Progress

So here is an update on how he is doing. As you can tell from the picture, he is walking much more these days. He is still pretty unsteady & uses his arms to keep his balance. Of course, he has alot to balance....32 pounds & 3 feet tall! Our poor dog is great motivation for him to walk. He chases her around the house any time she ventures out of our bedroom.

We have been having an issue with frustration for the past several months. Tantrums are quite commonplace in our home. Partly because he's almost two. They get worse with teething...which we just started again in the last day or so. Mostly, they have to do with frustration over not being able to talk. He seems much less frustrated now that he is walking. He initially was having tantrums out of the blue...we had no idea what was wrong. Once he started walking, that changed. He would only have fits when he was tired, hungry, or just didn't get his way. We can still tell he is frustrated, but at least he seems to be handling it better for the most part. I mean, he is almost two....tantrums are to be expected! And, I just noticed today that he is cutting his 2 year old molars (the bottom ones, anyway). No fun!

About speech....he only made it to 5 of his 8 classes this summer because we kept getting sick. He has had a few sessions with his speech therapist. We haven't really seen any progress in his speech at this point. By that, I mean, he isn't saying any more words. He is more vocal. In the last couple of days, he has entered a yelling/squealing phase. He just walks around yelling or squealing for no reason, other than because he can. He isn't mad or upset....he just likes to hear himself. He has learned some sign language, which helps some of the time. Sometimes, he just likes to use the signs to hear you say the word. He is always impressed with himself when he does a sign. One of the doctors we saw recently told us that speech & signing involve the same part of the brain. So, since he is signing, the intelligence for speech is there....there is just something that is not making the connection between his brain & his mouth yet.

As for the seizures, we are just in a waiting game. We are hoping that there are no more & that will be the end. As long as we can keep him well, we will be fine. He has had a normal EEG & normal head CT, so it appears that these are just caused by fevers & there isn't anything crazy going on in his brain. We do still have the little episodes of turning red & hot to deal with. Next time that starts we are supposed to be able to get him in for an ambulatory EEG that should be able to confirm or rule out a seizure disorder for sure....we think.

Overall, he is doing great! He starts back to his class in a few weeks & will be going 8 hours a week in a class that focuses on communication, so we are hoping that will help him alot. And, he will be around other kids in the class, which may encourage more communication. Just pray being around other kids doesn't cause too much sickness!