BW Get Together and Hangin' with Lucas

A couple months ago, members from the Yahoo group CI Circle started talking about getting together with CI families in the BW area. What a great day! I got to meet Lucas and his parents; Jodi from An American Mom in Tuscany and her adorables Jordan and Sophia; George and his family, "teacher Marny" (from CICircle) who is such a wonderful resource and teacher for all us CI families, and many more wonderful families ... including one whose daughter is bilaterally implanted and at age three knows TWO languages! It was great too, because my friend Michelle was in town from Texas for her son's activation at Johns Hopkins, so they got to enjoy the festivities as well!

Lucas and Aiden getting into mischief right from the start.

Sean found the cookies!

me, Jodi, and Jen

It was wonderful to finally meet the infamous Jodi! She's just as outgoing and beautiful in person! I wish I could've sat and chatted more with her and Jordan. He had a beautiful accent and I would've loved listening to his perspective on the CI.

Jodi and Jordan

and huge THANKS to Jodi, for getting Batman and Robin to stop by and make an appearance ... in their BATMOBILE!! The kids loved it!

After the early afternoon get together, Lucas' family came back to our place for a play date and a late afternoon BBQ. Lucas' mom and I "met" last June through the blogging world and have always kept in contact through each other's blogs. We have gone through sad and happy times together. I have shed tears of joy, celebrating long distance in Lucas' successes. We have supported each other through our journeys for over a year now and it was absolutely wonderful to finally meet her and give her a huge hug! In our comments, we always said one day we'd drink that "Dutch" beer together (in response to the Welcome to Holland poem) and cheer our boys and their journeys. Well that day had finally come, and although it wasn't exactly Dutch beer, it was just as good!

Lucas' daddy was also with them, and what an amazing man he is! Lucas is a lucky little boy to have such an involved father! He would even stop Aiden to put his CIs back on! I loved it.

Then we have Lucas and Aiden! WOW! What a pair they were! So similar in so many ways ... they both have LVAS, both have blonde hair/blue eyes, both around the same height/weight, but even better ... they are both so outgoing, always smiling, constant noise, into everything, and just ready for fun!

In fact ... they were so on the go, that it was hard to get a good shot of them sitting still together!

"Ta-Da!"

"C'mon Aiden ... take my hand, you can do it."

"Did you hear that? I heard that!"

Lucas' smile melted my heart! And that's all he did, was smile! He's such a happy little man and such a great listener! He would blow kisses, say bye-bye and wave, say down and just laugh and laugh! At one point he had Aiden's sister Kailyn tackled on the floor sitting on top of her screaming in delight. Lucas' mom and dad are going to be running right along next to him before too long, because he was doing some great walking too! I kept trying to get Aiden to watch him hoping he would catch on! Maybe next time!

While Aiden and Lucas slept, us adults finally got to sit down and relax. It felt like we've been friends for ages and we can't wait to have another Lucas-Aiden playdate.