Lessons in Asheville This Weekend

4-17 We are in North Carolina for 4 days of lessons. Yesterday's lessons were great! Between them we visited the park where he was able to play and then fell asleep on the swing. 
Today's lessons he has done awesome as well! He's been so calm and happy! Picture is from this afternoon when they were going up and down from sitting to lying down.

4-18 More great lessons today! I love the look I caught in the first picture! He was very intent on talking about something at that moment.  Between lessons we went to the WNC Nature Center where they have wild and some endangered domestic animals to see. It was pretty cool! 
And I forgot to add to yesterday's post that he ate part of my brownie for dinner! First time ever!

4-19 Last 2 lessons this morning and he did great! First pic shows how he was sitting in his seat when we got to 2nd lesson. New position! He has never pulled both legs up into his seat and been comfortable there before. 
We are on out way home now, driving in the rain. He is laughing uproariously as we pass cars and trucks on the highway, even several lanes over! Move on out Cortical Visual Impairment! This boy is learning to see more and further!!

April 14, 2015

Several days of adventures and I haven't stopped to update this page. So here goes...
Last Thursday we took a trip to Nashville to United Cerebral Palsy, which has an equipment exchange for persons with any disability. We were hoping to find some sort of chair with a tray, or several other pieces of equipment that we are going to be needing soon. No luck. They pretty much didn't have anything for a child his size 😟. But we then visited a friend with a child older than JJ, who had a seat he'd outgrown! No tray, but we will find one somehow!
On Saturday, we took the twins on a field trip to the Homeplace, where they helped wash, card and spin wool, split wood, and generally take care of a farm in the 1850s. On the way home we stopped for baby cones and Jay ate a whole one all gone! And grinning about it! That's pretty much never happened with him and any kind of food!

Standing Up!

First time standing up! He's leaning against the couch, but otherwise doing it all himself! He's been standing up briefly to turn off his ceiling fan at bedtime, which he thinks is pretty cool, but he's never done this before 

March 31, 2015

Yesterday at the soccer fields, a child came up and asked why JJ was lying down to play. So I explained that he isn't able to sit up or walk yet. The child's mother was near enough to hear the 2nd question "why does he have legs then?" and promptly got after her child without even acknowledging me or Jay. If it had been an adult, yes that question would have been rude. However, coming from a child, I am happy to explain that he got a boo-boo in his brain because he was born too early, and that usually satisfies their curiosity and they can then see him as another child instead of "that weird boy who doesn't walk".
I think I speak for a lot of moms of special needs kids when I say- let your children ask questions, talk to them about people who are different than themselves! Kids will learn prejudice or acceptance from their parents, whether the parent is meaning to teach it or not. I do not mind answering questions! And I want my son to be valued for who he is, not looked down on or avoided because he is different!
Ok, off my soapbox...