Friday

I haven't had much to report in the way of funny conversations this week, but I'll update on what's going on with Nate.

Wednesday morning, Dee the PT came for her weekly visit. Remember, the previous week she had said no more crawling, and I think we did a great job of increasing Nate's walking in the house. This week Dee was really impressed with how much stronger Nate feels and looks when he's walking holding onto one hand and when she's prompting him to stand on his own. He really is getting much stronger and more stable. He still views standing by himself as a game. I think he could do it for a few seconds, but the instant you let go of him, he collapses on purpose. Not sure how to get over that.

Nate also got a "new" (to him) walker this week. A friend of ours donated it to us since her son started walking independently and no longer needs it. It has front swivel wheels, which will make it easier for him to maneuver on his own when he's out. I don't particularly like using it in the house, because I can see it's going to scratch up our walls and baseboards! So we'll probably have that one in the trunk of the car for using while we're out and use the old one inside. The new one is a little bigger, and it's clean without all the stickers and streamers like his other one. It's kind of "big boy" and I don't really like that! I might need to add a few stickers. :)

As many of you know, Nate has "sensory processing disorder." It's really confusing to explain, but it affects many different areas, including eating/brushing teeth (he is slighly orally defensive), walking (it's like he's afraid to be off the ground), and behavior (he gets overwhelmed easily and "melts" ... even more than most 2 year olds). He has these issues most likely because he was premature. Fortunately, it's something that we can fix, and he's already improved greatly over the last few months with the simple things we're doing to help him process his senses better. The one thing I have not been successful with is "brushing." I have this special little brush, and I'm supposed to brush it over his arms, hands, back, legs, and feet, then do "joint compressions" where I basically squeeze all his joints together. It seems really wierd when I explain it, but he really enjoys it. It calms him down, and it might also help him feel more comfortable standing and walking. The problem is that I'm supposed to do it every 2 hours! All day! For 2-4 weeks. After that, we should see results in his behavior and maybe other areas, and the changes are permanent. The problem is, I cannot keep up with this schedule! I just forget to do it. So starting yesterday, I have set the alarm on my phone for every two hours, and yesterday I did really well. Interestingly, Nate did really well too! I think it helped him. So I really want to keep this up for the 2-4 weeks to see what we can accomplish. I could use some prayers to help me keep up with it!

Speaking of Nate doing well yesterday ... I got up the courage to take him to the grocery store. I haven't taken him by myself in well over a month (ever since the post about him screaming through the store), but yesterday it was just necessary. Before we went in, I told Nate that I expected him to behave himself, and there would be no crying or tantrums in the store. He said okay. Inside, he started to get upset a few times, but when I reminded him of our no-crying agreement, he stopped! I was pleasantly shocked. :) We even had to wait in a long line, and I think Nate handled it better than I did.

This afternoon we have hippotherapy, then tomorrow Granna and Pop are coming to watch Nate play soccer. After that, we're all going to a model train show that is here in Louisville this weekend! Nate is going to FREAK! I've mentioned it and he has asked to go to the "train show" a few times, but I don't think he knows how awesome this is going to be for him. They even have a little train for kids to ride on. I'm sure I'll have pictures to share from that.

Have a nice weekend!