13th/14th mths (Jan, Feb 07)

Big smile

Luke was sitting up SOLO!!
(we had to put him in that position--he could not get to the sit up position on his own)
He was showing some 'baring weight' with bouncing up and down in his car.
Starting to reach higher

The 3rd failed swallow study attempt. He choked, coded and had to be emergency suctioned. We knew he would fail but it was our only way to get Vital Stim approved.
His legs were still unable to bare weight for very long here. Maybe 2 seconds long.
HUGE MILESTONE: He started to push himself backwards in his walker. He loved this new found freedom.
Sitting up on couch and leaning forwards and balancing his head control. (huge)

Special needs Stroller

Tiger 2000 by snugseat

11th/12th mth (Nov, Dec)

Luke is still 100% gtube fed. Zero feeding orally. He's in speech therapy 3x a week.

Luke was able to sit up in his bumbo for a brief moment but he would fatigue.

Luke is in special needs bathchair.
He turned 1 year on Nov. 21st

Special carseat

It's so key to have good protection with minimal head control. We finally got the Britax Decathalon and insurance paid for it.

Gait trainer

Insurance paid for the RIFTON Gait Trainer to assist Luke in gaining his leg strength.
If you will note...he hates this thing. He is a very relaxed child and to have to 'work' is hard for him. Mentally he wanted too...but physically he could not. He was so mentally frustrated all the time.

9th-10th mths (Sept./Oct)

The next 2 months were really exciting for us as Luke really started to 'get it' and he was starting meet some physical milestones. Yes, he showed symptoms of fatigue and it was combined with frustration. It perplexed us. We could see he wanted to do things physically---but could not and would scream out. This is when we really communicated to Dr. Susan I. that we were 'concerned'.

Luke could lean up against the chair and had a hard time balancing himself.

He started to keep his paci in his mouth somewhat. It would still fall out..but he would start to hold it with his hand.


This was huge for us. Luke would turn the pages after we read them to him. He really understood the concept of books early, early on. (this was so exciting for us as we loved books ourselves!)
Dad rigged up Luke's red flyer wagon and off they went. My husband has not one time ever treated Luke special needs and has paraded him around the neighborhood with great pride.
Luke could reach but could not hold his arms out longer than 1/2 a second. (literally)
We were instructed that with low tone children you have to be very careful and get the most supported carseats. Insurance paid for this as we needed a very sturdy/padded one. It's called the Britax Marathon.
His smile was getting bigger!
He was starting to show strength in his head control when leaning up against my husband.
As you can see...his head control getting better.
Then...his 10th mth...he started to balance his head up. (he could keep it for a little while..but indeed progress)

Bath Chair

We had to get a special needs bath chair by Columbia Contour.
It's awesome. Luke loves it.