We Officially Have a Screenager!

Happy 13th birthday to Teddy! 

Wow, it's hard to believe Teddy is 13. When we got his diagnosis back in 2015, we were given research papers with a life expectancy of 3 years ... and our baby boy was 2.5 years old. So birthdays are always a bit of extra celebration because we keep smashing that outdated research paper and writing new, more realistic and much more hopeful stories for those families who come behind us. 

But through the years birthdays have also been bittersweet, especially in the early years, and I know we'll have hard ones to come as well. So often it was tears when searching for presents, the hard reality that the things Teddy could enjoy were baby toys instead of age-appropriate toys. As the years have passed, the ability to appreciate Teddy for who he is without those milestone comparisons has come easier. Honestly, some of that ease comes from the lack of pressure to have the perfectly decorated cake or to buy a gift equivalent to what we'd do for AJ and just do what comes naturally that Teddy will enjoy.

This was before he ran off to take someone to play ... mid song.

More than any gift or cake, Teddy's favorite part of birthday celebrations is seeing all his favorite people. No matter how many people are already here, he literally jumps for joy with each new arrival and drags them off to play with him. Trust me, there's enough Teddy love to go around for everyone!

Teddy has lots of ideas for for everyone to play!

This year's birthday party was a wonderful day filled with family, best friends and adopted family. The cake was a huge hit - Teddy intensely devoured the peanut butter cake he requested. The water fight with squirt guns was a fun summer treat. We got to enjoy family card games of sheepshead while Teddy played with his victims, I mean chosen people. (I say victims because at one point he had AJ stuffed in a tunnel, tied to a gigantic Teddy bear that's bigger than AJ and covered in blankets ... all at the same time.)

And, there was only one trip to the ER. It was for stitches, not seizures. It was for Dave, not Teddy. So that's a definite win, and now I shall be buying Dave safety scissors for Christmas as the first gift to open all the rest of the presents. 

His future is so bright everyone needs to wear shades.

 

Be Like Max ... or AJ

It's been more than a month since AJ's promotion ceremony at the end of school. This post may be a month late, but I'm no less proud of AJ now than I was then. AJ was one of two recipients of his class of about 140 to receive the Be Like Max Award ... or as I like to call it, the good human award.

Max was a student who graduated 8th grade in 2017 (I believe) who made a lasting impression on his classmates, teachers and staff. He always had a smile and a kind word to say to everyone. Apparently they did a Be Like Max Day and had the entire school pretty much decked out in shirts to support and honor Max.

When Max left Carl Traeger Middle School, a Be Like Max award was created to honor 1 to 2 special students each year who embodied the best qualities of Max: kindness, caring and empathy. The recipients are chosen by the entire staff, and they chose AJ.

Look at my good human!

AJ's literacy teacher gave a beautiful speech on why AJ was selected for this award, and I'm so darn proud of this kid. While I gave him a bit of crap about his teacher joking about what his parents do to raise such a helpful kid and said perhaps it was really our acceptance speech, it's all AJ.

No doubt, being Teddy's big brother plays a role in AJ being a kind, caring and empathetic human. He's been helping since Teddy was born, doing more than most kids do to help their siblings and enduring more doctor's appointments, therapy appointments and medical trauma on behalf of his brother than many kids. He's spent 14+ years wishing for his brother to speak. (Seriously, he's asked Santa for that as a child, and it's still a wish in his heart.) He's always been so empathetic, so thoughtful and so wise beyond his years. 

While we want AJ to do his best, reach his full potential and thrive academically and in the activities he chooses, being a good human matters most. At the young age of 14, he's already there. 

So darn proud of this kid and can't wait to see what he continues to do in life.