October 2, 2006
October 2, 2006 | Updates
Sorry for the missed update last week. Things have been hectic. The girl I had helping at home quit, so I had another girl I know fill in for a few weeks. When she could no longer come, we had grandma come for several days to help out. Now that grandma is gone, we are trying to get someone new hired. At the same time, we sort of revamped all the office help at Tom’s business and I have been managing that change over. So for the last few weeks, I’ve pretty well been working full time. Thank heavens for grandma and Samuel’s aunt Kaylee who is doing his daily therapy with him. They have basically taken care of Samuel and the other kids the past few weeks.We went to the NACD (national association for child development) in Ogden last week to get a new program for Samuel’s home therapy. While we were there, I put Samuel on the floor and then asked him to roll over on his stomach to show everyone that he can do it. He started working at it right away and within a few minutes had rolled over. It was neat to see him do in on command. And I’ve tried it a few times since and he does it everytime. Cute kid!
The NACD evaluated Samuel and then showed me a video clip of another little boy who was very much like Samuel not too long ago. He obviously had cerebral palsy, but he was basically army crawling across the floor! So the taught us the things they did with this boy to teach him to crawl and we will do those with Samuel. Let’s hope that he’ll figure it out too!
School is still going good for Samuel. As long as he sleeps well at night, he is able to stay awake at school. And his teachers are really great with him. I always get a special grin from him when I tell him we are going to school. It’s obvious that he loves it.
This past Saturday, Tom was gone with the 2 older boys deer hunting. I had to go to work and took the 3 younger boys with me. So it was me, Ben (age 6), Samuel & Nathan (age 4 months). We spent a few hours at work and since everyone was being so good, we decided to go to Shopko. Ben had been winding Nathan’s swing the day before and had wound it the wrong way and it had broken. Nathan loves his swing more than any baby I’ve ever known, so I was dying without it. So we headed off to Shopko.
Ben pushed Samuel in his wheelchair, while I pushed Nathan in a cart. We got a swing and some clothes for Samuel and even a Halloween costume for both Samuel & Ben. We were there quite a while and everyone was being so good, that we headed to Walmart. By the time we got home, it was 6 pm and we had left at house at 9 am. And amazingly enough, we had all had an enjoyable day together without much fussing or crying. I guess it just reminded me of how life used to be, and it was nice to be almost normal for a day!
Also, while we were in Walmart, we met a lady with a little 4 year old girl whose brain had stopped develping in utero. She was a cute little girl and I talked with her mom for quite a while about this and that. As we went to leave, I asked the lady her name and when she told me I realized I had her name and number hanging on Samuel’s wall at home. Someone had given me her number months ago and told me she might be a good contact because she lived close-by and had a handicapped child. Small world, huh?
So that’s about it. Samuel has stopped throwing up as much or as easily. His myoclonus is still bad just for the 5-10 minutes after he wakes up. He’s sleeping better at night since I started leaving the lamp in his room on while he’s falling asleep. And he’s back up to 28 lbs (which still isn’t enough in my mind, but it’s better). I also think he’s grown about an inch in the last little while.
Until next week…
Keep praying!
Love,
The Jewkes
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