More Climbing

What a beautiful Sunday! We took the boys rock climbing this morning for some fun OT/PT then went to check out the new Trader Joe's (first in Colorado!) I knew better then to go at 11am on a Sunday, let alone on opening weekend, but went anyway. To say it was nuts is an understatement. I can't wait to go back when I can really check things out. When we got home, we had to take advantage of a 64 degree day in February and took a long walk. Todd had the dog so I took Jake in his chair and got quite a nice workout in too. For being as skinny as he is, he's quite heavy when being pushed uphill!

We are still having a tough time keeping Jake motivated to do his exercises. He is at a point he can't see the progress he's making, even though it's still happening. In the hospital, he would often improve between his morning and afternoon sessions. Now progress is measured more in weeks instead of days. Some things like his walking seem to be on a sliding scale...better some days, worse others. When he went rock climbing today, he got a lot higher than he did last time, at one point getting above where Todd could hold on to help him. A lot of it was coming from his leg strength, but we noticed his left hand grip wasn't quite as strong. His stamina is clearly improving though. We took Todd's truck today and didn't think to get his wheelchair (which stays in my car) and he walked all over two grocery stores and Kohl's, all after rock climbing for an hour. There is no way he could have walked that much even a month ago.

Going through all we have during the past eight months has given me a new found respect for those parents who have been dealing with some type of developmental issue since birth. I never imagined the incredible amount of time and energy it takes scheduling appointments, going to appointments/therapies, doing research, all the periodic testing, dealing with the school...it's become a full time job itself. On top of that, you have all the things at home that now take more time - exercises, homework, stretching, getting out the door, getting dressed, etc. It's a constantly changing game plan for all of us. In many ways we've had to really slow down and yet we have so much more to do. Somehow it all just gets done or it doesn't and that's ok too. I'm not complaining, you willingly do what you need to do for your kids, but it's just been very eye-opening.