So much going on.
So much more to do.
So much hard work ahead of us.
So much to be grateful for.
We’ve ditched the wheelchair. The last few days, we’ve only taken Nathan out in his Pony Walker. Why push him around when he can get himself around???!!! It may look like we’re pulling him, but I pinky swear we’re not…we simply hold the leash to direct him as otherwise he crashes into things. But he’s the one moving it.
Yes, he has a long way to go. Yes, his gait needs a lot of improvement. Yes, he still has to learn how to direct it. But the way I see it is…he finally got the concept of reciprocal stepping…finally figured out how to overcome his spasticity and hypotonicity to get himself moving…finally developed the DESIRE to figure it all out…now he has the rest of his life to get stronger and perfect his gait!
Making the car crash is still his favorite page on the Dynavox. Just in case I had people telling me he wasn’t smart enough to figure it out, I want you to observe how he looks at it, then, when he hears the words, he looks at me and smiles, waiting for his reward – the cars crashing.
Notice how he moved his head when he made his selection…he knows exactly what he’s doing, and you can see the effort in his face as he’s “holding” his gaze to make the selection. Notice also that I moved the “car crash” to the other side of the screen, to show that he can get both sides of the screen just as easily, and that he’s not just accidentally hitting the same one over and over again.
Here’s an even cooler thing…he started looking around and exploring various pages…he found the snacks page, and proceeded to ask for his bottle. Sure enough it was snack time and thhe protein smoothie is his afternoon snack. He asked for it twice. So I went and got it and made him do it again so I could film him and share with you guys. He drank it with such GUSTO.
He also started music therapy, and as you can see by his expression, he LOVED it. With his Feldenkrais practitioner, we’ve been working on having him open his hands. You can see that it’s working!
Even with his “bad” hand!!!! The therapist tried getting him interested in other instruments, but he kept looking at the guitar and saying “mo” “mo” “mo”.
So much fun to be had.
So much rejoicing to feel.
So much to be amazed about.
So much to be grateful for.
Nathan looks great, Look at his head!.. que lindo 🙂
WOW Nathan is doing really good with walking. Ryland does okay but he is so high tone, even now after surgery his legs are still tight but his ankles are now weak.
Ryland has his eye gaze for another week, he doing really good with it, so I hope Ins will approve one for us, I don’t know how BCBS is about them. He does better when he in his wheelchair since it holds him better, Ryland moves alot so it sometimes hard to keep him still enough to get it to work all the time. At home his tomato seat just doesn’t hold him good enough. His arms and legs move alot. His wheelchair is to heavy to carry up our stairs. Thanks for sharing all the video
love the updates, all of them. he is making such progress!! and love belle in the background of the music lesson. get used to it, she’ll try to insinuate herself into all of his therapies, and will be too cute for the therapists to resist!
that is awesome Marecla I am so proud of him to funny my pt says thats Brandons next step is a walker in a couple of months its awesome Friday I will get a couple of videos of standing.
Love Amber
Look at that HEAD!
When did he get such good head control?
Thanks for sharing the awesome videos.
Yea Nathan. Yea God. Yea nathan’s family and friends for working so hard. May God continue to pour out his healing power and wisdom onto all of you.
So much! So true! You are spot on regarding his movement in the pony. I see lots of good ‘stuff’ portending more. What’s the latest on getting him some orthotics?
You might also take this to the school people:
http://www.physorg.com/news205432034.html
What an amazing post. Nathan is making some great, great strides! He is one smart boy!!!
Laura G
Fantastic. As other I have also noticed how Nathan controls his head. Really a great post.
YAY NATHAN AND MOM (&FAMILY)! He looks SO AWESOME! Marcela all your hard work is paying off 🙂 Made my day! I am going to show Cj’s school how well he is doing on the Dynavox! I know Cj could do this!
Oh my, that made me tear up. I am so proud of Nathan, he is doing such great things and is so happy!
Marcela, INCREIBLE!!!!!, muy bien mi niñito, te mandamos muchas felicitaciones y un beso enorme!!!!, seguro que veremos más en un futuro muy corto. Marce, estoy muy feliz por Nathan y obvio por ustedes, los logros que ha tenido son maravillosos y estoy segura que hay más por ver y Nathan es un niñito tan inteligente que nos dejará con la boca abierta, se y estoy convencida que puede mucho más. Dile que le enviamos un abrazo y un beso enorme y muchas felicidades para todos. Belle, esta grande!!! y haciendo de las suyas, un besito para ella, esta lindÃsima, un abrazo amiga, un beso