Three more days til Friday...

Today has been busy. We did a lot of Jonah's homework this morning because he was pretty tired last night. 

Mrs. J told us about a pretty good breakfast joint and we even did a little homework after we ate.

These pics show how hard he works just to eat a meal and how well he is doing.  But honestly,  sometimes the best place to check for improvement is the floor. 

This is progress. This is something I'm proud of him for. This photo was taken after breakfast and as you can see most of the food made it into his belly!! It's a habit I started after our first trip to New Jersey. What started as clean up turned into an assessment of progress. 

(Yes, Daniel and I almost have the exact same shoes. No, it wasn't on purpose we are just getting old and forget what the other has.) 

Then we went downtown to the art museum. The BART has a fabulous childrens area. We relaxed, read books, ate, made guitars, and took silly photos. 

We also did a little pronation supination practice with the magnet wand. 

Take a look at my big boy drinking with righty at the art museum.

At therapy today they decided to make a night splint to give Jonah an extra stretch  to help him with supination. I both love and hate this. I love that he has such great therapists and they are so talented they can just on the spot make what he needs. But it's like everything else, I hate that he needs it. 

He worked hard at therapy and we took both him and Cookie Monster for a treat at Edgar's bakery. For dinner we rushed and ate quickly at another Mrs. J suggestion. It was in an old Dr. Pepper bottling plant. Have you noticed a pattern on these trips? We eat, therapy, treat, homework, eat, homework, sleep and repeat. 

Anyway, this is the reason rushed home!! 

Our big boy had a talent show and I wanted to be back in the hotel in time to see all of the pics and videos we'd be getting. I am so proud of you and your friends, Elijah. Mommy, daddy and Jonah watched your video and all of your pics 100 times. Mommy even cried! I know showing off your science kid skills in front of a live audience is hard but you did it!! You are gonna move mountains, Jah. "Ya did good, kid." Love you bunches!! 

And so it begins...

One person in this picture decided to get up for the day at 3:30. The other two people were forced to stay awake by being climbed on, alternatively hit and loved on, and sang to. For four hours we tried to get him to rest to no avail. We've given up and come down to breakfast. Oh, I love these two.

We got an email this morning asking us to come in early to get Jonah's cast made. Since we were all up (see above paragraph) we decided to head out early. We drove around the highlands. If we ever move to AL (and have millions of dollars), this is for sure where we will live. Seriously though, we may never live here but one of my book characters will. I've already got a few ideas. 

Of course we stopped in O'Henry's for a cup of coffee, because how could we not?

We can't take pics during therapy or the cast making because it's against the hospital rules but Jonah worked so, so hard. He now has a red and an orange cast that seem to fit him pretty well. (It takes a few days to really break them in.) He was so tired he actually fell asleep when she was making the Orange cast. 

At therapy he got to swing, stretch, do an eval, play pegs, a matching game, eat snacks, and choose stickers. Mrs. J is simply amazing with our family and him. We feel so blessed to have her work with jonah. I've already learned a better way to stretch Joe's wrist for supination. That's why we are here... To learn how to better help our boy. Jonah is talking much more now than he was the last time we were here. He did just fine with the cast at OT but the second we got to the car he said "mommy, mommy, take it off, please, mommy." I almost took it off. But I know that's not what he needs yet. I reassured him we would take it off but just not yet. Every since then he has handled it really well. This pic was taken just a couple of minutes later. I think he was just seeing if I would give in. You can see we were still in the hospital parking lot when I snapped this pic. 

 He's attempted new things. He even opened the hotel door with righty tonight.  He also asked for help when he needs it which is something we didn't see last time. Daniel and I are very proud of him. This therapy isn't easy, even for adults. Our little guy is a hero. 

Note to Jah, we talk about you all the time! We miss you terribly and count down the days until we will see you!! We are so proud to hear of the cars you built and how hard you've been practicing for your talent show. We love you!! 

*Blogging from my phone, please forgive the typos! 

Sweet Home Alabama

We are on our way back to AL for CIMT at UAB. Could I put anymore letters into that sentence? We are excited to take Joe back to work with Mrs.J but also super sad to leave Elijah at home! 

We know he's having a great time with his grandparents and cousins today but that doesn't take away the fact we'll miss him. 

Here are a few pics of us on the road again! 

Happy in Nashville! 

Taking in the view.

This was his face when he saw the rocket in AL. :) He said, "Oh, A Rocket!" 

First order of business upon arrival... Jim & Nicks BBQ!!

We will start therapy at noon tomorrow. Look for more pics then! 

**As always, I'm blogging from my phone so forgive the typos! :)