progress

Thank you for your positive feedback on my last post. I just wanted to say that in these past few weeks we've been seeing a lot of progress with Caleb. In every area. He's grown physically, his blood counts are up, and he's making improvements with gross/fine motor and speech. The therapists who did his original evaluation say that he looks like a totally different kid. Not to say that he's entirely healed or caught up to other kids his age, but when he is making progress it is much more encouraging to this mama's heart. Usually as parents we get the gift of seeing our kids grow and change right before our eyes, but for a while Caleb had been stunted. He didn't grow. He didn't develop. He didn't learn any new tricks. That was hard to watch. However, it is equally wonderful to see him progress. In the past month he has grown a little taller, learned to walk much better, actually cleared the ground on his jumping attempts, and started trying to say words, for starters. He still looks funny when he walks, and he still mostly makes vowel sounds when he talks, but that doesn't stop me from being incredibly proud of his accomplishments. He FINALLY will try to repeat words that you say to him (just new in this past week). It's the funnest game for me--Caleb, say mama: "Aaah!" Say dada "Aaah!" Say Papa: "Aaaah!" He's even eating better, though he usually only eats well at about one meal a day. Low appetite, but when he wants to he can feed himself well with a spoon or fork. Or his new favorite: picking up a bean burrito and biting it from the middle. He is such a clever boy, and when he wants to be he can be incredibly affectionate which just sweeps me off my feet. I love the sly smile he gets when he has a good [or bad] idea or just before he kisses someone. I love watching him sweep and rake with Papa (my dad) and do anything else he sees Papa doing. I love how enthusiastic he is about helping with laundry or dishes. I love that he has grown to love his little brother. Every day I can't believe how truly blessed I am to have him as my son. And God is definitely using him to stretch our faith and to bless his grandparents! Thank you, Lord.