June 27

Finally back home and working to get back into a normal routine again. 
Jay's surgeon in Texas said he was doing good, but so far has been no change in his hips. So we will continue using his brace as much as possible and hope for improvement. 
Because of the lessons he received in California and what the practitioners told me, I am making some changes for Jay that will hopefully help him be more successful. They said his back is looking great and that there is no reason he should not be learning to push himself up to sit, but he will need to learn how to hold himself up against gravity. He has been lying on the floor to play for so long that he thinks of himself as horizontal instead of a vertical being.
So today we started some new things, like sitting up on the couch to play and playing with water while sitting in his bolster chair. He was so NOT impressed that I gave him water instead of his iPad!!

Took him a while, but he finally came around and decided it wasn't such a bad thing after all.

But I had a lake around his chair after that! 😨

June 24

We've spent the last 2 days touring Northern California from redwood forests to the beach.

So many beautiful and breath-taking sights!! I'm not sure how much of it JJ could see, but he did fairly well unless we were stopping every few minutes to take pictures 😳.

He did recognize the sound of the beach and didn't understand why he couldn't get in the water. 
Tomorrow we're on our way to Texas for his follow-up appt. with his surgeon.

June 21

JJ had his 9th and 10th lessons on Friday. He has learned a lot about pushing himself up into a sitting or kneeling position! And we have a lot of work yet to do with that. I also learned a bit about helping him learn to use his tongue so that he will be able to make more sounds and learn to bite and chew his food. He has used a 'd' sound a couple times this week!

And yesterday I graduated from the basic training in the Anat Baniel Method!

JJ loved the lights and music at our graduation party!

In October I will start the 4 segments of the Children's Mastery.

June 19

Yesterday's lessons went really well! At the end of the second lesson he pushed himself up with his hands 2 or 3 times!! We went to Muir Woods in the evening to enjoy the redwood trees.

June 17

Today's lessons were hard work, but look at this boy sitting so straight and tall! Second pic shows him propping on his elbows, which he did for quite a long while!

June 16

JJ had his 2nd and 3rd lesson today. Lessons are really hard work for him this week. Working on getting him to do some things that we think he is quite capable of doing... One of his practitioners is working on speech and feeding, and giving me pointers on what to continue working on with him.

Pic is at the Cheesecake Factory where we ate dinner tonight 😊

June 13

JJ traveled well yesterday. We arrived in San Rafael about 10:30 local time, which would be 12:30 our time. He thought taking off and landing was pretty cool because of the loud engine noises. He has also added a new album to his playlist!

I was a little surprised, but think he might become a George Jones fan.

June 9

Yesterday we had an appointment with Jay's regular orthopedic surgeon in Nashville. Not sure how much good this doctor is doing us, as he seems to be rather Jekyll/Hyde-ish... First time we saw him, he was all "Oh yeah, hips look great, no need to worry about anything." One year later, it's "We really need to be doing full surgery on both hips! They're out of socket a little and it's always better to do surgery when they're little". I refused to schedule surgery that day, as I was so shocked and needed time to gather myself together and do research. Next time it was back to "Oh he's doing so good!" He even told me that someone was doing an excellent job of stretching him! And was unbelieving when I told him JJ hadn't been stretched for over a year, as ABM (Jaymin's primary therapy) is totally against stretching.

This time he took X-rays and said "He's doing pretty good! Not really any change from last X-rays, (which were taken 2 years ago)." When I asked what percentage his hips were out, he thought about 10-15%. Which would be EXCELLENT if it really is true! But I find it a little too good to be true, having had an X-ray in February, right before surgery that said 55% out on the left. So we will wait till we see Dr Yngve in 2 weeks and see what he says at this point.

But look at how he is choosing to position his legs while lying down and sitting tonight! Soo different from the spasticity that ruled everything before surgery!

And a cute selfie for your enjoyment too!!

June 6

JJ had an appt. at Vanderbilt today for a hearing test, which he passed with flying colors, if you ask me! He heard every sound they made, but sometimes just got still, listened and grinned, instead of turning his head toward the sound like they wanted him to. He giggled aloud at each tiny beep when they put the little wires and plugs in his ears 😄. It was too cute! 
I did not have concerns for his hearing, but this is the first step that is required in the process of getting an evaluation for a communication device of some kind. 
They thought they might need to do a sedated hearing test to prove that he doesn't have hearing loss, since he doesn't answer similar to a typical child, but I think that would be ridiculous! Why would I want to sedate him for a test I don't think he needs?

June 3

II finally received this iPad holder that I ordered for his birthday. Think I'm going to like it, but he's not sure about it yet. Yesterday tried it for the first time and he was very angry that he couldn't flip the iPad over and drool on it like he usually does! Cried and cried! Today I put it closer and lower and he was satisfied and fell asleep on it. (Someone didn't sleep too well last night and made mama get up at 6 this morning) 😟

And he is getting into taking selfies now! Lol!

I'm excited that he can see well enough to recognize himself on my phone camera!!