Determination

Just love this picture of Drake my husband took today. He is crawling up the large stairs in our yard and you can see how hard he is working and the extension in his legs to pull his knee up over the lip of the stair.

Feldenchrist

In addition to receiving PT and OT through state-funded California Children's Services, Drake also receives PT once a week at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center, which is billed through our private insurance. A couple weeks ago his PT there informed me that they would be sponsoring and hosting a Feldenchrist conference at the hospital. She said they were looking for a couple kids to be 'models' at the conference and would Drake be interested. She thought of him because he is so easy to work with and is a total people person. I said sure, knowing nothing about Feldenchrist, but wanting to be helpful and because I was curious about the method.

We showed up to a packed conference room with a table and a woman standing in the middle (I believe her name was Anat Baniel and supposedly she is very well known for this method). The whole room was silent as they were filming the whole thing. I surveyed the scene and wondered how Drake would do being so 'on display'. But I strolled him over to the woman, who had a great way with him, and she got him comfortable on the table and started demonstrating her techniques on him. It was truly amazing to watch. I really had no idea what she was doing and she made obscure references to the power of the pelvis and various vertebrae of the spine. There was lots of slamming of hands and feet on the table for sensory input and lots of jiggling the hips back and forth. She worked with him for 45 minutes and he was great the whole time. It was like he was on a float, smiling and waving from his table to the onlookers.

After the session, she noted how he seemed to be sitting straighter through the pelvis. I could see it, too. I don't know that this is something we will pursue further, but it was neat to see a different approach. And we got a $50 gift certificate to Whole Foods for being a participant!

Halloween

We had a great Halloween. This was the first year the twins really got into it. Two years ago, they had just come home from the NICU. Last year, they were adorable dressed up as bugs -- Lucy a ladybug and Drake a bumblebee --but they sat in their stroller as we walked the 'hood and nodded off after a few blocks. This year, dressed as a pirate and a ninja, they eagerly reached into the bowls of candy offered at each house and enjoyed their first real piece of candy -- a lollipop.



Lucy is pretty much over the stroller these days. Our double umbrella stroller is semi-retired -- we now mostly use this cheap single umbrella stroller for Drake and let Lucy walk everywhere. Lucy boldly walked up the steps of each house we "treated". Myself or my husband would take Drake out of the stroller and carry him up to the door. Yes, it was a little tiresome taking him in an out of the stroller all night. But we wanted him to be able to participate, to knock on the door and reach in the candy bowl.

After we got home and put our over-tired, sugared-out kids to bed, my husband said, "I really can't wait for Drake to be able to trick or treat on his own." I realized through all of our ins and outs of the stroller, it never really occurred to me that Halloween could be hell on a mobility-impaired little one. All the walking, all the up and down the stairs, all the running to keep up with the high-on-sugar friends. It kind of bummed me out. We'd had such a fun night and at the end of it I was left thinking about future Halloweens and not savoring the moment of this one.

I consoled myself by thinking a) he will get up and down the street on his own, i just know it and b) he has a great wing-woman of a sister who will always make sure they are both long in lollipops.