Cruel

Garren said he would go to his 8th grade semi-formal dance "if he can walk." We talked to his therapists on Monday. They both said "We better get busy!" They started pushing Garren, doing exercises and workouts to help him strengthen his core and start coordinating his legs. We ordered a walker, which came in yesterday.

My goal with Garren is to get him up using his walker two times each day. Yesterday morning his therapists helped fit the walker to him. They stood him up and had him start working on some steps. We walked about 5 or 6 steps. Right now Garren tends to lean forward, and his hips shift to the right. I am constantly reminding him to "pull in your butt" and "pull your hips to the left." When he does, he stands nice a tall. Using the walker he can almost stand on his own, keeping his balance for a few seconds at a time. This activity tires him out quickly!

We worked on it again yesterday evening, then this morning. Every time we do it, I see improvement. He gets stronger every time. Yesterday, with each step, his feet would cross over the other one. This has to do with which muscles are stronger, and where his leg gets pulled. This afternoon I noticed that he is much better at taking straighter steps. He is so determined, wants so bad to do this. After our work out this afternoon I said "Garren, you wear me out!" He lifted his finger, pointed at me, then at himself, basically saying that I was wearing him out!

Garren's speech therapists has been great so far. She gave us some things to work on with Garren. He wants so badly to eat! Someone brought us dinner last night - baked ziti...yum! He told us he could smell it. A little later in the evening he asked us to save some until he could eat it. I told him we would get him all the baked ziti he can eat when he is able!

It's amazing how many things we do center around food. You don't even really think about it. Trying to plan things while being sensitive to Garren's inability to eat has to be very intentional. This morning I was in his room with him, and I was flipping around the channels trying to find something to watch. We came across a cooking show. I stopped, and Garren started telling me something. We grabbed the alphabet sheet, and he spelled out "that's cruel." Oops, sorry Garren.