Valentine's Day... a day filled with chocolates, flowers and dinner
dates. Love is in the air. But for a special needs parent our focus of
love is on other things. Our heart can burst out of our chest and
it requires no intervention from Cupid.
Noah's Valentine's Day Masterpiece
Although Noah was having a
moody week and rough nights that resulted ending up at the doctor's
office for any ideas on trouble shooting my lack of being able to
diagnose his problems, he has been busy working hard at therapy, and
accomplishing new things. This week he painted a Valentine's Day heart
by selecting colors on his Tobii Eye Gaze Communication Device. His
speech therapist placed a paper cut out heart at the bottom of a shoebox
and would squirt the colors Noah picked and placed marbles in the box
and closed the lid and allowed Noah to hit the box around with both
arms. The end result was a beautiful piece of artwork designed
completely by Noah. I happen to think that it could fetch a small
fortune at any art gallery. Noah is currently entertaining any serious bidder.
He's
also been enjoying as much time as we'll allow him on his communication
device. We rather let him navigate what he wants to do. Sometimes he
wants to talk - sometimes like any other child, he simply wants to
play. He doesn't realize that his play is also designed to
assist him in furthering his eye gaze communication skills. It's a
win-win for us.
Noah also successfully licked his very first
Valentine lollipop until it was completely gone. In the past Noah
didn't quite have the oral coordination for lollipops and would attempt
to bite them - which made me nervous as that could be a choking hazard.
So I took a break for a long while knowing his chompers were strong.
But today, almost as if just magically understood the goal, he sucked it
without ever attempting to bite, lick after lick using his tongue
appropriately like any typical person would. Likely the sweetest thing
you could ever imagine. And a huge accomplishment for him. And
boy was he ever so happy about it.
And if I couldn't love this
Valentine's Day anymore... Noah and his little brother played ball
together. Real baseball with real gloves and mitts. Luke tossing a
velcro baseball into Noah's little baseball glove and Noah trying to
give it back to Luke. Engaging with each other as if Noah had no
limitations. It was so precious to witness those two together. They
have the strongest bond and are the best of friends. I thank God for
Luke everyday. Noah needs him. And their relationship is a beautiful
thing to watch.
Although gifts and cards filled with mushy
messages are what first comes to mind when you think of Valentine's
Day... I have things so much more to love.
Noah Mitchell Warden was born December 23, 2008, weighing 9lbs and 1oz by emergency c-section at 8:51am. Noah did not breathe or have a heartbeat for the first 13 minutes of his life. He was taken to Children's Hospital in order to have a procedure done known as brain cooling in attempts to minimize damage caused by perinatal asphyxia. Noah's brain cooled for 72 hours after which time the hospital ran an MRI and an EEG to determine the extent of the damage. Unfortunately, the results came back with devastating news. Noah had suffered "global damage" to his brain. As a result the prognosis was grim. They said Noah would mostly likely never walk, talk, eat or even breathe on his own. Today, Noah has the diagnosis of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy resulting in spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy with athetoid movements. Noah's miracle has brought our story to all of you.
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