"I like to movie movie"

i think deqlans found his new "thing" in the form of "mamagastar" also known as madagascar - its so damn cute to hear him say it!

he has just fallen in love with all the characters and is really enjoying the story€ to!

but the best part of all is watching him run around the house in pure delight and excitement singing " i like to movie movie" bless him! its is starting to sound more like " i like to move it move it" each day :)

i must say i miss toy story 3 already€! but the aliens and buzz are still allowed to hang around and im sure they will be for a lonnggg time to come!

Little Leaps Family Day 2011

Nanna & Grandpa took us to Wimpy afterwards to celebrate, Deqlan had an awesome time playing in these fountains!! Deqlan with Ash!

Dada & Deqlan, Kaiden & Tyler

Deqlan and his beloved teacher Ayline!

Kaiden enjoying some refreshments

Me and my amazing Mom

A very proud Dada and Mama!

Some of the boys enjoying their party packs

Dada & Deqlan

Deqlan and Mama

Nanna and Deqlan, enjoying his cupcake!

Now this was one of the most priceless moments and most treasured gifts of our lives!

All the boys singing the Rainbow Song each waving a different colour flag!

Deqlan was very excited when he saw us all sitting in the front row !

Kaiden with Uncle Mark

Some of the boys artwork

There are no adequate words to describe how magical Deqlans family day at Little Leaps was. Deqlan was blessed to have Nanna & Grandpa, Tyler & Kaiden join us! Conrad , Megs and the kids were overseas , but we know they were with us in spirit!

We also sat anxiously awaiting the arrival of our boys into the classroom! Some where very shocked to see their families there and rather wanted to sit with them, others where just to overwhelmed at the new faces ! But thankfully, most were very happy to sing and do the actions to such beautiful songs ! Each Little Leaper had a turn to shine during the show - either with their actions, or singing or smiling and excitment!

Deqlan was not really into the singing with a group thing, as Ayline had told us, he prefers to sing alone - we have heard him sing all the songs by himself at home !

During the beautifully presented songs, Deqlan preferred to smile at us or chew on his nails ( his new habit which we are trying hard to break!) And we were all ok with this , cause we had heard Deqlan singing the songs to us at home. 'THE RAINBOW SONG' ' I LOVE YOU JESUS DEEP DOWN IN MY HEART' ' IF I WERE A BUTTERFLY ' ' HEAD, SHOULDERS, KNEES & TOES '

Then the teachers announced that some kids just like to sing by themselves.....AND THEN.....Ayline got Deqlan to stand on his chair!!!! The tears just streamed down our faces as we watched Deqlan wave his little yellow flag, and in the most beautiful, gentle voice sing " THE RAINBOW SONG' all by himself. It was one of the best moments of my entire life to watch my beautiful boy, be so brave and sing infront of us all. It was so moving, so touching, another miracle unfolding right in front of our eyes ! Thank You Lord for the gift Deqlan is, and thank you for this priceless gift you have given us!

We couldnt be prouder of you Deqlan - i couldnt have done this, thats for sure! Your beautiful personality just shone like the brightest star as you sang and waved your flag , We love and adore you, we are so proud of you !!!! There is nothing that you cant do and dont let anyone ever tell you otherwise!

The rest of the morning was spent playing on the jumping castle and enjoying party packs and getting Deqlans beautiful report and art work for the term! Details on that to follow soon!!

Our Big Boy

its about time this mama gave a proper update on her beautiful boy€

deqlan is nearly 100€ percent toilet trained! the whole process actually flew so quickly for deqlan once he understood what to do! at home and at school and wherever we are actually deqlan is able to ask us when he needs to go! if he knows where the bathroom is then he will go himself. his afternoon naps are nappy free to! now its just to conquer his evening sleep but we are getting there! he will probably be very embarresed when he reas these kind of entries but its a big deal and i am so proud of how far he has come in this major event!

deqlans sentences are also coming along beautifully€! he is initiating sentences himself his understanding of words increases each day€. its not just scripting from his favorite shows and songs€. he is saying the right thing at the right time and we often find our mouths dropping to the ground in amazement at his memory and understanding of things we dont understand! we have to watch what we say to cause this little sponge takes everything in!

deqlan had a speech assesment with his therapist to see where he is at. here is an excerpt from her report

