Puree

As I have said before, Evan is not a great eater and he is even worse when he is dealing with constipation issues (a result of his Spinal Muscular Atrophy). To get more bang for my buck I add veggie puree's into everything!! Whether it is food I am making from scratch or my lazy meals of pancake mix, spaghettio's, or Mac n' Cheese there is pureed veggies in everything. My family doesn't even know they are getting veggies in every meal they eat! I still offer veggies on the side, but this way I'm not stressed if those veggies are ignored.

Drum set

I do a lot of our "therapy toy" shopping at our local consignment store. We don't want to be spending a fortune on toys just in case Evan isn't able to use them. I scower the shelves and can usually find some pretty good toys.

This Kawasaki drum set has been wonderful! He is able to push all of the buttons, and slide the bars by himself. In addition to this he "whacks" the various drums to add to the beat. He learns music rhythm and beats and exercises his muscles, all at the same time. It is a great toy!

Sibling Love

Landon is such a big boy and already wants to help take care of his big brother Evan. He kept pushing him around the store ... it was too cute! These two boys already have such a special and close bond that is only going to grow.

sand box

For warm weather the sand box outside is wonderful. He digs and lifts and fills and pours. Great therapy, lots of fun!

cough assist

We had been told on numerous occasions that using a cough assist machine on a regular basis would be beneficial to Evan's health. It is an amazing machine and fortunately for us Evan thinks it is "funny" to use.

Something that we have found to work well when he doesn't want to use it is for us (the parents) to use it. Along with the pediatric mask the hospital gave us an adult mask. Evan and I take turns using it and I know that that alone keeps the machine "fun" as opposed to a task he has to do.

Bath time

SMA kids are very "tippy" and as a mother I am always a little paranoid at bath time. I got this really cute tub liner at IKEA. It was quite inexpensive and helps to keep his cute little behind from slippin' and slidin'.

nerf gun

This nerf gun is sooo fun!!! It is an automatic nerf machine gun and the trigger is sensitive enough for Evan to use on his own. Someone has to help him aim, but this toy is ALOT of fun :-)

(that bright light in the middle of the picture is a bullet coming right at me)