Gabriel’s ROP Blog

Gabriel was afraid of space. He won’t let go of his hands when he walked. He walked clumsily with 2 hands held, despite of daily practice for 3 years. He dared not touch his surroundings and needed a lot of assurance before exploring with his hands. We tried having him walked with only a hand held, he walked horribly. Often with another hand gropping for more support. And then ended with both hands holding on to a hand. He walked with both legs wide apart, totally rigid, afraid to fall.

Last night, with only his right hand held, he walked. Steadily and beautifully. From one bedroom to another. One step after another. Confident. A better ‘walk’ than the ‘walk’ with his both hands held. I hope it wasn’t a one time off thing. So I tried again today. And again, he walked, confidently, didn’t even bother looking for support with his other hand. However, I noticed that he was only strong when his right hand was held, not his left. Which means, well, mummy’s job is clear for the next few days…

Gabriel hates spoons. He hates food in his mouth. If there was any piece or crumbs in this mouth, he would try to spit it out or remove it with his hands. He accepts only bottles. There are certain food that he can quite tolerate – chips, cookies, bread. He chewed on them very slowly. A cookie can last him a very long time, hours. Nowadays, if he decided that he can eat those food, he would chomped them down to bits in the matter of minutes. When I place food into his mouth, he would now open his mouth wide open, his jaw ready to munch the food down. It was such a pleasure to see. Such big movement.

Gabriel can be quite noisy. He likes to make noise just for his own amusement. He could easily be mistaken as autistic, as he could seem to be in his own world, uninterested in other people. This has changed. He could be as noisy as he normally is, but more and more often, he would also catch our conversation and repeated a word with such speed and accuracy, that would stop our conversation. He is alert to any sound we make. When a sound interests him, he would repeat it. More than he had ever done before.

It seems like Gabriel is improving in his overall body coordination – mouth, hands and legs. He also seems more present. I looked back to my previous blogs. It seems that he had gradually come to this since he started his stem cells treatments. Everything that had seemed vague initially, had accummulated. Now, although all the changes are still considered small, they had appeared more real to me.

Gabriel is due to kindergarten this coming September. It had completely slipped my mind to think, to check out schools and options for him. It was something impossible. This afternoon, a mom questioned if Gabriel will be going to school. Normally, I would answer no as it was obvious that he can’t. He doesn’t even walk yet. No motor skills. Can’t even put balls into a hole.

But today, for the first time, in all honesty, I suddenly saw a little hope. A possibility. Feasibility. For the first time, I told myself to check out the schools for Gabriel. And had actually felt that I should check out the schools. Ridiculous as it may seem, I actually had a surge of confidence that Gabriel will start his kindergarten in September. Right on time, as it should be. May be, who knows, he will be ready in 3 months time? I really hope he will be. Really. I am also so afraid that I would be wrong. At the same time, what else could be wrong when he is moving on the right direction? Whatever will be, will be, right?

Best regards,
Asty
astychow@yahoo.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 2:10 am and is filed under rop, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.