Working Hard

Helping with homework

Rhonda has been hard at work since her arrival on Friday night.  She's jumped right in to helping with the kids.  She's even taken the time to help Rosie, Gertrude's daughter, with her homework!

Cade and Rhonda walking

Sunday afternoon Rhonda asked about taking some of the kids for walks.  She wanted to know whether Cade would be okay.  I wasn't sure.  I've thought about taking him before, but I haven't because I wasn't sure how he would react and I didn't know whether I could handle him if he reacted badly.  We also decided to take Maxo so that he had to look more to see where he was going.  I thought it could fall under some of his "vision therapy."  Cade was great!  He was quiet except for the occasional "Whoo!"  He constantly turned his head to try to take in everything.  I think it was good for him.

Cade and me relaxing

Maxo, too, did well.  He tripped a lot at the start because he wasn't looking at the ground and he shuffled his feet.  He eventually figured out that he had to look at the ground to avoid the rocks, and he started picking up his feet instead of shuffling.

Great ideas, Rhonda!

The down side of taking Cade out for a walk is that he was so disappointed to be back that we had to sit with him for quite awhile afterward.  He didn't want it to be over.  He cried and banged his head until I sat with him for on the mats.  He just wanted to keep getting some attention.

After doing therapy with the kids all morning, we had to run up to the Star 2000 to get some things.  On our way back we stopped at the Rebo Cafe which is this cool coffee shop just behind the DHL building.  For any of you who come to PAP, I highly recommend that you stop in and support this business.  They are going to sell some things for Gertrude, so I want to send business their way for helping her out.

Relaxing, cooling off

Hard at work . . . napping

Rhonda also took on babysitting duties with Alvarez.  The poor little guy still isn't feeling the greatest, and some times he just needs a quiet place to be.  Rhonda brought him up to our room so that he could rest and lay under the cool fans.  They both eventually fell asleep for a good nap!

Phonsley in the stander

Snack Time!

The kids continue to make progress.  If you look at the pictures of Phonsley, you see him trying to stand himself up . . . or maybe crawl.  He also kind of looks like he's doing the "downward facing dog" pose.  No matter what, he's motivated to move and do new things.  We also worked with him on feeding himself.  We used the Cheerios that Rhonda bought as part of our therapy.  He's getting better at picking up pieces of food and getting them into his mouth.  Jean-Daniel is getting better, too.

"Downward facing dog"