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With the arrival of a new year, it seems like the perfect time to reflect back on the past year and count our many blessings.

Since we last updated the website, Brett has started his third year of preschool at Cherry Run Elementary. His teacher this year is Miss Moira and she is wonderful! She is very motivated and continues to find creative ways to make school as beneficial as possible for Brett. One of Brett’s favorite activities at school continues to be working on the computer. As we mentioned in the last update, the computer offers him the opportunity via a head switch to select a variety of songs and animated programs. Through this activity, he has demonstrated his understanding of cause and effect, as well as shown preferences for specific songs/programs. This allows Brett to make his own decisions and can lead to more complex decision-making skills.

Brett has also shown improvement in his oral motor skills, which will be beneficial for developing verbal speech. As many of you may know, we’ve been struggling with Brett’s reliance on his "binky" (A.K.A. pacifier). He now willingly gives up the binky for other toys and has started exploring more with his ability to make a variety of sounds. Recently he started making the "i" sound. In addition to his new sounds, he continues to sing a wide variety of songs. The amazing thing about his "singing" is that he can sing them in perfect tone and pitch. While he’s not singing the actual words, his reproduction of the melodies is clearly recognizable. He is able to "sing" over 30 different songs and every day is learning more. Just before the holidays, nurse Denise taught him some Christmas songs... his favorite holiday tunes ended up being "Jingle Bells", "Frosty the Snowman" and "Up on the House Top". Miss Patty at school is working on some Easter songs - we’ve already heard him sing "Here Comes Peter Cottontail". We continue to be amazed by his ability to hear a song and quickly reproduce it himself.

The big news at the end of last year was that we finally got a conversion van!! We were fortunate to find a dealership in the area that sells minivans that have already been converted - which made the "shopping" process much easier. We are now the proud owners of an Entervan, which is really a converted Dodge Grand Caravan. While we’ve only had the van for a few weeks, we’ve already experienced the new found freedom that comes along with the easy accessibility of getting Brett in and out of the vehicle. Brett’s grandparents, who live in the area, are especially glad that we have the van - more visits now! In March, we are going to take our first official road-trip to Richmond to visit Aunt Suzie, Uncle Chris, Katie and Kelly (Brett’s cousins). We also feel fortunate that with the generosity of many people, we had contributions in Brett’s Trust Fund help significantly with the down payment of the van. With on-going financial support from so many people, it makes large purchases like this so much easier. And for that we are tremendously grateful.