Be careful what you wish for

Nov. 9, 2013

Yes, I realize that it's been a long time since I've last made an update to the site. I came to the realization that with having less time with a full-time job, without easing up on any of the other activities that rebudgeting my time was in-order, and in the big scheme of things, making memories with Nathan is more important that trying to document them along the way.

The past 10 months have shown to have had their ups-and-downs and I also made the promise that everything on this site would have a positive spin, and there have been times that hasn't always been possible. Alas, I have been called out to at least put something new on the site so here is the posting that is long overdue:

For years, one of our main goals with Nathan is to help him get stronger. Stonger bones, stronger muscles stronger communication skills, etc. That has always been our underlying goal with all of our sessions with Leap Beyond Therapy (which we've visited again over the summer and our next session is only a few weeks away,) and most of our local OT and PT.

We have seen improvements and along with those activities above, we also have a relatively new player, Mr. Todd, adaptive physical education teacher, who seems to be pushing Nathan in the right direction as well. We've seen Nathan army crawl many a distance across a room, if I'm eating ice cream on the other side, and just this past week he made it around the church and school parking lots twice (totaling about 1.3 miles) on his bike.

One other aspect where he has definitely gotten stronger is his will, determination, and sometimes down-right stubborness to get what he wants, (or reject what he doesn't want). This has caused my need to also get stronger, to continue to catch, guide and correct, when he's throwing himself around.

He and I have some standoffs, which aren't always bad, but there are lessons to be learned from both sides. I never thought I would have to agree to disagree with an 8 year old, (especially knowing parents never win.)

We have been amused that Nathan's minimal signing, has changed his language from "I want..." to "You need to get me..." and it's not uncommon for him to repeat himself if Annette or I don't move fast enough.

It's official, we are raising a boy. (Many say my wife is raising two.) But in the big picture, that's part of the job duties of being a parent. We give thanks for the progress he's made, and can only hope that we can continue to strengthen ourselves in the right (and same) direction.