I wanted to repost the "Who I Am" blog during the "31 for 21: Challenge" so you could see where Bradley has been and where he is now. In the last seven months we've had some rough spots and a whole bunch of good... Together, they all make Bradley into who he is, with a glimpse of who he will become.
For example, I believe that my son is going to be a computer hacker when he grows up. How do I know this? Our computer used to reside in the living room, now it's home is in my bedroom. It started with Bradley climbing up on the desk and touching the monitor. No matter how many times I pulled him down he climbed back up, apparently, that's the job he applied for. This led to the turning of the computer screen 180 degrees. A feat I didn't know how to do let alone how to fix. After that, he felt the need to get physical with it and he decided turning the screen wasn't good enough, he wanted more - so he turned the whole monitor upside down, oh and sat on the keyboard. ;-). We moved the whole setup that night when Eric got home from work.
So while he's hacking computers, he's going to using his patience and his determination. He now can maneuver his way through most of what his IPAD has to offer. He can turn it on, almost wait patiently for it to fire up, then find his favorite games and puzzles, he can find Sofia the First, Mickey Mouse, even Monster's Inc. And he is exhibiting the ability to stay at one place longer now. He doesn't flip his fingers so fast that he can't stay in one place for longer than ten seconds. Now he can watch a whole show, he can finish a whole book, complete a series on the apps...so he's trying. Back then it was exciting that he could start touching the screen in response...now he is touching the screen to make the app do what he wants. The duck that cracks him up in the book Nighty-Night, he can put it through its paces, all three of them...he waits for them before touching the screen again. Same with the chicken and those fish. The rabbit and the pony, they go straight to sleep...but everyone has favorites.
He will continue to love music and dance. His sister introduced him to the trumpet. He copied her lips and even made sound through it, already better than his mom and his dad. There are musical instruments in his near future. On the IPAD, he tries to match the music in the piano apps, that's a great start! We can't forget dancing either. Turns out Bradley has a shadow that likes to dance with him. They start with hula-like moves first both arms to the left and then both to the right (or vice versa), then their hands go up and down on each side. It's pretty cute! And it's important because he is still dancing and now he wants to make music! Exciting!
He has spontaneous speech now. Almost 30 Spontaneous words. I couldn't be more thrilled! Double that and maybe a little more and you have closer to what he's doing with his hands. My son has a lot to say and he is saying it now. So someday, he will be a great communicator. Perhaps he will be the mediator between his two fighting sisters, now wouldn't that be nice? :-) For now, he still uses sign for milk and makes no attempt to say it. However, when he wants it, he walks to you, climbs into your lap or if you are close to his level (like Sydney) he puts his little fist in your face to sign milk. Sydney, he puts his fist on her nose and Eric, he puts his fist against his cheek...why does he do this you ask? Can't say, don't know...but every time it makes me laugh...and he gets his message across.
His feeds are progressing as well. I have a cracker boy now. He's moved from mush to crunch. It's nowhere near perfect, but he's trying to eat, he's trying to get his calories from real food and not just Pediasure. Considering I smell like Vanilla Pediasure, this can't happen soon enough for me. Anyway, cheese? Oh yeah, he is a cheese fiend...and peaches...give the boy peaches and he will smile at you the whole time. So yeah, we're getting there!
He's not the most social guy, unless you really get him used to him, but there are a whole bunch of people that thought that he would benefit from a Service Dog to help through all his medical stuff, all his behavior stuff, and all the social development he's been missing, and all that other stuff that makes up the Bradley patchwork. So sometime this month, a sweet dog named Molly is going to be impregnated and one of her beautiful Golden Retriever puppies will be Bradley's new fur brother or sister. Everything takes time, but we'll be ready whenever he or she is ready to take his or her place in our family as Bradley's Buddy.
Bradley gets stronger each day, but then the weather changes and the coughing starts, and the winds pick up and the congestion begins...and we have to wait it out. He's having some issues with his esophagus, he's been retching on us and his venting hasn't been relieving like usual...so it's just something else we have to work through on the process of Bradley's path. But hey, today I picked up a pair of socks and before I could say a word he not only signed it, he said it, and then he picked up his foot. And there was great rejoicing in the Kingdom!
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