One and Two and Three and Four

      When I watch Mason do physical therapy, hear him grunt as some things are harder then others, whine when hes had too much reminds me of watching someone at the gym. Physical therapy isn't a workout but to this small 10 and half month 19 pound boy its a work out and exhausting. Hyptonia is low muscle tone. All children with Downs have it. Doctors, parents, books Ive read say kids who have Hyptonia are "Floppy" or like "Rag Dolls" or a "Wet towel" I would like to say I very much dislike the idea of my child being called any of these things. He was born with Hyptonia low muscle tone end of story sometimes its better not to compare. Mason gets tired VERY easily and has to work REALLY hard just to do small things like sitting in a highchair, lifting his hands above his head, feeding himself, holding his bottle or even crying a couple minutes he wears himself out. With hyptonia Mason needs therapy to strengthen.
      Physical therapy is important and has become one of my favorite times of the week. Seems silly but to welcome a lady in my house who loves and adores my baby,watching Mason grow week to week is more then a job to her, his therapist has become Masons coach, cheerleader, teacher, but mostly friend someone I trust and welcome in my home with a smile.
      Every week I greet her at the door the same day the same time, She asks how our week has been, washes her hands, Dylan hugs and talks to her then she tells me how much Mason has changed. Every week we work on different things.
      I couldn't get Mason to be interested in feeding himself or even holding food. His therapist asked me to try Mum Mums they are thin, wide, long and melt. The first couple times it took a while to wrap those short, chunky fingers around it. I would do the "hand over hand" method as the therapist would call it, showing him how to do it several times. The following week I told his Therapist I had to show her something. I put him in his bumbo and handed him a mum mum. She looks at me then looks back at Mason with a surprised look on her face. He reached for the mum mum, grabbed it, and bit it off like a potato chip. She couldn't believe it. He sat there and ate 2 mum mums like a pro. He didn't slobber, or choke he sat there like a big boy eating his mum mum. He goes through a box a week and that was the start of him feeding himself. Now I can put chunks of food (meat,fruit,veggies...anything) on his tray and he feeds himself.
      Through out the week if there is something we work on during therapy and Mason accomplishes it I record a video and show it to his therapist cuz hes not ALWAYS in a show off mood when shes at my house. We were talking yesterday about his growth, strength and change from the time we did the evaluation. She said she cant wait for the next evaluation everyone will be impressed. Mason has worked REALLY hard. After every therapy session Mason will sleep up to 3 hours. It wears him out!
     Yesterday we were working on how to teach him to feed himself. She gave us a new therapy spoon to try. It has texture and it is a spoon on both ends, also flimsy. Mason loves it! I would do hand over hand dip his spoon in apple sauce then he would put his spoon in his mouth. He does great! Wont be long he will be feeding himself.
      Every week we are given new challenges and techniques, we work daily on getting these things done and the following week when the therapist is at my house he shows off his hard work. The therapist CONSTANTLY compliments me and says "Mason is SO lucky to have you, he does SO great because of you.I wish all parents were like that." I guess as a mom I don't see any other way. I want Mason to be the best Mason he can be, he needs a little extra push and I am here to guide him and help. Mason accomplishes SO much in one week that his therapist has to write down his accomplishments because she cant remember all of them by the time she gets home to write up a report of his visit. Every week she says "Mason your going to put me out of a job!!!" ha ha.
      I am sooo thankful he has a therapist that works so hard with him, is so friendly and LOVES her job!

  
                                            Mason holding his own bottle! wooo hoooo

                               Mason feeding himself! He LOVES to eat!