"in the expressive language test he scored 5years and 6months. for his receptive language he scored 3years 8 months€.that means that deqlan has very good vocab but he is not always understanding the meaning of it" we are so thrilled with the results seeing deqlan only started talking at 2 and a half! well done clever boy we so proud of you and treasure every beautiful word and song from you mouth!

friday marks the end of the first term at little leaps for 2011 where has the time gone? deqlan wwill have two weeks holiday then back to school for a week then another weeks holiday when we go for our annual easter midlands holidday with the family which we cant wait for!

end of term is marked by family day and this means we get treated to the boys singing some songs they have learnt specially for the day followed by a fun morning after! to say im beyond excited is an understatement! deqlan has been singing some of the songs for mark and me when he feels like breaking out into song and its so beautiful to hear

deqlans good old friendship with Thomas and friends has been revived ! he is loving the thomas dvds and books and playing with this thomas trains but the aliens are still invited ;)

on saturday is the unite for autism walk at the johannesburg zoo which we are so excited about we will have nanna walking with us to :)

look very forward to bringing you lots of photos and sharing precious moments in the next few days

hope you are all well and happy and healthy! all our love and blessings mark samm deqlan logan

be still and know that i am god

ps - doing this update from my vlackberry and it wont let me do capitals!

Kristen's 2nd birthday!

Bev and wriggly Kristen
'cupcake.mmm.nice.very good'

Happy birthday precious girl!

gorgeous hello kitty cake Kristen's granny made

Silly Grandpa!

Deqlan LOVED the pool and so did his aliens!

Logie and Khloe

Kristen and her mommy Dalene

Khloe is so firm on her feet now, we are expecting her very first step anyday now!

Deqlan , Khloe and "the 3 aliens"

Kristen and Deqlan playing in the sandpit

Dont you just LOVE this face!

Logs and Khloe - she is so good with her!

The birthday girl taking it all in!

Kristen and Bev

Khloe enjoying the ball pit

and the walker!

Like a hawk!

Deqlan had an absolute ball at the dairy!
Keaton and Deqlan 'driving' the tractor, they move to fast so didnt get the camera to snap with both of them sitting still and looking at me!

Logan loved looking at the baby cows

What a lovely afternoon it was!

Congrats Shaun and Farrah on your engagment!!! Wishing you both all the love and happiness in the world!

A week ago we were delighted to share in the celebration of Shaun and Farrah's engagement party at Irene dairy.

The kids and adults, for that matter, had a great afternoon and lots of laughter and fun was had by all.

We were very proud watching Deqlan play ten step away on the jungle gym with Logan, and Keaton and some of the other kids. We were delighting in watching Deqlan play by himself amongst other kids instead of Dada and Mama always over his shoulder , ALL THE TIME! He spent a good part of the afternoon playing by himself and next to the other kids.

We cautiously watched Deqlan through the corner of our eyes , whilst chatting to friends - im normally stuck to Deqlan like glue and many people tell me to give him "some space" , so it was a different experience for us, to give Deqlan more freedom then we normally do.

During a conversation, where i may have turned my eyes away from the jungle gym , for a few split seconds - i couldnt see Deqlan. Meggie , Mark and I immediately started running in all different directions trying to find our boy - i ran straight to the car lot ( i feel sick even typing this out) and Meggie round another path of the farm, and Mark , the clever , logical Dada he is, ran to the spot Deqlan was playing at earlier in the afternoon. Its difficult to explain but, its like a square cement block as tall as Deqlan, maybe a little taller. Deqlan had climbed into the block , and was trying to climb out and thats why we couldnt find him. My word - what panic , what horror in those few minutes. Thank You Lord for keeping Deqlan safe!

Our precious boy doesnt have any fear of danger and we still have to stick to him like glue , maybe a little less then glue, to make sure he remains safe from danger while learning what is safe and what is not.

More Little Leaps 2011

Little Leaps 2011

Sorry for the glare on the bottom of the photos, have to take the photos with a flash or they dont come out properly!

Wanted to share Deqlans 2011 Little Leaps photos - they did them the day of Deqlans ultrasound ( as you can see by my NED shirt and Nanna's traditional green outfit) , and when we dropped him off at school , Ash told us to come inside and have a photo with him to, which i was so chuffed about!

1 week later we got to take another one with Dada, so cant wait for that one to arrive, will be happy to share with you all!!