Cheers!

Holding on and drinking
by himself!

Today Grammy Louise watched the kiddos while I worked.  When I got home, she was very excited to tell me that Carson drank his entire sippy cup of juicey water, all by himself!  He just kept his sippy close to him, held on, took lots of drinks and finished it!  One of our 2013 'goals' was to move away from the bottle and onto cups and straws.  Looks like we are definitely on our way!!!!!!  Very exciting day in the Champine house!!!!!!  :)

I took a quick video but by then, he was done with the liquid-business!  Really trying hard to not make him 'perform', but sometimes that's hard to abstain from.  haha.  You can see it here on YouTube.

It was very exciting for Grammy and very exciting for me!!!

"G" is for great!

Tuckered out in-between sessions today

Today during our 7th & 8th ABM sessions, I started hearing Carson use the G consonant sound.   It took me awhile to realize it - but this was a consonant he has never used before!  

I thought I was imagining it but Kevin confirmed - G's are new  :)  Very exciting!

He did great during both sessions.  He did some gentle movements in a more sitting position today and did well.  He loved it when Naomi used each finger from his hand - to count each toe on his feet... with a slow fun song.  

The other thing we've picked up on this week, when I'm sitting quietly for awhile, while he and Naomi are working together, he'll start to say "mamamama" waiting for me to reply to make sure I'm still there!!!  xoxoxoxoxox

We are loving our time with Naomi and so excited to see what is to come!

"Bam" goes the left arm

Carson's left hand is fisted regularly while
his right hand has good dexterity.

Today we had sessions #5 & 6.  Carson was so happy, funny & talkative during both sessions.

Naomi was so excited for the update of what we've witnessed over the last 2 weeks! Decided to start this blog so we could track this journey!

Today during our session, Naomi was lifting Carson's arms up and making fun noises; then she would drop his arms down to 'bam' the table.  He loved it.  After awhile, he began doing his own 'bamming' with his right arm - the arm he uses all the time with good dexterity.  Then a few times, we witnessed him do it with his left arm!!!!  He rarely uses his left hand, let alone his arm.  He lifted from his elbows to do it.

Needless to say, mommy's tears started to flow.

So excited to see what tomorrow's sessions bring about!

Here we go.....

So here we go... stepping out in faith... faith in this method, faith that God would provide our financial and time needs, faith in our practitioner, faith in our decision to move forward with this new therapy, knowing that when you put time and money into one thing, it takes away from other opportunities... lots of faith.

"Kids Beyond Limits"
by Anat Baniel
A "Must Read"!!!!!

We have just began our journey with the Anat Baniel Method... ABM "is a science-based, breakthrough approach that focuses on the child’s brain and its remarkable abilities to change and learn. The method’s gentle movements and ABM’s Nine Essentials, are powerful tools that provide transformational help for children with special needs to overcome their limitations... the method wakes up the child’s brain to create new connections, often at a staggering rate, leading to spontaneous, often extraordinary breakthroughs in movement, thinking, self-regulation and connection with others."

We are planning to do 2 sessions a day, 2 days a week, every other week. Our drive is a bit long and its an all day commitment, but we have chosen to give it at least a 3 month trial.

I chose to begin this blog as a way to document our journey. If we find that this is life changing, which we hope it is, we want to be able to look back and see all that has happened.

We had our first 4 ABM sessions on November 12 & 13, 2012 with our practitioner Naomi. Carson was very happy and comfortable during all 4 sessions. We had about 2-3 hours between the sessions each day - we are currently looking for a good place to 'camp out' during that time.

After day #1, while at my parents, my mom and I both noticed that while on his back on the floor, Carson planted his right foot on the ground and pushed up. This was something we had never seen before. It definitely motivated me, if I needed more motivation, to continue on this journey.

During the next 2 weeks, we witnessed the following:

Loving his new "clapper" toy

• He has an increased tolerance to noise that he makes. He really started to enjoy rattles, banging and other loud noises he could make. He is typically very sensitive to loud or startling noises. He still is sensitive to noises outside his control.
• He has been keeping his head to the right!!! Carson has always been a 'left looker' since he was a newborn, especially while lying on the ground. A few months ago (after our consultation with Naomi), we noticed him keeping his head in midline while in lying. We have also recently begun chiropractic care. Between the chiro adjustments and these sessions, Carson desires to keep his head in midline and to the right!
• His babbling and vocal imitating has increased. He loves to make back and forth noises with us and is just very fun to listen to! He is laughing a lot more as well.
• With his vocalization - he has said his 'interpretations' of 'papa', 'diaper', 'toes' and again saying 'bottle' and 'mama' - in appropriate situations.
• When sitting him up on his changing table, it is much easier to sit him up and keep him up.
• When we did Conductive Education in the Spring, Carson was doing so well with self-feeding with a spoon - bringing food to his mouth. When we got home, sadly, we didn't keep up on that and he lost his ability to do so. We tried again a couple months ago, but after quite a few failures, we gave up for the time. Kevin tried again this last weekend - after doing hand over hand with him just a couple times, Carson quickly grasped the concept again! We will work on the 'dipping' part down the road, but for now - he can bring the spoon to his mouth again!!!

We have been very excited the last couple weeks. Carson continually amazes us! We are very excited to see where this journey goes.........