The latest and greatest

Parker recently participated in the CHAMPS program here at the University of Michigan. You can read more about the program through the above link. For a quick summary, Parker had his dominant arm (his left) put into a removable cast to help him use his right arm more. Heather and I had our doubts when we were first told about this type of therapy. We were concerned that restraining Parker would frustrate him and he would try and get out of the cast or cry about having to wear it all the time. But since it was removable, we just felt that if it did start to become emotionally overwhelming for him, we would just take it off. To our surprise, Parker really only had one brief moment of frustration with the cast, and that was the day it was put on him and he came home for a Mac & Cheese lunch. He showed a little frustration with using a fork to get at the food, but he still managed to make it through lunch. We were relieved that dinner went much smoother, without any complaining at all...and we had spaghetti that night. He really did a great job throughout the three week program and we see a major improvement already. In fact, this morning he asked to take his cast to school with him. We will continue to use the cast for his development, although only at home.


Paxton has been quite the little trooper. He went to many of these appointments for Parker over the past three weeks and managed to be mostly cheerful. There were a couple days that both boys were quite sick, and Paxton, we found, is quite the moody little guy when he doesn't feel well. Paxton is very fond of Parker's easel right now, especailly the chalk board side of it. He spends a lot of time drawing, then erasing, drawing, then erasing. He is much better and self-play than Parker. He can entertain himself for hours. Paxton and I went to the library for a 4 week storytime program. The stories were great and he played with a small parachute with other kids. He really liked the parachute. There is a hilarious video I have that I will try to post soon. It is right at the end when he responds to a screaming kid next to him with a scream of his own.

I will get an update on Heather and myself soon.

Hope everyone has a great valentine's day.

Douglas