Hello All,

It is OFFICIAL. Alex received his Certificate of Citizenship from the Justice Department this week. Alongwith his US Passport and a letter from the President.

See the attached pics. We will post more by the end of this weekend. Now it is time to get him his Social Security #. Fun, Fun, Fun.

Hello & happy Monday!

Thought I would deliver updates and more pictures to Alex's expansive fan club :)

As for updates....
Our appointment with the neurologist went well. The ironic part was that she was from Russia! After examining him and looking over what medical records we have, she was very impressed with Alex and how far he has come in such a short amount of time. He has a test coming up this Wednesday and barring anything unmentioned in his records, she told us we would not have to return for another year.
Also, this past week, Early Intervention came and did their "intake interview." This consisted mostly of questions and a brief observation. Our next meeting is scheduled for the 1st week of July, where someone else from the program will come and do extensive observations of Alex. So far we have been told he will be receiving physical therapy and speech therapy. We can't wait for all of this to begin.
Other than that, Alex is progressing every day and continuing to amaze us!

As for photos....
In these pictures, you can see Alex enjoying some T.V. with his pal in his lawn chair. It is the only type of seat he will actually sit in, so we have the indoor one and outdoor one for the King!
Judging by the picture on the left, it must have been quite the spell-binding episode of The Wiggles.

Now, here we have some outside pictures. He sure does love his yard and playing in the water!
Here we have some pool pictures from this past weekend. Notice Chloe is never too far behind her little brother!

Below is a picture of Alex using his favorite 1st words, "No, no, no" when Chlow kept trying to take his toys and run across the yard.
Well, that's it from here for now. It's time to cook dinner for the King. Hope you enjoy the photos~
Love,
The Van Voorens

Greetings :)

Well, it's been another week here at the Van Vooren estate. Alex continues to thrive and his smile and excitement is contagious! It's funny, you often hear the comment: "You see the world different through a child's eyes." That could not be more truthful, especially with Alex. There are so many firsts that he has yet to experience, and each day is equally special being a part of those moments.

So, over the past week, Alex gave blood and had another doctor's appointment. He has steadily gained 3/4 of a pound in the past 2 weeks and the results of his testing have all been positive. The doctor even remarked how happy he is already with his progress. We continue to be blessed. He is also becoming more steady on his feet and has become very vocal- including more words such as "mommy", "daddy", "no", "dog", "Yes", "Whasss thaaaa?", and he has perfected his yoddling skills (for those of you who have been over or who have called and heard him in the background, you know what I mean!!!) He even takes over during mealtime, feeding himself, as you see here.As the week went on, we tried even more adventures. Here you will see Alex's first experience in his very cool sandbox. Notice, he is LESS than thrilled in the beginning but then calms a bit. Turns out, he is very skeeved out by sand sticking to his body. He preferred sitting
with his sand sifter in his little chair next
to mommy. We'll try again this week.




Then, today, we received another fun gift from cousins, James, Melissa, Brendan & Derek: a water playtable. As you can see he loved it! BIG FAN! He then shared it with his new best friend, Chloe. Together, they splashed, drank from it, and explored the yard.......

Well, that's it for now. Our week is a bit hectic with Early Intervention coming tomorrow, a neurologist appointment on Tuesday, high school graduation on Thursday, and then Alex & I visiting school on Friday.

Enjoy the pictures & once again, thanks to all that have called, visited, and have given their support!!!!

We'll keep you updated on whatever adventures bestow us this week~

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the delay in posting. We have been very busy around the house these days. Alex is transitioning well and so are we. Everyday he finds something new and different to experience, keeping his parents on their toes at ALL times!

For example, here in this picture, you will see our little guy discovering door stoppers. He thinks the sound they make is hysterical, so he wandered everywhere finding each and every one of them in our house.Then, of course there was the day where we were playing outside and I put sunglasses on him. At first, he ripped them off, then he wanted them back. Well, after the 2nd try, he loved the fact that his Elmo glasses allowed him to see everything in shades of blue. So, Alex then wore these glasses for 3 hours, refusing to take them off, until mean mommy made him right before nap time. The last two pictures I am uploading here are of Alex's continued bond with Chloe, as I caught him in the act during lunch, and one of him this morning assisting with laundry. He's quite the little helper!!!









We had our 1st doctors appointment this week. Poor little bugger got 5 vaccinations in his tiny legs and a TB test. I also scheduled some appointments with specialists in the next couple of weeks. I'll keep you posted. Other than that, he is doing great: sleeping soundly all night, running around, eating better, and becoming stronger everyday :)

Okay, that's all for now. We are off to play outwside for a while.

Love,
Alex, his mommy, & his daddy