A couple of weeks ago we saw a new pediatrician. She was pretty good. Given our unique situation with Joe (particularly not having a complete diagnosis) she said we're on the right track, doing all the right things. The primary reason we went in for a visit was to get referrals to a couple new specialty doctors that we have been hearing good things about. She also recommended getting re-evaluated at Riley Developmental Center, specifically looking at the potential for an autism diagnosis. We are interested in getting a fresh take on things since its been awhile since Joe has been evaluated. It will be helpful to have a more definitive diagnosis in the future as Joe will need continued services indefinitely.Lately Joe has been working hard on a few skills. He has been continuing to progress using his hand-me-down pediatric walker, and we are waiting for the arrival of his "Gator" gait trainer (similar to this one but with a few more bells and whistles) that the PT put an order in for a few weeks ago. During naptime Joe somehow figured out how to climb onto Nate's bed and pull the curtains off the window, pull Nate's covers off of him at night, etc. Not exactly a skill I'm excited about him learning. We're hoping to rearrange the bed to allow for them both to get a little more rest.
Now on to the birthday festivities:
After having so much fun making the Hunger Games shirts I decided it would be fun to stencil a train shirt for Joe. I was inspired by a train wall decal on this site. I borrowed that image and modified it to have Joe's name in it. Isn't he the cutest birthday boy ever? ;-)
Early in the planning process I had aspirations of doing a fancy train cake but I decided my sanity was more important and I ended up printing out these cute train cupcake toppers instead. I copied and pasted images (some from this site) and cut them out with a 2in scalloped punch.
Decor: I kept the decor fairly simple. I made a couple of banners from some twine and and old pair of jeans that was in the scrap pile because it had a hole in the butt. I found some printable transportation signs and hung those and some dollar store balloons. And I had a few extra train symbols left over from the cupcakes and added those to the banners.
Goodies: In their goodie bags the kids got train foam craft kit, train whistle, train sucker, an engineer hat, and a bandana (all from Oriental Trading Co.). Also, each family got a Mason jar of hot cocoa. Who knew it was going to be so warm in March?
Also, I found these two great printables HERE and HERE for the mustaches and lips. The kids loved them! And the adults had a good time with them too. ;-)
Activities: While the guests were arriving the kids were able to color a train picture and put toilet paper tubes on it as the wheels. After we ate, Jess was the game maker and helped facilitate a few games for the kids. We did pin the hat (or pocket watch, or train ticket) on the conductor. Then we did a modified version of red light, green light using a train whistle.
Of course what would a train party be without a train? My parents rent out a train for company picnics, festivals, etc... and they were great enough to bring it over for the party. It was the highlight of the evening!
Of course we had to get pictures of each family all in their matching engineer hats! So cute!
Thanks to all our family and friends who were able to help make Joe's birthday special! What a blessing to be surrounded by loved ones!
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