How you doin?!

May 2, 2010

Nathan’s love for the ladies has never been subtle. It seems as though blondes catch his eye regardless of their age. If you’re brunette or redheads, you still have a chance, he’s just a little more selective. Nathan has shown he can do things no one though possible if properly motivated. It’s amazing what motivation pretty girls bring to his table.

This week, Nathan was working on the treadmill for probably a good 10-15 minutes, acting very lethargic, like he often has over the course of the study. He had his video playing as he always has, and good help from the PT and me trying to keep him interested/distracted. Still, he’d hang and let the harness do almost all the work keeping him up. Enter-in a teenager recovering from a sports injury.

Her first task was to jog/run for 10 minutes on the treadmill two over from Nathan. As she got on, she saw Nathan looking over and she smiled and waved. Better than any shot of RedBull, Nathan popped up, smiled back and gave a look like, “I really don’t need this harness on me, I only wear it because it’s the rules.” His new-found energy only lasted a minute or so, yet it was still a lot longer than any bit of Dora or The Backyardagains had given him. Once her time was done, he was back to drooping without anyone to perform for.

We also completed our third week of equine therapy for this year. Going into it, we were concerned how long it would take Nathan to get back to where he had come last year. He had made some great strides in his trunk/core strength and we were looking forward to building that back up and moving forward. The first week he hopped back on the horse like he was riding a bike, able to support himself and able to maintain his balance (all on his own) when the horse started and stopped and started again.

Annette and I were very impressed. It had been over 4 months since he had been on a horse, and this year he was on a new polo pony as well. At first we didn’t know what the difference was, but then we remembered Erin, the blonde teenager who leads his horse this year. She does a great job keeping Lorenzo (the horse) in line, while talking with Nathan, encouraging how good he looks on the horse and how “big-and-tall” he’s sitting. (Our new side-walker is good for him as well. I’m on the other side and believe me, I’m used to feeling like chopped liver when there’s girls around.)

I don’t know which I’m surprised more by, how many people are taken in by his smile, or even at 4 1/2 how he uses that to his advantage.

We have received word that Kylie his favorite, college-aged school helper (soon-to-be OSU graduate) will be his summer school teacher. For those keeping score at home - yes, she’s blonde too. Nathan’s been without Kylie this quarter as she’s away student-teaching, but I think that everyone’s excited they get one more time together.

September may bring a harsh new reality for Nathan, as Kylie will have graduated as will have Jessi, our favorite (blonde) PT college student, who’s graduating Aug 27. (If you ask Jessi on any given time, she knows exactly how many days that is away.) I have to say, we haven’t started recruiting the next generation of blondes to replenish Nathan’s entourage. We’ll have to see how he survives.

All I know is that as long as there’s still pretty girls in the world Nathan still stands a good chance to do well in anything he chooses.

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