More walking progress!!!

I wish I had captured a picture of these amazing moments yesterday but I'll just have to describe them for you.

There were a total of 9 children here yesterday, including our 4, 1 niece, 2 nephews, and 2 friend's children.  In the afternoon all the other kids went out the front door to play in the nice big front yard.  Zeph kept saying something over and over but I didn't think it really meant anything.  Then he walked to the front door and said it again and pointed, "Mama, front, please?"  Oh!  He WAS asking to go outside with the other kids!  But he can only walk on even surfaces like the tile in our home - the front grass is very un-even, full of gofer holes.  I tried to interest him in a favorite toy instead but then it came:  "No.  Mama; front, PWEEEEEESE???"  SO pitiful and he even made a puppy dog face and everything.  How could I possibly keep him in?  So I opened the door and with some great efforts he got himself down the little step and the big step - to the grass.  Then he froze.  He saw ALL the kids laughing and playing, pulling and riding in two different wagons.  What FUN!

"Mama, (he points) in!"
I took a chance.  "Okay, but you have to walk to the wagon."
"No" (shook his head and I could see the uncertainty/fear).
"Alright.  You can just play right here then."
"NO!!"   And he began taking steps on the lawn.

He walked out to me, quite a few yards away and I was praising him and he was SO proud of himself and gave me a big ol' hug and said, "Mama!  I did it!"  Then he walked onward to the wagon.  (Boy, did I ever yell for the kids to STOP and WAIT for him - he EARNED his wagon ride!!)  He climbed in and got pulled around and around for quite some time, happily wearing his sister's sunglasses.  He LOVES sunglasses (just wish he'd quit breaking his own).  It was beautiful!!  (And cute and hilarious with the pink sunglasses with his proud of himself look on his face).

Later on the kids were all asking for drinks and Zeph, of course, wanted one too.  So he walked on the GRAVEL (driveway), across the ENTIRE GRASS YARD, was helped MINIMALLY to get up the two little steps (there's a ramp but that's actually harder for him at the moment) and to the house.

There were SO many things the praise God for here today!  Sweet friends who gave up their time to come help my hubby finish building our storage shed.  And a sweet little boy who accomplished SO much today in the area of language, social interaction (wanting to join in), coming out of his shell to tell mama his needs and wants, trusting mama, trying new things and succeeding and reaping the rewards for TRYING so hard, the physical accomplishment - being strong and stable enough to conquer that very rough terrain!

I was just NOT expecting this miracle to happen.  I didn't expect any of that - non the less ALL of it at once!  Praise God!!!

Walking!

 A few weeks ago we got the 'okay' to get Zephaniah back into his prosthetic.  We are waiting on a walker being ordered to help him walk.  In the mean time we strongly felt that he COULD walk and just needed to not really have a choice (he's of the mindset that he can get around faster/easier by crawling so "why bother?" and then there was the fear, which we strongly felt he'd let go of as he gained confidence in his abilities to walk).  So we decided he was no longer allowed to crawl.  Nope.  Not at all.  We told him he was a "big boy" and that he is to walk to get from point A to B at home now.  He wasn't thrilled.  It was a rough few days especially.  Lots of whining and whimpers and frustration.  Lots of holding onto the walls, throwing himself towards his destination to avoid an extra step.  But by the 5th day he was starting to get the hang of things.  In two weeks we now see him NOT HOLDING ONTO anything - just walking down the hall or across a large room.  Then he even began to carry objects ("look ma - no hands held out in case I fall" - now that's confidence!) around. 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10151102544004047

Then there was the language.  I was beginning to be concerned because he could say two words but not together; two sounds - but not together.  That - and he was still hardly adding words to his very small vocabulary so slowly it was nearly a stand still for MONTHS at a time.  Well, he's made a breakthrough here too!  We tried "banana" but he could only say "ba" and "nana" totally separate (long space in between).  Then we tried teaching him to add "please" when asking for something.  At bedtime all the kids get their drink of water before bed and this is one of his favorite parts of bedtime so we tried "water, please?".  It took a LOT of practice but he can now say "water, please"!  Now he can add "please" to other requests as well!  Then yesterday we worked on "banana" again and he's starting to get it.  His "babble" is starting to make a little more sense as he begins to use more "real" words and more realistic sentence structure.  It's just amazing to see what this little guy can achieve when he tries!  We are so proud of him!

Praying for the Shelbys

I just read here:
 http://adventuresofasimplelife.blogspot.com/2012/07/shatterred-dreams.html
about a family who's going through a very rough time and needs our prayers.  The dad, pastor Rob, dove into a swimming pool with his kids present and didn't come up (broke his neck).  His oldest (oldest is 12) children pulled him up and breathed air into him and he was revived but is paralyzed.  They hope he can recover but for now they are going through a very hard time with dad still in the hospital and mom expecting baby#10.  

This is the Shelby Family blog:  http://thehouseofshelbys.blogspot.com/

I don't know the Shelbys, never met them but my heart goes out to them and I'm praying for them and felt led to share.