A little piece of heaven

Last Saturday, Sonia, Rocio, Eduardo, Nathan and I went to a park here in Santiago. We were very surprised when we saw that they had a special needs swing, and 3 or 4 other play areas specially for kids with special needs. There was a sign saying it was ONLY for kids with special needs but all kids were playing there. Nathan and Rocio got a chance to play alongside typical kids and they had a BLAST. In one of the games, we were able to park both their wheelchairs while the other kids made them go around and around in circles. It was beautiful.

Sonia is circulating a petition to request for more parks like this one throughout Chile. I think it is a wonderful idea and one that I hope to replicate back in the States. But for now, I would be so grateful if everybody signed this petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/plazasmt/petition.html

It will help them in their campaign for more inclusive parks in Chile. Thank you very much!!!

Today we went to a preschool across the street and guess what – tomorrow Nathan starts! I am so excited for him! Nathan will be going to Rocio’s school’s sister school. It’s run by the same director (she’s a lovely lady!) and thanks to Rocio and Sonia, they now have experience about how to integrate special needs kids into typical classrooms. Nathan will be the only special needs child in his class.

The school is across the street from us, which is fantastic. He will be going in the afternoon after his Medek session, from 4pm to 6:30 pm. I think he will really THRIVE from this opportunity! And I am excited that he will be in a class with typical kids!

Nathan’s Medek continues to go well. There was an exercise today where he stayed standing up for about 1 full minute, which is the longest that he’s been able to stay fully upright. Some exercises that he had a lot of trouble doing when we were in Canada, are now a breeze for him. Ramon keeps making the exercises a little bit harder every day.

Ramon believes that by continuing to “send the message” to Nathan’s brain, he will have NO CHOICE but to create new neural pathways for motor control. The progress will be slow but the more neurons we activate, the more chances he will have. He continues to be pleased with Nathan’s progress and faithful that by the time we leave we will see some significant changes!

I am working very hard not to be impatient. I can see tiny inchstones of progress but as usual, I want more more more. I’ve decided however that the paradigm of wanting more quickly hasn’t worked too well so I am working hard to just relax and settle into Ramon’s vision.

I’m hoping to borrow a camera in the next day or two so I can get some pictures up!

Believe it or not, this is one piece alternative information given to us by none other than Nathan’s pediatrician herself. A few months ago I was complaining that Nathan seemed to always have mucus in his nostril, and that none of the nasal aspirators could get it out. I asked for a suction machine but she doesn’t like using them because she says it irritates the nassal passages. Instead, she recommended a Neti Pot.

Since that day, I have fallen in LOVE with my neti pot. I use it at least twice a day, every day. On Nathan I use it every few days (he doesn’t really like it, so I only use it when it’s necessary).

Before I tell you more about it, you can read about the Neti pot on Oprah’s site:

Dr. Oz talks about the Neti Pot

Here is a great picture:

There are tons of articles on the internet about why a neti pot is effective and how to use it, so I won’t talk about it too much here. What I CAN say is that using the neti pot has helped me to breathe better, I don’t get sick as much, when I start getting sick I use the neti pot a lot and it seems to get rid of viruses and bacteria that are in the nasal passages, I sleep better as my mouth doesn’t get so dry because I breathe better through my nose, and in general, I think this is contributing to my overall health (and Nathan’s too, of course).

For children, I think the typical neti pot might be too hard to use, so I recommend this one:

NeilMed Sinus Rinse

Like I said, Nathan doesn’t really like it, but it helps tremendously! It’s the only thing that can really clear all the gunk out of his nose, even the stuff all the way in the back that no qtip or nasal aspirator can reach.

I hope you fall in love with the neti pot as much as I have!