Parker just took 2 steps on his own. No hands. No gait trainer. With even less support than this picture. He is still so far from walking on his own, but this is HUGE!!! And it made me cry.

He also babbled a full conversion with his OT this week, and others, looking them right in the eye and intently babbling away in turns.

He also touched his speech program, Proloquo2go with only 1 finger-instead of whacking away at it. Which is also HUGE.

And he turned pages of a board book instead of eating it. And looked at the pictures with me.

This little boy amazes me every day.

Therapy buddies hanging out in the swing.

I sure love these boys.

We explored a new fabulous park last night. These pictures don't do it justice. As we crested the hill my son dashed towards it and exclaimed  "This is EPIC!!!" We played for hours.

 We tried mirror therapy in OT today. It helps to trick the brain into remembering that you have a right hand because you see both hands moving at the same time. He was funny and kept peeking at himself in the mirror or behind it.

We got a cat this week. She has managed to endear herself to all of us. She came over and snuggled with Parker and was so incredibly patient as he mauled her. This gives us lots of opportunities to teach "soft." He loves her and gets super animated when she is around. He's even been trying to say "ditty."

Mmmmmmmm corn.

There are so many fun lakes to choose from here! We have discovered the best way to make lakes fun is having one of these contraptions for his arm on hand. He eats EVERYTHING-be it rocks, sand, dirt, grass, clover, his shirt, your finger as you try to dig a rock out, your friend's finger if she forgets and tries as well...  this "no no" makes it so he can explore and play, but makes it very difficult to stuff handfuls of moss, dirt and sand in his mouth. Perfect!!!

Haircuts all around

We went to the amusement park in the Mall of America and had a glorious time. I snapped this picture just after we came down the plunge on the log ride. Parker LOVED it! We all did.

Minnesota is treating us well 😃

I really want Parker to crawl. His initial PT said that he might never crawl and would probably walk first because of the weakness in his right arm, but the only way I could get him to put weight in his right arm is crawling. And the first step to using that right arm is weight bearing. And I want him to use that right arm, despite the fact that his brain didn't think it exists. I am super motivated. He..... not so much. Recently (this week), things are finally getting easier with crawling.

Imagine trying to teach someone to crawl when he cannot hold himself up, or even put any weight in either arm, let alone straighten his right arm at all, cannot move his right or left leg and when he tries, his whole body goes rigid into extension and his legs shoot back, collapsing onto his tummy and you have to start all over, break the tone, wrestle him back into position... over and over.  It is a full body exercise and he is not the one exhausted at the end.

He slowly, very slowly, has been getting better. He has less tone (which is rigidity due to miscommunication from his brain) in his body. He can actually bend his knees. He has recently been putting weight in his right arm. Just this week, he actually moved his left arm forward, and his left knee now moves forward instead of shooting back, and occasionally I can block his right leg from shooting back if I position my foot just right to block it, and I think once this week his right arm actually moved forward. This is MAJOR progress and I am super thrilled.

I am a bit excited. Can you tell?

Most of the progress and breakthroughs have been this week. I was showing his occupational therapist the progress he's made and she said she lays awake at night thinking about him and how to help him. She wished there was some way to strap him to her to remind his brain the right arm/left leg and left arm/right leg pattern. (Did you know the arms and legs move oppositely consecutively- try it. It's true)

Before I left, we tested it and he fits perfectly under me... And I happen have yards and yards of Velcro from buying it online in bulk (see????I knew it would come in handy). The result????