Ryan's therapy update

Ryan has added Speech Therapy to his list of weekly appointments. He has only met with his Speech Therapist, Nikki, a few times now. On the day she came for the evaluation, I was under the weather (you may remember our rough couple of weeks from this Bugging Out post), so I had minimal interaction with her during that appointment. The following week we had to cancel on her because Ryan was sick. Last week, she came and worked with Ryan, but I was out of town for work and missed it altogether. Nikki's focus with Ryan is working on actual speech for the first 30 minutes of each appointment, and then she works with him on feeding. He's still behind from a feeding standpoint and mostly eats pureed baby food from the jar (in case you're wondering...no, I do not make my own baby food and thanks to Pinterest and all sorts of social media, I realize that this is not "optimal" in this day and age...so sue me HA). Slowly, we're introducing very small pieces of real food to Ryan and lately he has been getting much, much better at being able to chew and swallow these small bites. He's doing really well eating Cheerios and Puffs! He's not currently saying any words but he's getting more vocal with sounds. Also he is definitely working on his volume. The dude is getting loud. Haha! But it's a good thing! I'm very hopeful that his speech sessions will steer him in the right direction and he'll be speaking in full sentences before we know it!

From a motor skills standpoint, we are seeing HUGE strides from him. Within the last few weeks, he's gotten significantly better about sitting up. He was sitting before, but had regressed somewhat and for a while wasn't really sitting at all. Then as he was getting stronger, I could prop him up on his hands, but he wasn't able to right himself if he started to lean in any direction. Now he's able to balance a little better and can sit for longer periods of time. His chair and lots of practice are helping him. You probably saw in the recent Bottle time post that he can hold his bottle now and seems to do a little bit of reaching out for toys and objects. In addition, he's now able to pivot himself while he's on tummy time. Another big deal is that he has rolled himself over a few times now. He's getting better and better at it. Last but not least, he will now bear some weigh on his legs and feet. Previously if we would hold him up and his feet on the floor or our lap or wherever, he would immediately bend his legs and would not hold himself up at all. Slowly, slowly he's been allowing a little weigh on those legs and now he's supporting himself at least 50%. I know I must sound like a broken record, but it is seriously a big deal and a major improvement!

It's weird because I realize now that I was starting to think that there were a lot of everyday things that Ryan was not going to be able to do. We were just seeing such minor improvements over such a long period of time. I was trying to steel myself from future disappointment by not expecting huge miracles. I pray and pray and pray every single day that God will keep him safe and free from any more spasms and/or seizures and that He will continue to allow Ryan to grow developmentally and learn more and more. I pray that he will catch up to his brothers someday. The last few weeks have renewed my faith and hope for miracles. I'm seeing big changes in Ryan. It's noticeable. It's what we've been waiting, hoping and praying for. I'm now thinking of all the things he WILL be able to do instead of what he won't be able to do. His therapists have been so encouraging! His PT said the other day that he WILL walk. It may be way later, like years down the road, but she feels good about the fact that it will happen. Amazing. My heart feels like it could seriously burst when I see him do some of the things he's been doing lately that I wasn't sure I'd ever see. Keep it up, Ryan!!!!

His current therapy appointments include...

Physical therapy with Ashley on Monday. Pics taken on 1/19.

Practicing sitting

Working on side sitting

Occupational therapy with Emily on Tuesday. Pics taken on 1/20.

Helping Ryan feed himself Puffs

Celebrating a good bite with claps and smiles

Early intervention with Megan on Tuesday (she's filling in for our regular EI, April, while she's out on maternity leave. April had a sweet baby girl on Christmas Day!!!). Pics taken on 1/20.

Sitting...ON HIS OWN!!!

And having fun doing it :)

Speech therapy with Nikki on Thursday. Pics taken on 1/22.

Early stages of learning how to drink from a sippy cup

 

Physical therapy with Ashley on Friday. Pics taken on 1/23.

He is lifting up entirely by himself

So stinkin' adorable!

Working on reaching and grasping with this light up musical turtle

He has recently started bearing weight
on his legs. This is HUGE!

He cracks himself up ;)