Nelsonblog

The unhappy faces of Evan! 

Chris and I witnessed one of Evan's first displays of fear.  Chris, being the dear husband that he is, brought home a bouquest of flowers and a large mylar balloon for Valentine's day.  I recalled happy memories of myself as a child and playing with balloons and in wonder how they floated above me – so I was very excited to introduce Evan to the wonders of this floating devise – the balloon.  

Evan wasn't very excited to see the balloon – in fact, he started to cry.  Chris tried to show him how he could pull on the string and pull it down but Evan wanted nothing to do with it.  He would crawl away from it, sit down, look up at the balloon and cry out at it.  Evan was so upset that I moved the balloon into the bathroom and put the gate in front of it so it was out of sight.  Evan crawled up to the door entry and even though he couldn't see the balloon he got upset and continued to cry.

  The following morning it was my goal to help my son overcome his fear of the balloon.  It took a full daybut we did it!  I had a process of 'intergrating' the ballon into Evan's life.  I started with the balloon in the hallway where Evan could see it but it was no where near him.  Through out the course of the day I moved the balloon more into the room. 

 Eventually I sat down and played with the balloon but didn't force Evan to be near it.  Evan became very curious that at first he just sat next to me and watched me as I touched the balloon and played with it – releasing it up into the air and bringing it back down again.  After a while – I could see out of the corner of my eye Evan was reaching his hand out to touch the ballon.  He rested his hand on the balloon for only a few seconds and released it quickly.  We continued to do this for at least a half hour – touch and release – touch and release until Evan was comfortable with the balloon floating above him.

Over the next two days Evan's comfort level grew to the point that he grabbed the string and pulled the balloon down towards him, touched it and then released it back into the air.

To some this might seem just like a silly story – but to me it was a milestone for my son.  He faced his fear, and with his parents help, he learned to overcome it.  I know that this will be the first of many experiences that Evan might be unsure of but he is already learning how to overcome his fears.  Now, just need to work on him having some fear (well, more common sense) about crawling off the couch and landing on his head!  Everyday brings new challenges! 

We had a suprise visit from Evan's Great-Uncle today!  Uncle Steve was the first extended family member from my side to hold Evan almost a year ago:

Looks like Evan remembered him!  They got along swimmingly.

Wow, Evan sure has grown a bunch since then, hasn't he? 

Evan has been laughing, get this, like the COUNT from Sesame Street. 

"AH-Ah-ah-aaaaah."

It's PRICELESS.

Of course, he doesn't have the whole counting thing figured out yet-

But he sure has the laugh down pat.  I'll try and catch a video of it for you all.

Evan is becoming more aware of his world and the music in it.  I've noticed over the last few weeks that there are certain shows that Evan quiets down when the intro begins and just sits there and listens to the music and watches the TV screen.  He can be in the corner of the room away from the TV but the second he hears the first few notes of the intro he will crawl over to the TV, sit down, and watch and listen.  There's also a few commercials that get his attention – there is one with babies in it (think it's by pampers) and Evan gets excited to see the babies.  For some reason it seems to always play at the time when Evan's having lunch – when he hears the music he will turn his head from eating, watch the commercial and when the commercial is over he will turn his head back to me and resume eating.  It's exciting to see his attention to music and memory recall when he hears the first few notes.

Evan had a 2nd neurodevelopment check up done at the hosptial.  This is a standard procedure for any child that was in intensive care when they were born. 

We are happy to report that all is well!  Evan passed with flying colors.  He scored 10.5 months for his motor skills and 11.5 months for his mental skills – he is one smart kid.  The doctors were very impressed with him and happy to see him doing so well and growing like a weed!  They checked on his growth and he is – are you ready for this – 34 inches long!  He's not even one year old and he's almost 3 feet long already.  He weighed in at 26.8 pounds – he is not a lite kid!

Evan has one more check up left in September and we were told if that goes as well as the last two checkups he will be released and have no more followups (typically kids are in the program for two years).  Chris and I continue to pray for our son and that he will continue to thrive and learn and grow.  We are so proud of him.