May 7, 2006
May 7, 2006 | Updates
Grandma just posted a quick update and a new picture last night and I am posting today, so don’t miss her post and picture! This week has gone by slowly. I guess it’s the change in not being so busy with hyperbarics. I’ve almost decided that Samuel has figured out to fall asleep as soon as a therapist shows up at our house and then wake back up as soon as they leave. I know that probably seems silly, but it sure happens a lot. And when he is asleep, you just can’t wake him up. But he literally wakes up the minute they walk out the door. Drives me crazy! 
Anyway, the family went camping this weekend. Samuel and I were going to go up most of Saturday, but ended up stuck here nearly all day dealing with problems with our phone and canal. (Too long of a story to give you all the details.) Anyway, we did finally head up there late Saturday and Samuel seemed to enjoy the little bit of time that we spent around the campfire. His brothers and Aunt Kerri made him a camping hat which he grinned about and he even had some of Aunt Kerri’s dutch oven bread and seemed to like it.
Today we got quite a few smiles out of Samuel. We’ve figured out that he loves to be thrown or swung or even hung upside down. Pretty strange since he hated that stuff before his accident and it was too stimulating after it. But he loves being thrown on the bed and tonight his dad held him upside down for a minute and he didn’t get upset about it at all. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that, but Tom says he does it all the time. It’s good for his vestibular system, so it’s basically therapy. FINALLY - Daddy has an excuse to swing his kid around!
I also discovered that Samuel likes sweet tarts. I had to bite then into tiny pieces before putting them in his mouth and even then it made me nervous. So I’m going to buy some pixie sticks and smarties and see if he likes those. I’m excited to maybe be able to use them as treats for him participating in therapy.
One other exciting thing is we should be getting our crawler this week from the Up to 3 program. The USU technology lab is making them for just the cost of supplies which is great since they are highly overpriced if you buy them from a manufacturer. We are also getting Samuel a neck brace so he won’t have to deal with holding up his neck when he’s in the crawler. I’m hoping that if we put on the neck brace, put him in the crawler and put some shoes on him that he can figure out how to push himself around. Maybe we can get him out on the front driveway and get his brothers riding bikes around him to encourage him. It could be really fun for him if he can just figure it out. Let’s hope so.
We got the chance to watch a backhoe dig a big hole in our yard this weekend (another long story). Samuel seemed to enjoy that also. And tonight he chuckled a few times as his dad played “one for the money” and threw him on the bed. He is having a harder time falling asleep at nights, but he does sleep fine once he’s asleep, so it’s liveable. I’m also trying desperately to teach him to raise his arms off the floor and reach for me when I want to pick him up. So far, no luck, but it sure would help me out if he could because I just can’t bend down that far very easily anymore!
I added a picture of him sleeping because it’s so amazing to me the difference between now and in the beginning. He sleeps now with his legs bent and his arms either bent across him or clear up above his head. Before, he slept perfectly straight in a backwards “C” shape. Now he seems to sleep in a “normal” position. Baby steps, right?
Lastly, they turned on the canal yesterday. 
It brought me to tears when they told me they were - just too many memories. But our fence is coming along. Yea!
Keep praying and thanks so much!
Love,
The Jewkes
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