This is a list of “Favorite Things” for our kids written into the Loop by Parents (sic).  Lots of wonderful ideas to make life easier and to help our kids have FUN!  Here are their many responses:

His little room, it has all his fave things in it like bells, shinny beads and milar paper.

Well its not a toy but he loves to sit on my leg horsey style, so he can rock back and forth, kicking off the couch and he just coos and every thing. I love to see him so excited.

Jonah's glasses. They have opened up whole new worlds for our little boy, eliminated the cross eye problem and have increased his attention span by millenniums.

The mesh guard rails for his bed. I sleep much better at night (when he lets me) knowing that he cannot fall out.

Having 3 bowls and blades for my mini chopper food prep thing. No hand washing for us anymore - a separate bowl for each meal of the day.

Hey -I'm not the first to cheat! Vibrating pillows. Great at night when he wakes up - that and a story time CD and mom is back to her own bed.
Stephen's respite caretaker - Cathy (a true blessing to Stephen and Me.)

Squishie pillow (filled with tiny little beads) - great for putting where ever to help with head control, comfort and positioning.

Stephen's portable bath chair (he has had since he was 3) - that is used for many uses beyond the bath tub (beach, outdoors, extra seat to take where-ever).

Our MacCleran Major stroller. I love it for errands and traveling by airplane. So much easier than toting around the kid cart.

Isaac's Buckys. We need them for everything now. BTW if you are looking for them at a good price, REI has them in their clearance/overstocks section on sale.

Isaac's jogging stroller for off roading and getting outside.

Ooops! I forgot my very favorite thing. I hired a friend who needed help, to clean my bathrooms and mop my kitchen every other week. It
makes a world of difference for me. I am so worn out from taking care of Isaac during the night that I don't always have the energy to keep up on the housework!

Disco Ball. Joey loves to watch his disco lights at night when he can't sleep. And it keeps the neighbors wondering what we're doing...

Joey's bathtime 'boppy' pillow. It's just like a boppy pillow that kids lay on, but it's for the tub. It's great for quick baths in the morning when Joey wakes up soaked. It can be found at www.leachco.com for under $20

The whirlpool tub my hubby Jim installed in Joey's bedroom. No more carrying him upstairs for a bath, and it's at waist height so it saves
on my back. Joey loves the jets turned on.

The wind chime I hung above Joey's bed.(sorry I broke the rules) He hits it and makes beautiful music at night.

Her squeezable bottle. Without this we would have had to have turned to a tube 6 months ago!

Foam insert for her highchair....it sits her up nice and straight to eat properly.

Nursery rhymes CD. (This is actually the latest to our requirements). Clair loves it....we turn it on and she lights up (we are still trying to work out whether this is just because she does not have to listen to us singing as much). It helps keep her alert and awake through her meals...which has sometimes been a problem. Her speech path recommended something more like opera....but I just couldn't do it! (sorry for all of the opera fans out there).

The person you could call at a moment's notice to come over to watch your other kids while you rush your liss kid to the ER, doctor's office, pharmacy, etc...

The friend's shoulder you could cry on when you are having a really bad day, and are scared of what's going to happen next with your child. And, she/he will cry along with you because they love your child too.

The look on my Brandon's face when he was looking at Christmas lights on a tree, or fireworks at the 4th of July.

Daniel's Dreama sleep system bed (by Jenx)-- he still has a hard time with sleep, but he actually looks forward to bedtime, and we're able to position him in optimal postures without the hideous hip brace.

My handheld. Current one is an HP, but I've also used a Palm. Wonderful for all those repetative appointments we deal with. I can have pop-up reminders when it's time to order more diapers or feeding supplies or meds, complete contact list, catalogued by family member (so I can type in Daniel and have all his doctors and therapists and friends and classmates info available. I can have inventories of kids' clothes, household equipment, shopping lists, books to read, movies to rent when we have time. My current one also serves as an MP3 player, so I have nice soothing music (via ear phones) anywhere any time. And I can (in theory--when I get to that section of the manual) download ebooks from our library for free-- audible books on mp3.

Cetaphil cleanser -- since using this Daniel's skin is very healthy and positively glowing. He used to have a tough time with eczema and rashes, but no more. Since I can't do a darned thing about his bones or his muscles or his brain cells, I'm inordinately pleased that I can keep his skin and hair looking good.

Perhaps it is my current state but when I think of 3 GOOD things I think of the friends I have made in the dr's and pharmacists and teachers and therapists in helping us with Willie, that is ONE thing.

