Do you hear the shouts of excitement coming from Austin? Benjamin swallowed table food!!! On Friday, at OT, he swallowed 4 or 5 Fruit Loops. Yesterday, he ate several Cheerios and today he swallowed some refried beans with rice. It made me start to get tears in my eyes when Sean had Benjamin open his mouth at lunch and there was no rice in there. The therapist was guessing that he was chewing the cereal a little and then waiting for it to get really mushy before he swallowed. Hey, we'll take it! I'm really impressed with the rice since it doesn't get mushy.
To top it off, Benjamin took a few steps on his own yesterday. Sean was holding Benjamin's hands and then asked Benjamin to walk to Mama. He did it a couple times with a running lunge. We all started clapping and he figured out it was for him. Then he acted like a ham for a while because he knew he was the center of attention.
The kids and I had a really nice morning today. Every year, Austin sponsors a free museum day so several institutions open their doors for free. A few years ago, I took the kids to the Austin Children's Museum on this day and decided that I would rather pay and go on a day that wasn't so crowded. It was crazy busy. This year, I thought we would try something outside since I figured there would be more room to spread out. We went to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden which is a garden with over 130 sculptures along various paths with waterfalls and ponds. Several artists had tables set up displaying additional sculptures. Also, they had clay tables set up where you could get some clay and make your own sculpture. The kids had a blast making a cat, dinosaur, pyramid, elephant, etc. I was watching several of the people around us and they were making some really neat things. It's amazing what you can do with a little lump of clay. They also provided charts for a "sculpture hunt" where the kids were supposed to locate 8 sculptures around the garden and then they received a prize (a sticker). Alex was stumped for a while because he couldn't find the angel statue. Emma took dozens of pictures, so I have picked out a few to post here. She took pictures of every horse she could find. Several of the artists had horse statues plus there was one in the garden. 
First attempt at a group pictures - Benjamin was not happy about it!
Next attempt at a group picture - food is helpful!
6 comments:
What a great weekend for all of you. It is wonderful that Benjamin swallowed some food and is showing more interest in taking those first steps. We have taken the kids to the Umf. Gardens before and they also loved the scavanger hunt. Take care.
Woohoo, 3 cheers for Benjamin! What a great weekend for all of you. Emma really is a great little photographer...she may pass up Dad and I some day!
An added bonus to your weekend was the Cubs continuing to maintain 1st place in their division! Go Cubs!
Julie, I'm so happy for you! And Benjamin! That is really, really happy news. I'm glad that you had fun at the sculpture garden, too. What a fun place! Congratulations on Benjamin's latest milestones!
It made me cry when I read the first paragraph. That is tremendous news. Yeah! The sculpture garden looks really cool!
Hooray, hooray, hooray!!! Can you hear the shouts of joy from Georgia too?
Hooray for Benjamin! We are so happy with the great news!
Candi (Jen's friend)
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