Drews Brain Balance Quest: You Might Want To Grab A Snack For This One!

You might want to grab a snack for this one since it’s been almost 10 weeks or so since I’ve blogged so it’s going to be a long one!! I apologize in advance. And since there’s no way I can remember what happened yesterday let alone 10 weeks ago, this will probably sound like gibberish! I will TRY to do better.

We are starting our 5^th week in center this week. Drew has had his ups and downs in the center, thankfully mostly ups. Last week Coach Jessica decided to make Drew and our sweet little friend from TN, Adeline, partners after finding out they were more than just acquaintances. They do good together.

When they go to the center, they have to use the restroom, take their shoes and one sock off (they have to leave a sock on the opposite foot of the strong brain because it blocks sensation to that side. In Drew’s case that is his left brain, so he leaves his right sock on) put them in a cubbie, get their binder from the bookshelf and then go wait on a bench outside the sensory room. When we first started I helped him with all of these steps. Yesterday, I watched him from the lobby and he did everything on his own up until the sit on the bench and wait part. He went straight into the sensory room and then when they made him go back out he ended up in one of the offices instead of on the bench. But that is progress! I was so proud of him.

He currently has therapy 4 times a week for one hour. So filling the rest of the day has been somewhat of a challenge. The apartment has a pool so that helps a lot!! I’ve decided that since it’s been so long, I will just write what we’ve done so far and bullet as much about Drew as I can. We are still doing home exercises once a day on days that he goes to center and twice a day on days that he doesn’t.

Since we’ve been here we have been to Chuck E. Cheese, Monkey Joe’s (a little place that has inflatable slides lining the walls), 3 different frozen yogurt places, Adeline’s house to play and walk Arthur Bo Barthur (the cutest dog ever), Ikea, The Container Store, PetSmart, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, 3 different playgrounds and swimming a bunch!

I’m going to bullet some things about Drew that I can remember. They won’t be in any kind of order since I have not been good about writing stuff down when he says or does something…I know, shocker!

He played so good with our new friend Caden, also from Knoxville, at Monkey Joe's
While we were having yogurt with Adeline I asked him if he wanted to go to the playground and he looked at Adeline and said “Are you excited, Adeline?”
One of the biggest things Matt and I have noticed lately is his language. He is putting together much longer sentences.
We went to the school to say goodbye to his teachers and aides the last week of school and we ran into one of my really good friends. She was asking him questions and he was answering. She said to me “I just had a conversation with him.”
He seems to be more engaged with his Daddy.
Yesterday (6/2) he said “ok, I want to go home now.” I asked him why, what’s at home and he said “Daddy”
One Sunday when we were all hanging out in the chapel after Sunday School one of the older boys was hitting a balloon around. Drew went up to him and wanted to play. Not only did he initiate the play he was able to actually hit the balloon back and forth with him.
I have had many people tell me that he is a totally different kid than he was last year.
He’s gotten 5 stars in his 4 weeks at the Brain Balance center.
Drew has named our apartment Oozma Kappa House from Monsters University.
We were at a huge playground at a HUGE church. They have an area that looks like a boat. We were there earlier in the day and had to leave to be back at the apartment. When we went back that night and were pulling in Drew says "That's a boat" and I answered "Yeah buddy that's a boat" to which he replied "A Jesus boat". I never mentioned that we were at a church.
He now calls that playground “The big playground at the T church”. He calls it the T church because this place has crosses everywhere!
Friends gave me a little play tent for him to play in and one of the poles kept popping out. I was in the tent fixing it and he said “Are you fixing it? And I said “Yes but I’m gonna have to get some electrical tape so the pole will stop coming out and he said “great idea mommy!”
Abby was singing a song that uses the words Cocoa Puffs and she changed it to cereal because Drew is obsessed with Cocoa Puffs and then he yells “Cocoa Puffs!!”

That’s all I can think of right now. I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of stuff. He is so funny and comes up with the craziest things. One thing I am so thankful for is that this blog has already done what I set out to accomplish with it. Because of this blog, 2 families from Knoxville are going to Brain Balance for the summer. One of them was referred to the blog by a friend and the other is a family very dear to us!! I have met some really neat families while waiting for Drew.

I am going to try keep better notes on my phone and blog at least once a week (no, really I am). Every night I sit down at the end of the day and say to myself I really need to blog. But I am so worn out I can’t even think straight. Tomorrow we are going to a splash pad with, you guessed it, Adeline after their session at Brain Balance. Should be tons of fun! Maybe I’ll even blog about it…maybe. :-)

And right now I'm going to barrage you with pictures!!

Until next time