Words, bracelets, bikes, and nuts

Momentous times at the Workman household.

Anika's speech is really taking off.  Because of our schedule today, she was finished with her nap as BJ was going down for his, and I couldn't keep her quiet!! Many evening on Skype BJ and Brandon have a hard time talking because she is so insistent on yelling out her words for Daddy :)  I'm so proud of the progress she has made, she's doing awesome!!  She is very insistent on acting and doing everything the rest of us in the house are doing- she likes to make trips to the bathroom to sit on the potty (but doesn't actually use it yet), take her babies for a walk with her purse in hand, and loves to have her wrist filled with plastic interlocking rings as her bracelets (despite actually owning some bracelets of her own).  She loves to laugh and giggle and has gotten to the stage where she cracks herself up :)

 Here she is "reading" with BJ, with her bracelets, and her favorite "loveys" in hand.

BJ also is growing in leaps in bounds.  BJ received a bike from us for his 4th birthday, which we took the wheels off and have been using as a balance bike all winter.  Last weekend Brandon decided BJ was ready for his wheels on his bike.  He explained that we weren't going to use training wheels and that if it wasn't fun we weren't going to bike, but BJ was up for the challenge.  He started practicing after church on Sunday, and after nap time was ready to show me his moves.  I was skeptical, but as always, should trust my husband's judgement ;)

Today was another great milestone for BJ.  After failing his peanut challenge last fall, our allergist was anxious to try and see if we could introduce other nuts into BJ's diet in hopes that nut "sensitization" would help him outgrow his peanut allergy.  We arrived early this morning ready to test Dr. Dan's theory, and BJ was up for the challenge.  Due to some miscommunication, I had to leave the hospital shortly after BJ's challenge had started, and he had to stay with Dr. Dan while I was gone.  He made Dr. Dan's day, reading "Curious George" and talking his ear off, while continuing to challenge nuts until I came back.  The day was a success.  BJ "passed" 6 other nuts, pistachio, almond, cashew, walnut, pecan, and hazelnut.  He ate all of them without complaint or hesitation.  This gives us the go-ahead to allow him to have any nut other than peanut as long as we are confident the food is not contaminated with peanuts.  We celebrated with cashew chicken and nutella pie for dinner tonight.  BJ has already asked if he can have nuts with breakfast tomorrow :)