This morning I went to get him out of his bed and he was on his belly pushing way up with his hands so that his little head was up to greet me! And he's been doing more attempts at some army crawling.
Mike noticed how Gus goes spastic when he's trying to initiate movements so we're hoping that some of Mike's work on lessening that will be evident in the coming weeks.
Today I decided to put this fork in his hand for the first time ever and see how he did with his mac and cheese. It was an amazing success! He ate nearly the entire bowl of mac all on his own! We really need to start just giving him the opportunity to get to the next level of things. Next, we have to work on more sippy cup and NO Bottle!
And our big news - Gus has his first ever day of school tomorrow! We will be attending the Perlman Center, part of Cinti Children's Hospital, for their EI program every Tues and Thurs morning. We are so excited for Gus to be around some kids his own age. We think the peer motivation will be huge for him. There are 3 other little boys in his class. Each of them is ahead of Gus is some ways, and Gus is ahead of them in others, so I think it will be a wonderful mix for the boys to learn from each other. Maria will be attending each 2 hour and 20 min class with him. There are 3 therapists present - Speech, Physical, and Occupational - plus the teacher and an aide. We will be declining some of the therapy offered so that we don't interfere with our ABM work but we're really excited about the group activities, their focus on technologies (Gus loves electronics!), their support in helping us select and work with our insurance to approve adaptive equipment (we need a bath option in a bad way and we may get a wheelchair soon), circle time with stories and songs, craft activities, and sensory play (like playing in a big bunch of rice).
I wish I could say that we are all healthy and starting the new year off vibrantly but it's not quite true. It could be much worse, though, so we're thankful for what we have.
If you pray, please join us in praying for our little fellow preemie and CP friend, Pierce, who is seeing lots of specialists to determine the best surgical option for a shunt in his 4th brain ventricle or some other option that will alleviate the swelling they found in his MRI. January is going to be a tough month for P and his parents so he's in our thoughts a lot.
A very happy new year to all of you! We can't wait to hear how your 2013 is going!
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| That's the underside of our German Shepherd's, Esther's, chin, and her tongue lapping Gus's face |
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| In a way, these fuzzy pics tell more of the story than the clear one! Wish you could hear his giggle that went along with this! |
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| Such a beautiful snow we got last week! |
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| Can you hear Schnitzel's thoughts on this Christmas merriment? |
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| We never did get an actual smile out of Gus for any of the 4 Santas whose laps he adorned. |
awww he did such a great job and you can see how bad he wanted to do it! So sweet, and what a happy face. :)
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