Betcha all have been wondering what we are up to? We have had a rash of family and a few illnesses (Melissa) and injuries (Patrick) to go along with a great big heap of walking. Nothing major, but enough to be really annoying. Especially the parting gift cold Loren shared with Melissa. Sometimes sharing is not caring. :)
For those of you who don't know, my brother Loren returned from a two year church mission to Bogata, Columbia last week. So all of my immediate family and some of my extended family came to visit. We had a blast playing for about a week with my 6 brothers and sisters and their family that got to come, but we really missed the two that couldn't. It felt very strange today to have just Pat and I at home since the kids were in school and Mom and Dad were taking a few of the older sibilings back to college.
Pat's walking is going really great. The progress is slower than both he and I would like, but he is really making steady progress. His latest hurdle is trying to not have a panic attack when his "spotter" walks a few feet behind or in front of him instead of right next to him. Still working on that one...
Some other highlights from his walking:
- We discovered he can do up to 5 squat thrusts in the pool by himself without holding onto the side or a person. After about five, he tends to drift a little. :)
- He can now rescue himself in the pool by going into a backfloat and then standing himself up again. I love watching this one, but once he gets tired, we have a special handsignal that means "rescue me please".
- He has made a few solo walks with the walker (very, very scary for him, but he did it).
- My dad has gotten him to work on crawling, but just a little bit. I am hoping for more.
- Several games at a time of bowling while standing on his turn, and yes, he always beats us all.
- Lots of up and down in the chair by himself while playing Wii bowling.
- Washing lots and lots of dishes while standing up at the sink. :)
- And we saved the best for last because it will knock the socks off of Andrea. He voluntarily chose to walk about 45 yards with the forearm crutches with me holding the gate belt but not doing much to support him.
So as you can see, good progress, but still waiting for the big finish. The next challenge is that the local swimming pool has closed for the Fall/Winter season so we are looking for a new place to do our water walking. Sounds like at least a 30 minute drive, no matter which way we decide to go. :) But the tradeoff for getting to be close to family is worth it.
