End of August Updates

Caden is now walking a lot more. He still crawls a lot, but he is using walking as a way of moving quite a bit. He will walk with and with out help. He is still too scared to do it all by walking all of the time, but he is getting there. He almost never scoots on his butt anymore. Except when he goes down the stairs. He will now go down the entire flight of stairs by his self.

He is also now drinking from a straw. When we tried it before, he would bite the straw and attempt to remove the straw with his teeth. When we would give him a taste of something by a straw he would suck out of it then, so he knew how to. He just didn't do it. Last week I got an icee from QT and he wanted some. So, I told him that he had to drink out of the straw like a big boy to get some. I figured he wasn't going to drink out of the straw. Next thing I know, my finger that is touching part of the straw is cold. He did it! I was so ecstatic. So, we have used a straw several times since then and he has consistantly used it.

He had a visit from a speech therapist last week. We figured she would say that he would need help, but she says that he is doing fine. She was not even expecting him to be doing as well as he is. He is not using the same sound all of the time. Although some times it feels like it. He does use some words, but he is showing us a lot using signs. She said that we aren't giving him the credit that he deserves. Using signs is treated the same as normal speech. She went through an evaluation sheet for children his age with 7 or so development areas. He cleared 6 of the 7 and almost cleared the 7th. So, we'll just keep working with him as we are and it will all come together eventually.

On Monday I (daddy) took him to see his Nephrologist, Dr Lovell. She asked how he has been healthwise. Asked if he has been sick or had any Urinary Tract Infections. Which he has not, so she was happy with that. They were able to get his blood pressure on the first shot. That is not an easy feat with Caden. It was good. She looked him over and he appeared to be good she said. Caden is now 35 inches tall, and about 35 lbs. She also asked for a urine sample and for him to give blood before we left so they could ran their panel of tests that they like.

Tomorrow we will go to his Endocrinologist's office. We are not going to see Dr. Corley, we will see his assistant Arlene. I don't entirely remember why we aren't seeing him, but I think this visit is mainly to get height, weight, check for any concerns. Basically a checkup to make sure there are no problems. We'll see tomorrow morning.

We are also going to be on vacation towards the end of September. We will leave after Holly and I finish work on Thursday September 20th and then return back Tuesday September 25th. We are taking Caden to see Mount Rushmore. I have never been there. Holly was when she was younger. We are really excited to go and we hope that the weather will be nice to us. In the Black Hills, it can snow as early as September. So, we are keeping our fingers crossed.




Until Next time, I continue to ask for and thank you for your prayers.

Caden Climbs the Stairs

Until Next time, I continue to ask for and thank you for your prayers.

Leaps and Bounds

(NOTE ON POSTING DATE: This was supposed to be posted 3/22/07 at 2:40 PM.)

Caden is now climbing everywhere he can. On tuesday night Holly called me while I was at work. She was watching a little boy named Mario and of course Caden. They were in our basement, which is where Holly has her daycare, and she went into the bathroom and when she came out she asked herself, "Where's Caden? Where's Mario?" She looked around the stairs real quick then she darted up the stairs. They were up stairs and headed towards the bedrooms and Caden's playroom.



Until Next time, I continue to ask for and thank you for your prayers.

Caden vs the Stairs

I know you are going to say, quit playing but this is true. Caden, climbed our basement stairs. I even got video of it. It is currently in short 15 second clips in a format that I can't put together right now, but I will. I came home from work earlier this week and Caden was half way up the stairs. So, the video will pick up from half way to the top.

Caden has also started climbing onto and off of the couch. The stairs we understand that he would learn pretty easily, but the couch. He put his leg up on the couch and pulled his self up. He is also getting his self off of the couch by rolling to his belly and sliding to the floor. I have yet to get this on video, but I will.

I also have some video of Caden swinging and loving it. He was giggling and laughing the whole time.

Caden is doing very good when we take away his plate. He has his days, as everybody does, where he just doesn't care and is pissed that you took it away. But, if we say "This is the last bite, then it's all gone." Then we give him the bite and say, "All gone." (While making the sign for "all gone.") He really doesn't care that he's done.

Caden now knows the signs for: mine, more, please, milk, thank you, and he uses a point and a hand closure for "I want."




Until Next time, I continue to ask for and thank you for your prayers.