Beginning of 2010

I had the idea to create this blog over 5 months ago, but I have not had the time to put any effort into it. I was re-inspired over the Christmas holiday when family members shared how much progress they thought our little guy was making. I have my ups and downs with seeing progress, but people who don't see him for a few months can really see it. I am in a bit of a down mood right now in terms of hope for X-Man's progress and future. This is primarily due to my own frustrations with him not being able to communicate and having to guess what is going on all of the time. Hopefully, making note of a few things here and referring back will help me remember how far he has come.

I wish I had kept track better throughout this journey, but here are some highlights of what I remember from our very beginning with X-Man.

September 2007 - 18 months old - X-Man comes to live with us.
Not able to sit up independently or crawl
Not able to drink from a sippy cup or chew food
Lots of breath-holding episodes - at least once a day, often times 5 - 8 times/day
Woke up 3 - 7 times every night
Did not seem to understand much of anything we were saying

X-Man quickly became stronger and was able to crawl and drink from a sippy cup by November, pull to a wobbly stand by January, sleep through the night by February and add some signs to communicate. He made huge strides in his first six months with us so we were thinking that maybe many of his issues were due to neglect. His progress leveled off after those six months and he began his slower path forward. We learned after the fact that children from abusive or neglectful environments tend to make rapid progression in the first six months in a good environment. After that, they begin to follow what will be their more normal progress rate.

From March 2008 - March 2009, X-Man continued to receive physical, occupational and speech therapy through our First Steps program. He made progress in all areas through the dedication of his therapists, but it was a slower progress than we had hoped for after his first six months. Unfortunately, for those therapists much of the groundwork they would lay in the areas of signing, picture recognition, walking, pointing, stacking, and feeding himself would come together for him right after his First Steps therapies ended so they didn't get to see their hard work in action in those areas. Some of how I measure his progress now is remembering the hard and consistent work they put in to things like handling a spoon, pointing to pictures, walking with a walker and following simple commands. He is doing all of these things now, but it took months of therapy and patience to get there.

In March 2009, X-Man began a pre-school program through the Early Childhood Special Education program. He receives all of his therapies and a large amount of one on one attention each morning at school. His teacher, paras and therapists all care for him dearly and it is comforting to know the positive environment in which he learns. In July 2009, X-Man received a walker for use at home and took off running with it almost immediately. At the end of July, X-Man had his adenoids removed and ear tubes put in. We were hoping for an amazing speech transformation to follow, but that was not to be. One very positive result is that he began to have an easier time eating and has gained weight rapidly since having his nasal passageway opened. His weight had always put him below the chart, but now he is in the 25th percentile and eating is not a constant battle.

I don't have the time, nor does anyone reading this, to try to go through all of his steps in the past two years, but I just wanted to highlight some big accomplishments along the way to remind myself from where we have come. I hope to take the time soon to blog about where X-Man's skills are at this time.