Florence is nonverbal but uses other ways to communicate. She smiles and arches when she is happy and will cry when she is in pain, hungry or sad. For example, she usually gets sad if others go on a walk and she thinks she’s not going to go. She likes when you give her simple yes/no questions like which outfit she wants to wear for the day. At school, she has been working on different ways to communicate like using an eye gaze program to speak through a dynavox or trying to use her hand to choose answers.

Florence has a g-tube. In the past, she has eaten meals blended by mouth. Her g-tube was used to give her medicine and water. However, currently she is being fed all food and water via her g-tube as her caregivers are assessing what is safe for her. There are not swallow studies available in her home country so it is a little bit challenging to figure out what is best for her. Her diet is being supplemented with a mix of complan, a powdered-milk nutritional supplement, and real food blends. She is doing well. Also, she does take muscle relaxing medication to help with her spasticity.

Her personality has started to shine through even more so. She likes to laugh. She thinks her friends that do silly things are really funny and often they make her snort when laughing a lot.

She attends therapy four times a week currently for stander time, stretching and exercises. The therapists always say she doesn’t complain unless it is a day where she is clearly uncomfortable before she comes.

Florence enjoys being held by her people and especially when they sing to her or dance with her. Even though she cannot talk, she interacts well with her friends in her foster home! Such a joyful, sweet girl she is.

Update Feb 2018: Quint has become quite mobile and is very steady walking, sometimes even trying to run. He hasn’t figured out the pedals, but loves to scoot around on his tricycle. While he still puts everything in his mouth, he does know the difference between food and other things and will always take it back out if it’s not food. He is learning to feed himself and does pretty well with a fork and is getting better with a spoon. He also holds his own sippy cup. We have been working on using the toilet and he still urinated mostly in his diaper but has many bowel movements on the toilet. His problems with making eye contact have greatly improved and he has been able to make some strong connections and attachments. He loves to cuddle and hold hands. One thing he struggles with is sleeping through the night, which has gotten a little better since he started taking melatonin but he’s still a pretty early riser!

Jesse loves to laugh and is quite entertained by the antics of his foster brothers and sister. Every night, I take Jesse into his bedroom to sit by his bed and pray together. Our one year old has a habit of following us in to the bedroom and sitting down beside us until another adult comes to get him. Jesse always anticipates this and as soon as I sit down with him, he watches the door and smiles, until the toddler comes in and Jesse wiggles and dances with joy. Sometimes after Jesse is in bed, his buddy will climb in with him and they both laugh at the craziness of bedtime.

Physically, Jesse can balance in a sitting position for several seconds, with his legs crossed and using his arms for support. He doesn’t do it for long at a time before he tumbles over, but he is always very proud of his accomplishments. He doesn’t roll over, but when he is laying on his tummy (his favorite position!), he can lift his head up and look around. Jesse loves to practice his walking, especially if he can “chase” the other kids around. I support him by holding him under his arms and then he lifts his feet and off we go. Jesse wears AFOs to use his stander every day. He really enjoys this time and rarely fusses while he stands. He has a musical light up toy that he likes to use during this time and he is quick to fuss if one of the other kids tries to take it. He also goes to physical therapy four days a week where he works hard on continuing to develop his skills. Jesse still wears a diaper, but he is working on potty training and sits on his modified potty every evening before bath time. He will usually use it and always smiles proudly when we praise him for this. Jesse eats well, with mostly pureed food, although he also likes to eat things like crackers or cookies. He does not self-feed, but if we give him the spoon to hold, he works hard to bring it to his mouth. Jesse drinks from a sippy cup and a water bottle with a straw – he especially loves milk and juice, but nothing too cold!

Jesse enjoys spending time being pushed in a supportive swing and fusses when it is time to get out. He also likes watching movies and going for walks in our stroller. Jesse enjoys story time and holding his baby doll or stuffed lamb. He is an amazing little guy who will definitely be a huge blessing to his family!

At school he uses his arm moving it along a cookie sheet to spell words, make sentences, answer questions, etc. He also likes to use his arms to reach out and tag you, unplug cords or get cellphones… such a jokester he is! When he doesn’t want to work or he is tired then it is harder to get him to respond.

Alan has a g-tube but does still eat all meals blended by mouth and drinks water well from a honey bear bottle squeezed for him. His g-tube is used to supplement snacks for weight gain, to give him more water and to ensure he gets all his medicine properly. Some times when he is sick or is having a difficult time eating safely by mouth then he chooses to use his tube for meals. This helps us to ensure he is getting enough food/water too. When you ask him, he will often indicate to us he wants to be fed via his tube when he is struggling. Alan was slow to gain weight for a long time. He threw up a lot when he was on a milk-based formula and cried like he was in pain. Since then he has remained mostly dairy free and now his diet is supplemented with real food blends. There has been positive improvement overall!!

In the past, he had a couple unexplained episodes that were thought to be seizures. He is on Keppra but has not had any recently so his medical caregivers will try to wean him off soon to see how he does. The heat does seem to affect him so he is often more uncomfortable/grumpy in the summer months here in his home country. It is no surprise then that he loves when he has a fan by him to cool him down or if he is involved in water play. Swimming in pools or sitting in his water chair are two of his favorite activities to beat the summer heat. When swimming he likes to float on his belly and paddle his arms and kick. It’s a workout with him in the pool because of how excited he gets! With little head control, he has benefited from a float that can keep his head up while he tries to move his arms. He attends therapy four times a week currently. The therapists say he does much better in the stander when he has had his stretching beforehand. Often though he is not a big fan of standing unless someone sits with him and interacts with him.

Alan enjoys being held by his caregivers and going for walks. Going over bumps makes him laugh a lot. He loves to interact with his other friends in his foster family. He will make a great addition to his forever family and has so much potential!! Alan LOVES music and dancing. He gets really excited when people want to sing to him or help him dance. Sometimes if you are holding under his armpits he will lift up his feet like he is trying to walk. He can also flip himself over super fast. He keeps everyone laughing when he is in his good, giggly moods!