doin' the happy dance

I just had a proud Mommy moment and I am doing the happy dance.  More and more Sam is letting us know that he understands what is going on around him.  His attention span is getting longer, he is able to complete simple tasks without getting distracted or side tracked (sometimes), and is needing fewer visual or verbal prompts.  For example if I wanted Sam to ask me to turn on his toy piano rather than screeching  and throwing it at me, I would have to ask him to say "Piano Please" and that would sometimes get me a "P" sound and a sloppy ASL sign for please.  More recently I have been able to just ask "What do you want?" and he is able to provide me with the same Pa-Pa sound and sign.  This shows me that Sam is moving beyond just being a mimic and is actually pulling the response out of his head on his own without the prompt from me.  

*** allow me to do a little happy dance here***  

And as if that is not enough... there is more!!!  As you know we have been working very hard to get Sam walking.  He takes a few steps here and there but crawling or walking on his knees is his mode of preference.  I can tell that walking is becoming easier and less foreign to him because he throws more of a fit for the physical therapist when working on walking.  It is not because he can't... rather it is because he has a general idea of how to, knows it is more difficult and chooses not to.  She is relentless (God bless her) and does not give in to his oh so dramatic complaints.  Little does he know that he is actually working harder trying to not walk than if he would just get up and do it.  And he is more willing to attempt a few steps if he thinks no one is watching. Well today Sam once again had moved the chair away from the DVD cabinet, opened it up and was pulling movies off the self at an astonishing pace... obviously he had not found what he was looking for.  In middle of his movie flinging frenzy I stopped him and said... "Sam if you want a movie you walk to mom and I will get you the movie you want.." and OMG he stopped, he pulled to stand, balanced himself between the couch and the chair and took 2 steps towards me.... and he didn't even have his braces on.  I was stunned... not only because he took steps but on an even higher cognitive functioning level he knew exactly what I wanted him to do, he thought about it, made a motor plan and followed through.  

***OMG I'm dancing again***

THEN...yes... there is still more!!! I selected 4 movies and placed them on the floor in front of Sam.  He sat there patiently with his hands in his lap and looked at each one...really looked at them.  Then he picked one up, looked at it and put it behind him (He did not throw it!!!) then he picked up 2 more, one in each hand, looked at them both and then handed me one (again he did not throw it!!!)  I about cried.  I then put a pillow on the couch and asked him if he wanted to get up there to watch his movie... he said "Yah" got up there and assumed the position.  It was a real communication break through.  I've said it before... and I will say it again... SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE!  I am so proud to be Sam's mom.  This child has moved mountains to get to where he is today and I am more inspired by his abilities than I am discouraged by his disabilities.  

Here is Sam lounging on the couch watching the movie he selected... 

Toy Story.