Going out

Getting ready to.go Crabbing at Homassas Springs.

New Rifton Gait Trainer

I got a pleasently surprising phone call yesterday from the company that we had ordered Jacob's gait trainer through. They had to run it through private insurance 1st to get a denial for the early steps program to pay for it. I had just had a phone conversation with the Early Steps coordinator on Monday and they had not even started the paper work...so when they called yesterday saying they were about to deliver it I was sbocked. That means my private insurance paid for it IN FULL. The turn around was maybe 6 Weeks. So anyone with Cigna insurance depending on your policy may have a good chance of getting one of these without having to jump through hoops! Im very excited about this. We ordered the medium so he will have years to grow in it. We thought he may be to small for it, but he just fits. He is 28lbs and 36 inches tall.

New Toys for Jacob

Yesterday was a busy day. We live centrally between Tampa and Orlando, FL. 1st we drove EARLY in the morning to Shriner's Hospital in Tampa. We spent 4 hours their getting Jacob's long leg braces finished up for us to take home. They have AFO's at the bottom and from the knee joint to the hip is a metal brace that wraps around his waist. Haven't had the oportunity to put them back on him since the fitting but I will post pictuers of everything at the bottom of this post as soon as I have a chance. Also a really nice things they did for us was GIVE us a pair of Answer 2 AFO shoes! Heck yeah! I was pretty excited about it. :-)

After we left Tampa around 1pm by the time we got home we had time for an hour nap before the drive to Orlando. To another orthodics place. We FINALLY got to pick up his  TAOS device! It definately looks a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. Has the same kind of Long leg brace frame I described above except for AFOs at the bottoms their is a pair of high top shoes that have a metal thing that locks onto the braces. While we were waiting out the rain yesterday we took it over to a friends house that lives in Orlando and tried him in it. I'm not  quite sure we have master putting him in this thing right he did take a few tiny steps, but he is also not used to walking in shoes....I have been excited for this thing for months. Now I am not sure if I am more excited to put him in his Shriner long leg braces in the rifton or the TAOS device..I have pleanty of time to play with them today so we will see...

Videos of Jacob in the Rifton Gait Trainer

This video was taken of Jacob at 14 months old.



This video was taken of Jacob about 27 months old.


Jacob is currently 2 years 7 months old. He still is hit or miss in the gait trainer. Some days he will walk toward the TV 4-5 times in a row. Other times he will just stand in the same spot of hours. He has walked in this gait trainer much better than in the last video, but  I can never catch it. For example, the other day I moved him in it to the other side of the room so he had a longer distance to walk (he only walks to toward the TV) before I had to back him up again. He hauled butt across the room toward THE WONDER PETS the fastest I have ever seen him move those little feet. I back him up and he does it again. He is laughing the entire time. I decide to go get the camera. he looks at me (which he rarely does when the TV is on) He laughs at me turns his attention to the TV and never moved the walker for the rest of the day LOL I think he knows exactly what he is doing. I can't wait to get his TAOS system hopefully next week!

Sitting in a Bumbo Chair

Jacob could have never done this 6 months ago without any trunk support :-)

He was actually falling asleep when I took this. He is using his arms to keep himself from tipping. if he falls to the left he turns his head to the right to pull himself more midline. He can't stay this way long. He will still throw himself backwards after a few minutes, but still even in a rifton chair with the chest support piece he used to fall to the side.

Switch Toy

Our vison therapist brought Jacob a new switch toy today. We had to choose 1 thing he loved for him to only get when he pushes the button. So, we chose the pacifier. We have been putting it in his mouth all morning long every time he hits the button. We have not put it around his head to keep it in. So every time he drops it out a few seconds later he is actually hitting the button!!! I had to record "pacifier" in my voice. So he hits the blue button it says pacifier and then we have to give it to him. I am get exhausted thinking about have to be persistent in doing this....we will see how it goes...not really sure if he is randomly hitting the button or if he is actually getting it.

Pacifier Bliss

Jacob has a new found love for the pacifier....I suppose he is getting over his oral aversion...next step will be to start trying liquids by mouth again. He has absolutely been totally and utterly addicted to the pacifier for a good 2 weeks now. It took me a while to figure out what all his fussiness was about. He was having these little fits even when the Moose was on TV. Then I noticed him rooting around like a baby with his tongue out like a newborn looking for food. I stuck the pacifier in, then he would get all excited giggles and start sucking. I tried month ago to tie a string around it to make him suck on one and he would gag, chock, and cry. Now I have to tie a string to keep it in his mouth, since he does not have have the best coordination to keep it in all the time. He sucks on it for hours a day now getting better and better at keeping it in without the string. NO I do not allow it to be in his mouth with the string when I am not in the room with him...or when he is in bed. He has gotten better about keeping his hand on it in his bed so it stays in though.

This new found love for the pacifier has given him hours of satisfaction. He is sleeping better and longer periods of time. He cries less (unless he has knocked it out of his mouth)...I'm sure later I will complain about his teeth :-P

Jacob and Moose A. Moose during nap time