Sacramento River and offers the perfect setting for picnic lunches with Dada. (Yes, we did that this last week after a quick trip to the zoo, which is now only 20 minutes away. Yay for being zoo members!)

The property manager who showed us the rental house of our dreams but didn't seem very excited about Evan running his walker into the walls actually let us move in! That was a miracle.

Evan's new nursery group at church is just 3 boys, including himself. Last week they did trains and music time and played with flashlights and shakers. They won him over quickly.

There's some quirky people and some quirky things about the house, but we love it here.

One of the worst things about moving is my first bad thing about spina bifida, and that's transferring all of Evan's services. It's been a huge blessing for Evan to have financial aid and therapy services, but having to move them--even just to a neighboring county--is a bit complicated.

I'll spare you most of the details, but to help you understand, it includes...

• Informing Children's Therapy Center of move and canceling previous therapy services
• Yolo County Regional Center service coordinator transferring our file to Sacramento County, and making referrals to therapy centers in Elk Grove.
• Updating address with Yolo County Medi-Cal office so they can send our case to Sacramento County
• Calling Partnerhsip Health Plan to become "special member status" until Sacramento picks up our Medi-Cal case
• Updating address and housing costs with Social Security
• Woodland Medical Therapy Unit transferring records to Sacramento County MTU for Evan's braces and twister cables

And that's not to mention all the normal moving procedures like forwarding your mail, updating your address for credit cards/banks, changing insurance, finding new primary care doctors, blah blah blah...

In the meantime, while all the professionals work out all the details with getting therapy started again, Evan and I are enjoying a little extra mother-son time at home and around the neighborhood.

Now here's the second bad thing about spina bifida. People with spina bifida are at higher risk of developing a latex allergy (due to exposure), so Evan is supposed to avoid latex. But how am I to explain that to him when he gets a yellow balloon in the mail from his great-grandma? So maybe I shouldn't have done this, but the laughs were totally worth it....just this once.