Four months home

With the Easter holiday, it was tough to post at precisely the proper time.  Joshua has actually been home nearly four and a half months now.

He continues to delight us with his smiles and affection.

He loves to play.

He continues to make strides physically.  His weight has stabilized but he is starting to get a bit taller.  This is good news indeed!  He is very low on the growth chart for height.  His appetite remains healthy.  We provide additional vitamin supplements to help with his vitamin D and other micronutrient deficiencies.  

Joshua received his first Easter basket on Easter Day...

We brought him to his first Easter Sunday service.  We tried to get a "perfect" family picture, but quickly realized, we're not perfect and neither are our pictures.  So they are perfectly imperfect!

Joshua was finally evaluated for supportive services through our local "early intervention" type organization.  As suspected, he tested very low on the evaluations.  In some cases, he was not even on the chart (less than 1 percentile).   But none of this is a surprise.  Each of the evaluators were so impressed with how sweet and kind Joshua is, and how willing to mimic and learn he is.  

Yet, he continues to surprise us with his earnest desire to communicate and learn.  And, in spite of his challenges, he has such a blast!

(this was his first 'real' visit to the park!)

(I will do what I can to prevent him from becoming a baseball fan.  Football season is coming soon!)

Eating age-appropriately is still quite a challenge.  And, while his fine motor abilities have improved somewhat, he will benefit even more when therapy starts. We will have an IEP meeting for him in a few weeks that this will hopefully activate weekly services that will help him blossom even more.

For so long, Joshua has remained quiet, making few sounds and knowing only a few signs.  But over the last few days, he have finally begun to hear babbling!  It is not constant, but we have heard it several times.  The speech therapists have expressed a desire to hear him "play" with language, and he has started!

We are so happy for this new development and cannot wait to see what the next few months hold.  He may start a preschool in a few months, he will begin therapy, and he will continue to be the most amazing, precious little son a family could ask for.

Did you participate in this miracle?  If you did, can you see what you helped do?

Thank you for helping us redeem this beautiful, beautiful boy from a hopeless place to a place where he will shine!