Now I can 2013

 We had another very successful Physical Therapy session for McKay! It must have been just long enough in between session because I forgot how hard it was and how life consuming it is! But we were very happy with McKay's progress and even though it is incredibly hard it is worth it! McKay had a few of the same therapist and a couple of new ones. They could not believe the progress he had made in just six months! Remember the last time we left our last session he was not walking. They had gotten him to stand on his own for about 30 seconds and they had gotten him to take a few steps on his own.
I had three things that I wanted to work on for McKay this session. The things that I wanted to work on were his balance, overall gait, and stairs. I knew that stairs would most likely be a pretty loftly goal but I really want to start working on them.
I was concerned how McKay would do this time at Now I Can. If you can remember last time it was pure crying for 3 weeks straight for all four hours each day. So I was pleasantly surprised when he walked right back to the room and sat down. He had a little bit of a harder time when we switched to a different room than we had previously been in. But he got to the point that as soon as he walked in the door he walked right back to his room.  I know that him having the Bubble Guppies on the I Pad was a huge help. It was the only thing that really kept him calm and able to work.

McKay was lucky enough to have a lot of the same therapist that he had the last time. They were so excited to see McKay again and knew what worked with him and how hard they could push him. It was nice to see some familiar faces as well!

So as McKay was doing his session at Now I can Kyle and I were right in the middle of a healthy eating challenges with some friends. One of the things that we had to do daily was work out for 30-45 minutes. Before this I had been getting up before the kids wok up and had been working out on the elliptical in the morning. But having to be in Provo by 8 and making sure that the kids stuff was ready and McKay was fed and ready was a challenge enough without working out. So I discovered that directly behind Now I can there was a great running trail. It was the Provo river trail. I discovered there were some pretty sketchy parts of it, and I modified my route so that I could always see people. But I enjoyed having something active to do while McKay was at therapy. I would get him settled in to therapy and then head out to walk and then run. I am not much of a runner but do enjoy that runners high.  I found myself pushing myself hard because I knew McKay was pushing himself as well.

McKay also had lots of his pictures put on their face book page, Instagram and online. It was a lot of fun to see the pictures of him on there.

Here are pictures of Mckay in his favorite part therapy, Stander time. He loves the break and loves that no one is touching him. He gets to just stand for 1/2 hour and watch Bubble Guppies and eat snacks. I tried to read to him a couple of times, but he just wanted to be left alone. He loved stander time so much that sometimes when the therapists were pushing him really hard he would walk over to the stander, saying "please give me a break, I'd rather go in there!"

I was very happy with the progress that he made at this session. He did not master the stairs but I wasn't expecting him to. He for sure improved his balance and gait. He is walking so much more steady on uneven surfaces and wasn't as nervous about them. We love all of the therapist at Now I Can. I feel like they are part of our family!! We had a great session and we'll be back again soon!