Everyday miracles...

I remember when Gavin was a baby and I would say to Ed, "Do you ever think we'll walk by the playroom and think nothing when we see him sitting up on his own?" It seemed, at the time, impossible to imagine he ever would. He was so severely hypotonic - like a little rag doll - for so long. The day we propped him up and he stayed up on his own for three seconds was a great day. Three seconds grew into three minutes and now... we're way past "sitting up". Every achievement along the way has been miraculous to us.

Like today...in Occupational Therapy with Miss Stephanie. She attached a light weight to his arm and held him so that his hand could touch the block. On his own, he wrapped his hand around the block and picked it up.

And then she moved his arm over to the bucket where he dropped it in.

If you only knew what a HUGE deal this is. This was a little boy who's hands were balled up in fists for much of his first year. A little boy who wore hand splints at night to stretch them open. The fact that he picked up that block today - and held it for a few seconds. It's incredible.

Having Brian so closely after Gavin has been one of our biggest blessings. Knowing how hard Gavin works for every little thing - we were in awe when Brian just instinctively did things on his own. We didn't take a single thing for granted.

Like today...he loves playing with the toys that Miss Stephanie brings for therapy. Without prompting, he knew that he was supposed to put the toys on the string like lacing beads. That to me is it's own little miracle. I'm fascinated watching these children learn and develop.

When Brian got a little too excited and made too much noise, Gavin was not happy. He's been a little sensitive for the last few days. But honestly...even that is wonderful to me. It shows that he has a personality and feelings and expressions. It tells me that right now we're still in the "seconds" phase, emotionally - but someday he will be able to tell me how he's feeling. And someday he'll be able to tell his brother to stop yelling...that he's annoying him. I'll be interested to see how that goes over.

Now, when I walk by the playroom - I see way more than Gavin "sitting up". I see him crawling and pulling to stand and cruising and smiling. He works so hard for everything he does.

Like today...he worked so hard in Physical Therapy with Miss Wendy. She used his ball to get him to strengthen his belly muscles.

And then she had him bouncing on the ball to work on his balance and trunk strength. She was amazed at his increased strength just in the last couple weeks.

Physical Therapy is a lot of work for him - but he is such a trooper through it all.

Watching him work on standing up on his own is another kind of miracle to me. It take so much effort for him to do it. It was hard to stay composed as I watched this through my camera lens...

...just an everyday miracle.

I feel so proud of Gavin and take nothing for granted. It is easy...very easy...for me to remember where he was. Easy to remember the days he couldn't operate his toys. Easy to remember the days he couldn't bear weight on his legs. Easy to remember the days he couldn't eat orally. I hope I never forget. Keeping those days when he "couldn't" do things fresh in my mind gives me a greater appreciation for all he CAN do today. And boy, can he do a lot.