Thursday, March 26, 2009

Day Seventeen

Elijah had an excellent day.
Day Seventeen - 3-26-09
This morning in speech therapy, Elijah was grabbing his vibrating elephant. He was using both of his hands to reach for it. What was really cool was that he was so fast and accurate in his response. I've been noticing that he is definitely using his hands more and he's just getting so fast with them. He looks, he sees, he wants, and then he reaches – and that process (at times) can take only a matter of seconds. This is so new for him and I can't even begin to describe how exciting it is. He's reaching for things on a regular basis. Finally, finally, finally our little boy is starting to use his hands!
Day Seventeen - 3-26-09 Day Seventeen - 3-26-09
He's also doing so much better closing his mouth. Today, his speech therapist was giving me tips on how to feed him. He's gotten much better with his lip closure and I'm learning to be patient while feeding him. Instead of shoveling his food in his mouth, I need to wait for him to take the food off of the spoon by himself. This is possible now because he's actually closing his mouth on the spoon! It's so cool. Who knew eating was so fascinating?! Speech therapy is definitely paying off and I can tell his mouth muscles are less sensitive and stronger. So exciting!
Day Seventeen - 3-26-09 Day Seventeen - 3-26-09
Elijah did well with PT today. He got to spend some time in the "cage", do more obstacle courses, and learn how to climb on and off of raised surfaces – to name a few things we did today. Today was also the last day we'll work with one of Elijah's PT's during our time here, so I thought I'd include a picture of Elijah and Lynn.
Day Seventeen - 3-26-09 Day Seventeen - 3-26-09
Elijah was so interested in the "cage" today. He wanted to touch the sides, so I got some funny pictures of him in "jail" – he's not really in a cage so don't send me to jail! I thought these two photos I snapped were hilarious, especially the one where his little eye is squished and he looks so destitute. The other one he looks like he's an animal in a zoo.
Day Seventeen - 3-26-09 Day Seventeen - 3-26-09
I'll leave you all with these pictures of Elijah…We were driving home this afternoon from therapy and Elijah had his hands so open. He was grabbing the book and trying to turn the pages by himself it seemed. Things ARE changing..

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Do you see how open those hands are? Do you see how he's actually trying to grab the book?!!

3 comments:

Michelle said...

I'm thrilled to see the progress Elijah is making! So, yesterday (or was it the day before?) I just happened to flip on the TV for a minute when Oprah was on... and guess what they were talking about on her show? HBOT! I could hardly believe it - they were talking about it as an up and coming anti-aging therapy.
Then I started thinking, what if you contacted the Oprah show - she loves doing stories on children that overcome obstacles. I know maybe it sounds crazy, and maybe not something that at all interests you. I just think it would be awesome though for HBOT to get a little more attention, to possibly help many other babies and children like Elijah...also, and I realize I'm thinking big here, but there is always a possiblity that it would give you exposure and help raise money for Elijah's therapy. (you can never have enough, right?)
Who knows, I realize it's a shot in the dark, but I thought it was worth mentioning - and very interesting if nothing else!

Jill said...

Welcome home! Michelle's idea is great! It would be wonderful for HBOT to get exposure for it's greatest benefits, not just for helping some movie star with her wrinkles. (:

Susan said...

we have the same type of vibrating toy! ours is an alligator and my little boy loves holding it. he's not a big reacher but once you put it in his hands he'll play with it. I think my little guy has vision problems since he really doesn't seem to reach for things. But he does love smiling at his daddy when he makes funny faces... so not really sure what the problem is. but he really does love his green vibrating alligator!

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