Allllll the loopers on this loop who are in the trenches with me.

A quiet evening with a nice bottle of wine.

I have one good thing to share...(I am sure I can think of more...) but the one great thing is a heater in the bathroom. We purchased a ceiling light that had a fan and heater at Lowe's about 4 years ago. Before Olivia gets her bath, we warm up the bathroom for her. She loves it, and to be honest, we all love it in the winter time!!

An appointment/calendar/note book that travels with us - this is more for me than Sarah, but it forces me to be a little organized. It has a calendar that I put appointments on and mark any big or notable events, plastic sheet cover slots for all the doctor/vendor business cards, and notes from every appointment (medical, school, etc.) because I can't remember anything anymore.

Sarah's bike - It's a side by side bike with a canopy so I can see her all the time and she is out of direct sun. We strap her tumble form chair right in there. It's something we can do together, outside, and something for her aides to do with her if they want. She loves it. I wasn't sure she would. I love to see her hair blowin' in the wind!

And while I'm at it, here's my wish list:  A new wing on our house for Sarah so she can have her own wheel-in bathroom and a therapy table and a big storage closet for all her stuff! Oh, and skylights!

Well, one has to be the EZ locks on the van.

The second is that I got a towel warmer for Alicia for her 18th birthday today.

The third is the lighted musical ball we got for Amber for Christmas. It is by infantino and was in the baby section. It will be easy to recognize as it has these fins all around it that stand about 1 inch and the lights are led lights and way cool. Very sensitive to touch and plays nice not too loud tunes and the lights change colors in a very cool way.

The Jumperoo by Fisher Price. He got this at 6 months and yet he still does not let go the toy is a bouncer type it has four stages. And the bonus and the favorite is the music and lights. I think the music and lights motivate him to jump
because if the does hear the music he won't jump. jajajaj 10 plus.

This x-mas his great grandmother gave him a white bear which light up in different rainbow colors. At night when we lay him to sleep we turn it on he reaches with both hands. That is the only toy he will reach with both hands to touch. Also the bear will switch off on its own after a while. Usually by then Esteban is asleep. :) I have seen it at  target. Great Gift!!!

One is the Vtech Magic Lights Little smart it has music and four switches dolls that when pulled it turn on the music. He really likes it and bangs on it to.

GEARATION by Tomy. It has many colored gears that move around. Justin LOVES this toy. I have bought them for the school and our therapists. We are using it as a motivating force to get him to touch switches.

BRAINY BABY Videos - another major favorite - they are so great - lots of images. I think they are better than the Beethoven videos. The woman's voice is soothing and the images are really interesting. They have all sorts of categories "left brain" Right brain" "peek-a-boo" "laugh and learn" they have a website

www.brainybaby.com  Check it out!

BARKING DOG (switch toy from www.abilitations.com) small little dog that walks and barks - this is the first toy he grabbed!!!!

I second Linda's tv/vcr/dvd combo. Julia's sits on the floor though because she lays on the floor most of the time at home. It is just a tv/vcr combo with a separate cheap DVD player attached to it. You can get a brand new DVD player for about $30 now! Anyway Julia watches videos all the time when she is home. She is not always very vocal but if the screen goes black, she yells. LOL It is so cute. She also responds to certain things--always the "villian" in disney movies--favorites being Cruella DeVille and "Scar" in the Lion King. And during fantasia she ALWAYS makes a happy noise when that mean-looking Devil comes on the screen. I guess because he is red and fiery (actually I think that's why she likes Scar too, because of the fire scene). She also makes a happy noise when the winged horses are flying in Fantasia. Always. She enjoys watching fish in fish tanks so I've found her several videos of fish things--dolphins and whales, and an 8 hour long underwater special I taped off Discovery Channel about 4 years ago that she watches over and over. And of course, Clifford the Big Red Dog.

Light-up toys. There are several we like--but anything that lights up and makes noise is good. When I put her to bed we like to turn the lights off and play with one of her toys, and I think her night nurse enjoys playing with them in the middle of the night too!

Beanie Babies and small stuffed animals. Julia almost always has an animal of some sort with her, and we try to match them to the occasion. These are good "ice breakers" and conversation pieces, and make for cute pictures too. For Christmas she got a UNC bear and a DUKE bear. Now she's set for March Madness (Bob went to grad school at Duke and I went to UNC as an undergrad so we have quite a lot of fun during basketball season). I am a Carolina Panthers fan and so I looked all over the house for a black panther for her to hold during their important football playoff game on Sunday and couldn't find one. So, She had all of her beanie cats piled on her--tigers, leopards, housecats, whatever. It worked! They won! Her Duke bear helped Duke win on Sunday night too.

