Making Progress

As most of you already know, Carter and Eli are part of a therapy program called Early Intervention. Thank goodness for this wonderful program and the fantastic therapists that we have come in contact with. Both of the boys see an occupational therapist, Miss Kelly, once a week and Carter sees a speech therapist, Miss Jen, once a week as well. Carter loves Kelly and gets very excited to see her each week. Of course, the fact that she brings "new" and exciting toys could have something to do with it. Kelly has been helping me with tackling some minor issues that Carter has. Since Carter is dealing with low muscle tone in his jaw we are working on improving meal times. I am happy to report that he is now using his utensils for most of the meal and he is learning to take his time and chew. He is also learning to not shove his mouth full of food. I have learned new exercises and new foods to introduce to Carter to "wake up" his mouth and this also helps with his speech as well. Unfortunately Jen, the speech therapist, has been not well and we haven't been able to meet with her on a regular basis but even so Carter's speech continues to improve everyday. We are now in the process of transitioning Carter into a different program (Early Intervention only covers kids until they are three) and from what we can see it seems Carter has made great progress and we are hoping that he will need little help as he gets ready to transition to the next step of the program. My little Eli is amazing! When Kelly first started coming to us Eli could barely roll over or sit up. In just a few short months he is sitting on his own and is able to go from all fours to a sitting position and he is also able to go from sitting to all fours. Kelly is now working on getting him to pull himself up and stand at tables and couches ect. Most exciting is that Eli crawled for the first time tonight! He went halfway across the living room floor on all fours with Brian, Carter and I cheering all the way. Kelly really feels that once Eli realizes how great is to move he will just take off.....we are anxiously waiting to see if she is right. To all of our family and friends....I would like to say thank you. This has been quite a journey and very stressful and upsetting for me at times. (Mostly because I worry way to much.) We appreciate all of your love and support and all of your words of encouragement!!!! We will continue to keep you updated.