Time for a new update!!!

Drew continues to do great! He had his bouts of being sick on and off... the most recent one was pretty long which prevented him from really doing anything for almost 2 weeks. Poor thing. Neverless, he seems to be back in good health and slowly improving a bit day by day! Recent Sunday, he was in a good mood, my family and I made jokes, he would show the BIGGEST smiles as if he was almost trying to laugh along with us... with twinkles in his eyes... very cute!

Today I went with Drew to St. John's Mercy with his nurse and therapist for a "swallow" test to make sure he was eating down the right tube... Don't jump yet! He can't eat yet, still on feeding tubes, BUT he can take in a bit of food and swallow it... but because he hasn't really used his tongue/mouth to eat, the food can be NASTY to him... and he tries to spit it out! The therapists will continue to try to feed him a couple times a day to help him progress to bigger stages! Today I kept him company during the whole appointment. While waiting, I would work on asking him questions, making jokes, and telling him to stop putting his head down or I'll (threatening) put a neck brace on him. He will smile and put his head down in defiance and grin... making his nurse, therapist and I laugh.

He is able to finally say NO! If you see him trying to rub his finger and thumb together, tell him NO! That he can sign "NO" perfectly as well "YES." His signs for no and yes are very good now! Sometimes he will move his head in a yes or no position instead. I tend to ask him the same question twice to make sure I understood which YES or NO he meant! Every time I visit him, I have him pick a movie he wants to watch... he always picks out something... He does TRY to sign with his left hand but it's REALLY hard for me to understand... takes time... if you ask him to sign something... he will TRY even because remember he does not have FULL control of his hands/arms/body parts.

He can fingerspell but he tends to fingerspell in skips. If the word is small/short, he will fingerspell the full word... but today for example, I asked him to say his name, forming perfect sign language letters: A N D W. I noticed this pattern a couple days ago, then I would guess the word he was trying to spell then ask him to confirm it... sometimes it's not the right word - then I will ask him to spell again! Can be exhausting but you have to PUSH and ENCOURAGE him that he CAN spell the word and communicate with us!

He can say the international symbol I LOVE YOU almost perfectly with a crooked tiny index but neverless if you say I LOVE YOU, he will certainly repeat it back! It's touching. :)

That's about it for now... til next time... give me a couple weeks... if anything worthy to report - I will try to get back on here! :)

Alex