Emmett loves books, stories, and expressing himself. He loves telling jokes and stories - and as he gets older his stories are getting more and more sophisticated. (Remember, I'm a grandpa so there's a slight chance that I'm biased!) Just the other night his mom asked a question about the location of one of their friends and Emmett piped up that he knew. Then he went on to tell us that this person was on a boat trip and they were going for a long time but then the boat sank, in very deep water, and that this individual then had to swim to California! Oh my goodness, he was funny. Very serious and straight faced as he told us this fantastic yarn. Perhaps his fascination with ships comes from his recent appreciation of the book Elephant and Piggy Go For A Drive. Do not let the title mislead you, but rather than me telling you about the story I'm going to let you join Emmett as he reads/tells this story to you. His obvious enjoyment of the story indicates that he's giving this book two thumbs up. (Please excuse the very poor video work - but I needed more hands! There will be better video soon.)

What is incredible is that when Emmett's journey started, his specialists couldn't say if he would be able to speak or not. Obviously, SMA affects the muscles that are involved in speech. The progress that this little boy is making is so wonderful; the joy that he is sharing is contagious. Emmett has had a wonderfully healthy winter and that is such a blessing. This past week he has had a touch of the stomach flu which obviously put everyone on edge. He's spent a lot of time on his bi-pap and, while he still requires close monitoring and a lot of suction, he's doing much better. With no trip to the hospital.

Emmett is proud to announce that he has a new aunt. This was a massive event and Emmett was one of the ring bearers in the wedding of his Uncle Ben to his new Aunt Alesha. There are no pictures yet as the bride and groom have not released them. That will happen soon though! We are very proud of Emmett's work and he overcame a few road blocks. First and foremost, his electric wheelchair malfunctioned exactly one week before the wedding (on a Friday night, of course) and the technician was sick so couldn't come and work on it (remember, no sick people near this little boy). As a result, Emmett had to go to the rehearsal in his manual chair and there was absolutely no time for even a practice run - as the chair got fixed just 24 hours before the wedding. Bottom line, he did fantastic. Congratulations to Ben and Alesha!

Emmett has been getting his speed fix too. Whether it has been on his bicycle (hmmm, it has three wheels so should it be called a tricycle!), his manual chair, or his power chair - even riding in his van - Emmett loves the sensation of going fast.

There will be a lot more photography added in a day or two!