Theratogs

Here are pictures of Cole's previous physical therapist, Christa, fitting Cole for his Theratogs and making adjustments. She had to take a special training to learn which direction to wrap or what extra strappings to add to make the right corrections for each childs situation.

I'm trying to remember exactly when Cole first started wearing his Theratogs. I think it may have been towards the end of September.

The Theratogs can be a little complicated to put on him at first but I have quickly learned exactly where to stick all the little velcro tabs that hold everything where it should. They are made of some sort of neoprene and help support his trunk. They remind him to use those muscles.

Cole still can not sit unassisted but there is a definite difference in his posture after wearing his Theratogs. You know that they are working when a friend that holds him only occasionally and didn't even know he had the Theratogs on was in shock noticing how much better he was supporting himself. She said he is not nearly as 'floppy' as he was prior to wearing them.

He is doing so much better trying to sit and does well for a few seconds at a time. Typically when we work on his sitting he will get so excited and therefore will go into extension. This is when he will fall backwards or to the side.

I would highly recommend others trying the Theratogs as I can really see they have helped Cole so much. They have been great during the winter but I am a little concerned that they may be too hot this summer. We will see!

Picture this!

I know...I have been awful about staying up to date and posting here for my wonderful followers. I promise to try to be better this year!

Cole had a great time and is enjoying all of his gifts. I especially want to send a special 'THANK YOU' out to Ooh LaLa MaMa for the awesome shirts. You should go check them out...they are SO soft and trendy. They would be great for gifts too if you don't have children. Cole, of course loves his Baby Signing Time & Signing Time. He also has been having a blast in his Pop-A-Tot and this is so convenient for us to take on the go.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!

Signing Time

For those of you that see Cole, you know this to be true...for those that do not know, Cole seriously has OCD with this show.

Signing Time is a show that used to be on PBS television. That is where Cole first fell in LOVE with Rachel Coleman co-creator of Signing Time. Rachel is the mother of Leah and Aunt of Alex and they are the teachers on this show. And, I can't leave out Hopkins (an animated frog) is part of the show too. Hopkins cracks Cole up with his dancing and when he plays the drums (yes, a frog that plays the drums). He also loves the ABC's song that Rachel signs and even anticipates getting to the Z (he gets so excited).

We originally decided to teach Cole to sign as a way for him to communicate with us since we don't know if he will ever be able to talk (this is common with CP as he has low muscle tone in his mouth). At this time there are only a few signs that he can 'kind of' do, like 'more', 'eat', 'milk', and 'ball'. He doesn't freely sign these yet but does with prompting and assistance. Most importantly though is that he KNOWS what we are saying when we sign it.

How do I know he knows? If he wants milk and I ask (and sign) him if he wants to eat he will turn his head away. He will fuss so I sign to ask if he wants milk. He will immediately stop fussing and start licking his lips. This small amount of communication may not seem like much but it is HUGE for us! There is nothing worse than your baby trying to tell you something and you can not even begin to 'guess' what they want.

I do have to admit that I would have to get a little jealous of Rachel if I didn't see and appreciate just how much she helps Cole. I am starting to develope a mommy complex....Cole truly loves her SO much! The minute we play a Signing Time DVD he sill start to giggle.

Bad news - Signing Time is no longer on PBS! (you can read the story why by going here) Good news - YOU could buy their DVD's (for yourself and/or Cole) anytime by going to their website!

On this website they have all kinds of awesome products! We also llike using the flash cards with Cole. Like I said, he can not speak yet and due to the spastisity in his hands I'm not sure he will be able to fluently sign. He CAN, however, point to pictures of what he wants. For example, if you open his book with a picture of a ball on one side and a picture of a bear on the other, and ask him (we sign while asking) where the ball is...he will point to the ball.

For any of our family or friends that would like a great Christmas gift for Cole....he would LOVE to receive more (click here ->) Signing Time DVD's! We already have all of the Baby Signing Time products (DVD's, CD's, and flash cards) for him along with the regular Signing Time Vol. 4,5, and 6 (DVD's, CD's, and flash cards). We are hoping to eventually have the whole library of DVD's and flash cards.

Giving Thanks!

Cole (sweet potato face) & Cousin Preslie

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving Day feast this year at Grandma and Papa's house.

I brought my 'secret recipe' dressing that was handed down from Joe's side of the family...that everyone loves. I'm beginning to think that maybe they just don't want to be the one to make it. It IS very time consuming....but it IS very good! Mom made the usual Thanksgiving food and others brought desserts.

As you can see Cole loved the sweet potatoes (his fav), the mashed potatoes with gravy, and I mashed green beans for him. He still can not eat regular table food without gagging and/or losing it (you know what I mean). He did enjoy eating this instead of his baby food though.

