Story #28 - Mr. Caleb's first workout!

Today was a very big day for Mr. Caleb and because I haven't written in awhile this is going to be a Daddy Post.  Caleb had his first official therapy sessions today!  I've been waiting for this ever since we were told that Caleb would need therapy because I want to know what Amy and I can do to help the little man get where he needs to be.  It seems me just doing countless push-ups and P90.X in front of him has not been doing the trick.

Going forward every Tuesday is going to be therapy day.  First, we'll see the physical therapist followed by the speech/feeding therapist.  It's going to be a very long day and I could tell Caleb was getting worn out from all the attention and all the work.  The physical therapist started by of course hearing our concerns and the Caleb back story and then she started into working with him.  I'll be honest it wasn't earth shattering techniques and I think maybe I had gotten my hopes up that she would come in with magical tricks that would have Caleb crawling after a few minutes.  Okay maybe my hopes weren't that high but I did expect more.  First, she just rocked him in the sitting position shifting his weight from side to side to help strengthen his trunk.  Next, she rotated his body so that his hands would fall to the side to try to get him to support his weight.  Then she did some things with his legs just to get him more used to the crawling position.  Caleb did really well and seemed very happy the majority of the time.  Everyone comments on what a happy baby he is and that he's so easy to work with.  The therapy went on for about an hour and Amy and I got to practice some of the techniques.  The therapist said Caleb has low muscle tone which she said can be pretty common in the children she works with and that he has some reflexes that just aren't developed yet.  Overall, she said today was just the start and she would add in new "exercises" each week as he progressed.  I would say today was a success but as with all of these appointments very overwhelming.

As the physical therapist was wrapping up the speech therapist was arriving.  I'm not completely sold on exactly what she is going to do to help Caleb just yet as she hasn't provided a whole lot in the way of what we can do to improve his babbling or feeding.  She did give us some tips but nothing you couldn't find with a quick search of the internet.  So the jury is still out on this one but if she can provide just one thing that will help then the time will be well worth it.

Now to some Daddy thoughts. I haven't posted in a couple of months and the last time I did we weren't aware of all the challenges that were facing our little man. So I'll be honest and say that I'm worried and I'm stressed out and I'm overwhelmed but despite all of that I'm incredibly hopeful. Based on what I saw today there are no magical answers and nothing that is going to be a quick fix for Caleb's development. It is going to be so much work for him. However, Amy and I are ready for this and that little man is strong. I can see how determined he is as he tries to do what his sister is doing and we're going to do this together one little baby step at a time. I'm confident that he is going to turn out great in his own way and no matter what the progress I know that I'm going to be so proud of him.

With all the therapy today we didn't think about taking any pictures but I think it's a Caleb picture day so here are a few of my favorites over the past week!