A Fall Update!

Wow, it has been a while since I have been on here! Life gets so busy so fast! It has been a great fall season. Max is loving school so much. When he turned 3, he was ousted from Early Intervention and the state support we got for his therapies. At that time, the school district at that point must take him in to be sure he gets what he needs to perform at school, physically, verbally, socially. So, through the school system, Max goes 5 days a week, 2.5 hours per day. He is loving it. His social and verbal skills have improved so much! He is starting to talk up a storm! I can see that his mouth cannot keep up with his brain, haha! He still has a lot of balance issues and core strength issues, but the school is working to help and support him. We do run into food issues at school in that they have special treats from time to time rather that just letting each child just eat their own snacks sent by the parent each day. I know food is a part of the social world we live in, but it is so frustrating. I just wish school was a place where food was a non issue and safe place for Max. It isn't too often at this point, but I know each year it will get worse. One day at a time... He is loving his Hippo (Horse) therapy so much! His favorite day of the week is Saturday when he gets to ride the horse "Oreo" for half an hour. He has so much fun and his core strength even though has a ways to go has improved so much! Max's syndrome has a side effect for many kids in having early onset scoliosis issues because of their low tone. Max is just 3 1/2 years old and already had 22 degrees curvature of his spine. Just 3 more degrees and casting would be necessary. He held there for about a year and just this past Friday, November 15th, we got our check up and x-ray and found out he is down to 15 degrees curvature! I literally thought I would jump through the roof with excitement! I was getting myself ready for bad news, I just had a bad feeling and then all of the sudden we are all high fiving each other! I know we are not out out of the water and it could turn back to getting worse, but hey, that was a great day and I will take what I can get!! Another exciting piece of news is that I was elected President of the Prader-Willi Association - Illinois Chapter. After our success with the walk this past summer, some board members approached Katie and I (my co-host for the walk) to see if we had any interest in jumping in as President and Vice President. The current President was looking to step down and they were adding a new position (VP). Without really knowing what it would involve, we thought, if we do it together, we should just jump in with both feet for our kids! We just came back from our first National Conference in Orlando, Florida, where we participated in the State Chapter Leader Day along with the official conference. It was very overwhelming, but amazing as well. We learned so much and know we have so much work ahead of us, but are excited to jump in and get things started. Next Saturday, November 23rd is my first meeting at President and am bringing my list of goals for 2014. Ready...set...Here it Goes!!!!!!!!!