My poor baby did have an upset tummy most of the day (not from the food but from the constipation that is very common for CP babies) so he was a little crankier than normal but he was trying hard to have fun anyway! Bless his little heart!

We also went to my brother's home (you can visit him over at AcreeStudios) to have our family pictures taken, which I will post later.

We have SO much to be thankful for! I thank God every day for sparing my beautiful baby(from when he was not even breathing when born) and letting us get to know him! I am thankful that Cole's life is not harder than it is and he has an awesome support system with lots of love from family, friends and his therapists and teachers! I know that even though he can not crawl, sit, stand, walk, talk or eat table food, he IS basically healthy and happy. I thank God for Cole's awesome brothers that love him just like he is and do not treat him any different! I am thankful to have my best friend by my side helping me, being the best Daddy ever! I could not do the things I need to to help Cole if I didn't have his help and support!

Thanks goes out to you, my blogging friends! I appreciate the support and understanding I feel from the kind comments you leave. I also appreciate all of the supporters that follow Cole's story and have been so kind and able to donate to his fund for his school. Without YOU we would not be able to send him to Special Care School where he is loved and he gets his therapies while I work (instead of me running him to a different therapy session every day). Therefore, you also help me keep my sanity in check (at least a little).

I hope everyone had a blessed Thanksgiving Day, enjoyed family and/or friends, and did not make themselves sick from eating too much food like I did! ;)

Pump It Up!!

How many times do you not have your camera with you and miss that Kodak moment? Well, last week, that was me! And, on top of that, my cell phone died so I couldn't even take a bad picture with it.

I was on my own (only adult) to take Shane to a friend's birthday party at a fun place called Pump It Up where they have 2 rooms filled with huge aired up toys (similar to a moon bounce). Joe and Brett had gone to get groceries while I took Shane and Cole.

Cole was SO excited watching all the big kids coming down the slide I decided to see what he thought about going down himself. So, I grabbed a mat to slide down on and Cole and started the tough climb up. There are not actual steps to climb up but only little nubby bumps to try to keep from sliding back down. There is no hand rail to make sure you don't fall or to assist in the climb up (only a small rope to grab AT YOUR FEET to pull yourself up with). I'm sure it would have made for a pretty funny picture seeing me hold this very floppy child with the mat in one arm and the rope in the other to get to the top.

I did it! I was very out of breath, but I did it! I laid the mat down at the top and sat us both on it. WOW! It was a lot higher up there than it looked from the bottom! I let us start the slide down and I KNEW we were flying down a LOT faster than what the other children were (no mention of additional weight will be suggested here). At the bottom of the slide there is a short aired up wall that, I can only assume, is supposed to stop you. It did not! Yep, we went flying over the wall! Apparently this must happen occasionally since they had the padded mats at the bottom for us to land on. Oh, and I sacrificed my body to make sure my baby did not land on the bottom or get rolled on.

I was relieved to see Cole's original expression of "What the heck?" quickly changed to the happy expression of "Woohoo, that was fun!"

We had so much fun with that, that we moved over to another one. We had to climb through (as if in a tunnel) some small openings to get into the center of a huge area that had a big "platform" in the middle where children could use padded sticks to joust (I guess?). I held Cole up while we bounced around and he especially loved it when one of the jousters would fall to his death, flopping flat on his back and bouncing everywhere.

We all had a great time (and yes, it felt good to play like a little kid again)! I just wish we could play like this every night because it helped Cole sleep ALL night! Of course, I was exhausted too!

Trick-or-Treat

I know, this is late and I've already posted some pics from Halloween day but I wanted to share from when the boys actually went to Trick-or-Treat that night. I took Tigger (Cole) and the Ninja on the left (Shane) over to a friend's, Courtney, and her Ninja on the right (Dillon). After a while I left the Ninjas to continue collecting goodies while Tigger and I went to pick up Dad, who was handing out candy, and we went to the high school football game where we watched the Tuba Boy, Brett, march and play. Below is also a pic of Brett and his girlfriend Erin, whom is in the color guard for the band. Aren't they all so cute?

Halloween Party @ School

Can anyone say "moon bounce"? Cole loved it! Had he been in his costume, I'm sure you would have truly mistaken him for the actual true-blue Tigger from Whinnie the Pooh. He loved bouncing (or actually, being bounced) on the moon bounce set up in his class room at school.

While we played and took pictures, Ms. Loretta and The Ninja (aka-Shane) took a trip around the school collecting candy. When they returned we all got to play and jump. Yes, even I climbed in for a little bounce too.

Check out this fun Halloween food I made (Mummy's & Halloween Cookie Pizza) and see how adorable these kids are! You will see Cole in a picture with two of his teachers, Ms. Loretta and Ms. Rachel, then in another with Ms. Jeannie. Ms. Starla is out having her baby. We just love these ladies!!