Friday, August 31, 2012

Patrick got a reward

Yesterday Patrick got a new toy. It's a Toy Story 3 Lil' Quad that I wanted to give to him last Christmas, but for whatever reason in the end didn't buy. It turned out that it was actually good that I didn't buy it back then.

Patrick had his physical evaluation in January, and it was until then when we got a better scoop of his low muscle tone and all the exercise he would require to make his muscles stronger. A ride on toy that moves by the push of a button, like the Lil' Quad, would have been a very bad idea. Luckily Patrick had received a cute little ride on toy on his birthday, and another one for Christmas as gifts from friends of us, which required him to move his feet in order to go anywhere.

Tim's co-worker, Deb, gave Patrick this ride-on toy for Christmas. He was thrilled!

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Finding a title, and what is this blog about.

Hi!

I'm so excited to finally start my own blog. Ever since I became a mother I had the intention to start a blog  with the idea of posting pictures, videos and accounting Patrick's (and future children's) milestones for the family to see. Soon after, I found myself with little free time, so Facebook was good enough to keep my family and friends up to date. Months later we found out that Patrick had few physical disadvantages and with that I also realized that there wasn't much information online about his "conditions", and whatever I found, wasn't too promising about the overall progress or accomplishments my son would have.

Almost a year later since his diagnosis (Oculomotor Apraxia, Hypotonia and Pronation), I'm happy to say that this has been a better journey that it was ever portrayed to us -even by the doctors! With the extremely joy I feel to finally see my son walking (he is 21 months old) I felt the urge to start the blog to tell the world (or the 3 readers) that I'm confident that children with similar disadvantages can do anything and everything they want -it will take a little extra time, and/or a little extra work, but they will do it!

As I acknowledge this hasn't been nowhere near as difficult as it would be if I had a son with a chronic  illness or severe developmental and cognitive delay, I can also say this hasn't been as easy as it is for parents whose children are able to accomplish their milestones "on time". This experience has been filled with doctor appointments, evaluations, tests, therapies, ups and downs, and lots of prayers and hope from my husband and myself, and hard work and courage from my sweet son.

I will try to post everything from how I noticed the developmental delay, to diagnosis, to treatment in weekly posts. Finding the name for the blog wasn't an easy job. I wanted to say so much with the title, but it seemed like everything that came to mind was already taken by another blogger (Trust your mommy instincts, Growing strong inside-out, A tale of hope and perseverance...) I guess is my fault for being too late in the game! But then I asked myself, what is what I really want to tell people with this blog? I want to say that Patrick can do it. He can because the challenges are ridiculously minimal. With his perseverance, the love and care of his parents and the mercy of God, he is Overcoming Tiny Obstacles one step at a time.