Chopstick Success, Animals, and other exciting events

• It's been too long since I updated the blog and I keep saying that I need to download pictures before I can do it. Well if I continue to wait to download pictures, I may never update the blog and I can't keep procrastinating. Our laptop was stolen a week ago when somebody broke into our house and this desktop is so old and so slow right now that I am afraid to download more pictures onto it for fear that it would go kaput! So I have to update without pictures until I find a solution or lots of extra money lying around to buy a new laptop.

• Today we went to Lai Lai our favorite Chinese restaurant and Isaac ate with chopsticks for the very first time. About 2 weeks ago Craig and I had made a stir fry dish for dinner and I decided to eat with chopsticks and Isaac cried because he couldn't do it and I wasn't sure how to rig them for a child. Today he was unhappy at lunch and playing with his straw, but we couldn't find out what he wanted to do. The owner came out with a new straw for him and my mother and he took them both and tried to use them as chopsticks. Aha!! So we asked for chopsticks and she came right back with a pair rigged for a child. He was immediately successful! I've never seen anything like it. He ate a lot of vegetables because they were easy to pick up, but he was also successful with the noodles. He was quite content and enjoyed showing off his new skill.

• Two weeks ago our babysitter was sick and Isaac and I had the opportunity to hang out during the week for a few days. On Friday Grandpa was able to get us into Walt Disney World's Animal Kingdom where he works. Isaac was so excited to be at the park. As soon as we exited the car and began walking to the tram he was bouncing like a baby Tigger, screaming, "Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!" Everyone thought it was his first trip to the park, I didn't want to disillusion them so I smiled and encouraged Isaac in his excitement. He continues to have delays in his speech, but he is learning many signs and we communicate nicely in ASL. He excitedly made the signs, "animals", "train", and "Grandpa" as we looked for Grandpa to meet us so we could get into the park. We took pictures with an enormous bear (I have no idea who it was...) as we waited, Isaac was so excited we got back in line so he could hug him again.

• Once in the park we rode The Serengeti Safari where he excitedly exclaimed over each of the animals that he saw. He tried to tap the little boy on the shoulder who was sitting in front of him to ensure that he too was enjoying this marvelous sight! After the safari we took a train to Rafiki's Station where they have a petting zoo with goats and sheep. Before we got out to the petting zoo Isaac again waited in line to meet some characters. We were able to get pictures with Jiminy Cricket and Rafiki. I was quite amazed that Isaac went right up to the characters, hugging and high-five-ing them. We don't watch the movies at home, nor do we have the Disney channel, but he seemed to like them and want to say hello. He really enjoyed petting the animals in the petting zoo, but I have to say his very favorite part was the train that we took to and from Rafiki's station. When we got off the train he went up to hug it and kissed its side. Once we waved good-bye to the "choo-choo" we went back to the Serengeti Safari because it was time to use our Fast Pass. We saw different animals the second time around, the lions were even awake from one of their many naps! Having had way too much fun Isaac started to drop off at the end of the second ride so we started heading for the exit. As we neared the exit it started to rain and I was glad I was near the front of the park and not the back! Now when Isaac doesn't want to go to "school" he makes the signs, "animals" , "train" , "Grandpa" to ask for a return trip to the Animal Kingdom. Grandpa is excited over Isaac's obvious joy and we are planning a special trip with just the three of us in March.

• We have begun speech classes again. Miss Nika comes to our home every Monday and works with Isaac for 30 minutes on speech. He really likes that he has a special friend come to play with him that brings such exciting toys! He really works hard to make her happy and likes to help her clean up and tries to help her carry her toys away when it's time for her to leave. The last time she was here he kissed her toy-bag bye-bye. He is such a lovable little guy! With a combination of speech class and Bible song CDs Isaac is trying to talk more and more every day. He loves to sing along with the CDs in the car and is mimicking us and we are quite impressed with the progress he has made in the past two months. We still are in need of prayer for God to continue to strengthen his muscles and help him improve, but we are seeing progress. He loves to sing and it is such a blessing to hear him sing songs to our creator!

• I could write much more, but I think I will stop here and think of ways to get pictures into the blog without compromising my old computer that is hobbling along. I'm sure there is a way if I am creative... Besides if I write too much now I won't know what to post the next time.