I added a couple of new pictures. The first one is Alex standing in the middle of the room all by himself!! He was really trying to take a step but just couldn’t get his legs to go. The next ones are him trying to eat an Oreo with his right hand. We had his cast on his left arm and it was tucked down by his side in his booster seat. He can’t pick anything up with his right hand but when we put it in his hand he was working hard to get it in his mouth.

Alex had an appointment yesterday to recheck his ears from his infection about 3 weeks ago. His ears look great but he did have fever when we were at the doctor’s office. It appears to be just a cold (runny nose, fever, and not feeling all that great). He was a little better today but still not back to normal yet.

We met with ECI today. We did an OT evaluation and the therapist seems very excited to be working with Alex. We will meet the speech therapist next week and then sometime after that we will do a PT evaluation as well. Please continue to pray for us as we adjust to the ECI program again.

Each time we do any type of evaluation we see about where Alex is developmentally and also what he is not doing yet. With it being Thanksgiving I think I will focus on what he can do and how thankful we are for how far he has come since last Thanksgiving. Last year, we were giving Alex daily shots to stop the infantile spasms (the spasms had actually stopped and we were weaning off the ACTH). He had just started to roll over and had really started to smile again. He wasn’t even sitting up by himself yet. This year he is not far from walking, will try to let you know what he wants (even if it means yelling at you), is always excited to see his family members and is very lovable most of the time. We are so thankful for Alex and for everything that God has done in our lives.

I read a poem that a mom wrote about her son (who is similar to Alex but quite a bit older) and I wanted to share it.

Thank you dear Lord for sending this boy
Who fills us with love and gives others such joy.

Who could have known that the lessons he’d teach
would come from a place I hoped never to reach.

His road is much harder than mine ever will be
Yet he walks it with courage for all people to see.

I’ve learned from this child not to see what “can’t be”,
But to find all the miracles and see what God sees .

So on this Thanksgiving Day and always …..

I Thank you for every big one armed embrace
And for every new challenge he faces with grace.

I thank You for all of those lopsided grins
and for all of those kisses that land on my chin.

For each “Look, Mom I did it! Wanna see it again?”,
And for each time he feels, what it feels like to win.

For those DAFOS and AFOS and SAEBOS we score
and for OTs and PTs and STs and more!

For the people YOU send us that throw us a rope
with patience and guidance and most of all…. hope.

Thank You for the honor of raising this boy,
for trusting us with his care and for showing us joy!