Balloons. If you have a child with Lissencephaly who has even a possibility of vision and you haven't given them a mylar balloon lately, shame on you! :-)

Ramp van (rear entry in our case). If your child is over 30 pounds and you are still transferring them from a wheelchair or stroller to a car seat, more power to you. But I couldn't do it any longer. When Julia was 2 and a half, I slipped on the ice carrying her from the side door to the rear of the van where the wheelchair was, and we both fell. I was very fortunate that neither of us was injured, and I vowed that we wouldn't go through another winter without a ramp van, for her safety and mine. Besides the fact that I kept banging her head on the door frame because she wouldn't bend at the waist. lol Anyway, it was expensive and at the time it was going on faith that she would live long enough to make the expense worth it, but she has! And it was worth it for sure. This is my number one thing I am SO glad I don't have to do without.

Wipes Warmer. 
Julia used to scream bloody murder when we changed her diaper using room-temperature wipes. She is finally better about this and we've stopped using it recently, but for 7 years her wipes stayed warm in a warmer made for this purpose (purchased at Babies-R-Us). Wonderful for middle-of-the-night changes when you'd like to not wake her up, too. Perfect for little princesses and princes.

Head bathtub. 
I don't know what this is called but it is the way I wash Julia's hair. We have tiny bathrooms that Julia's wheelchair will not fit in. Besides I'm not leaning over the tub on my knees lifting Miss Stiff-As-A-Board. So, I give her baths on the kitchen counter, using a blow-up tub that only her head goes in. The rest of her body gets a "spit bath" as my mom used to call it, or a sponge bath as most everyone else calls it. But her head goes in this little blow-up tub and that is how I wash her hair. It has a drain and can drain into the sink, or a bucket. One of Julia's nurses washed her hair in her bed once with this gizmo. Bob's mother actually found it, at a medical supply store.

SEE THROUGH STORAGE BINS  I purchased a set of four of these storage bins. Each one has 4 drawers with see through fronts. I have them stacked on top of two pantry type cupboards, where I store Joe's diapers, chucks and other medical supplies. You can also use them on the floor and the ones I purchased have a set of caster wheels if you want them to be rollable. A perfect place to store medical supplies in that you can put the label from each item in the front and see at a glance exactly what is in the drawer.

BIG GAME HUNTING SCALE  
Ok, this item is probably only useful and a good thing if your child is beyond the point where you can scoop him/her up in your arms to weigh them on a normal scale. Or for parents with back problems. I found Joe's hunting scale on eBay for $25.00. It is good for up to 400 lbs and you hook the scale on to the ceiling rail lift system. It would probably also work well on a Hoyer lift. The scale can be calibrated back to "zero" to take into account the weight of the sling, etc. A very handy item to have in your home setting and much less pricey than the official digital weigh scales they sell for use with a Hoyer lift.

WALL MOUNTED 13" TELEVISION WITH BUILT IN DVD OR VCR PLAYER
This has got to be one of Joe's favorite things. We have it set up beside his hospital bed and we found the wall bracket for a very reasonable price at IKEA. It swivels so that you can align it to be easily seen from any angle in bed. And because it is wall mounted, it takes up no precious shelf space in Joe's already over crowded MASH unit room. ;-)

For daily inspiration---this yahoo group sends a poem each morning with a photo, music, and a beautiful poem.....you can check out the archives and see if you would want to subscribe or not. I love poetry so I really enjoy getting the emails.
http://www.panhala.net/Archive/Index.html

KidSert---from Abilitations, it's this rather flimsy foam insert chair seat that you can put into strollers, rockers, chairs, corner chairs, swings....anything to give your child more support. Wyatt slouches and when we use this it helps tremendously. When we first got this (just 2 weeks ago) we took one look at it and thought--let's send it back--but then we tried it and it has made a great difference. Everything fits better for him and his scooty butt.

Yoga for the Special Child--book by Sonia Sumar, easily ordered off of Amazon. Easy to read, use, and understand for babies on....great stretches and movements. I definitely wish I had this when Wyatt was a baby....I am going to show my PT also....

Hippy Chick—we used this hip seat carrier (from England) to carry Wyatt around from age 10 months to 4 years.  It is a great thing instead of always using a stroller and keeping him close to us is nice.