Henry Huggins

Perhaps Henry's "Blue Boy" antics might have actually been a blessing in disguise. It seems as though the anti-seizure medication he's been put on, Keppra, has allowed Hank's development to BLOSSOM! I am not able to find any articles on Google supporting this theory (can you?), but in talking with a couple of his therapists, it has been their experience as well. They work with many children with many varying delays and development levels on many varying drugs. A couple children have been put on anti-seizure meds as well, like Henry, or had an existing dose adjusted, and developmental growth has become obvious. Needless to say, I am thrilled. Not only is he back to himself, but dare i say even MORE SMILEY. Maybe because he's figured out WHY to smile and not just as 'something to do.' Either way, who cares? It's great!

Squinty smiles are awesome!

Here is where Henry is at. He'll be 18 mos. old on July 28th (time's a-flyin'!):

• Henry rolls actively from side to side, and now, within the past week or so, forcefully rolls onto his tummy with ease. He'll even hang out there and SMILE at me (unprecedented). He does not prop himself up with this arms, but he does lift his head up to a 45-60 degree angle. There is some strength there. I also believe he's able to smile at me while in this position because he's figured out how to get out of it easily. He looks up, arches, and POP - back onto his back. Good boy!



Ooooh... chilly!

• Henry sits up very easily, strong and steady with the assistance of his Bumbo chair. He does this without getting tired or restless, for 20-30 min increments. Without the chair, he cannot sit up independantly yet; I'll toss out that he is doing this within 6-10 months (purely guessing here, zero pressure or anticipation).
• Henry can wiggle, rock and roll (!) 180 degrees in the span of about 30 minutes. That is, he's laying on his back in one direction and is in the other when i come back. Oftentimes at night, we lay him one way and he's the other when we wake up - or 'better yet,' his legs are hanging out through the slats. Tis only a matter of time before he cries about that cuz he's stuck. I remember Thomas got his legs stuck ALL THE TIME!
• Henry can reach out, grab an object, hold on to it, and often transfer it to the other hand steadily and keep holding on, between one or both hands, for 10-20-ish seconds. This is working on his fine motor skills. He's quite intent with his DESIRE to hold the object - you can see the concentration in his eyes - but his fingers are a little slow at catching up to HOLDING ON to the object. The more 'fun' the object, the longer these numbers tend to be. As with most kids, a large bottle cap, or hair clip is way more appealing than a purposeful rattle.



Yum Yum!

• Henry is starting to EAT! This gigantic gradiose milestone is being performed in baby steps. We can thank Shirley for pushing forward on this and it paying off. I truly believe his Keppra is helping with this development as well. I believe his brain is allowing him to process The Steps to Eating the way he should. So far, we have tried bananas and he coos throughout the feeding. The feeding goes like this: touching his lips with banana on the spoon, a mild objection, then submittance with a slight opening of the mouth, and then a very slow processing of the food. Surely some comes back out, and there is sometimes a mild difficulty in swallowing, but nothing too alarming. The amount we are giving him, per spoonful, is smaller than the size of a pea. And we give him about 10 of these per sitting. My goal is to do this 3-5x a day. At the end of this week, i will migrate to applesauce slightly thickened with rice cereal. We do not want it too watery, and we do not want it too thick. It will be quite some time, i believe, before there is talk of removing his g-tube. Perhaps years. But that is fine with me. However long it takes, i'm cool.
• Henry is clapping! I've seen him do it on command a couple times, with prompting, and i've seen him mostly do it on his own, out of the blue. It is so incredibly sweet to witness, because it's totally clumsy, hands all backwards, but he's talking while he does it, and usually smiling. And speaking of "doing things on command," his therapists (all three, Speech, Physical Therapy (PT) and Occupational Therapy (OT)) are all working on getting Henry to mimic, or copy, what they do. By saying "you do it," the goal is to get Henry to gain new skills while also learning to listen to commands all in a playful manner. I can almost get him to clap by simply saying, "now YOU clap!" Almost. :-)
• Smiling is nothing new to Hank, but as i hinted at above, now it seems as though Henry is more purposefully responsive when smiling, or cooing. My friend Natalie swears that Henry immitated a barking dog the other day. It was a yippy dog and the next thing she knew (I was away from him, swimming), he started saying quickly "meh meh meh meh." She's probably right! When people walk into a room and say "Hi Henry," he turns his head to greet them with a purposeful and sometime recognizing smile. He DEFINITELY knows his Mommy and Daddy and brothers. Sammy continues to make Henry smile instantaneously. That said, its a good gauge to know whether Hank is having an off-day. If there is a delay or lack of smile, something's up; that is the first indicator I used the Sunday he turned blue to knowing he was off.

I feel the most confident since Henry's birth that things are moving in the right direction with proven success! With his newfound strength and focus, i can almost SEE him walking in the future. I can see his little tongue coming out, for concentration and balance, and him looking over to smile at me as if to say, "See me Mommy?! I'm WALKIN'!"

I also wanna take a little second here to acknowledge everyone's LOVE of Henry. I think the amount of people who have fallen for my little guy simply through this blog and his photos extends beyond my comprehension, and to YOU GUYS, i humbly say Thank You. To those of you that actually interact with him, are watching him grow, have watched his face transform, and are watching him outgrow the car seat we still buckle him into - I thank you as well. It's so truly heart-warming to know our family, and especially Henry, is surrounded by such kind, caring loving people. You guys ROCK! :-)

Gazing into the Big Bright Future!