GroshLink

Praise God!  Eden is moving around like wildfire and getting into everything (particularly unsecured cabinets.  She likes to pretend she's cooking.  E.g., whole wheat flour in the nut grinder).  So good to see, for the most part.  Eden's taken some steps here and there, beyond the cruising from furniture piece to furniture piece, pushing the stroller, using one of her walkers.  But I [Tom] missed them as I was in 'da Burgh and she hasn't shown me any since my return.  Pray for strength and balance for her to walk firmly.  I'm filled with expectation.   (More)

Just a brief update on Eden (how long can we call her "Baby Eden"????)  This fall she started another session of physical therapy in the swimming pool at Schreiber Pediatrics.  She loves the pool and frequently asks for pool.  Normally her therapist puts weights around her ankles to help her when walking in the water, but today she walked very well without the weights.  We call her a leaner b/c if she feels you giving her the slightest support, she leans into you, expecting you to hold her up.  This is not just in the pool, but on land as well.  In some ways, the less support you give her the better she supports herself.  It's a tricky balancing act. (More)

Due to her developmental delays, Eden watched almost no baby DVD's and videos.  Instead she has burst onto the scene with kids materials alongside Ellen and Hayley.  What is the truth and what is marketing?  Are we in a scenerio similar to bottled water? Disney claims the University of Washington report to be just plain wrong in its assertion that infants who watched DVD’s and videos designed for babies understood fewer words than did infants who didn’t watch the recorded programs.

PS.  The Genius of ‘Baby Einstein’ takes the conversation in a helpful direction.

Update: 4:01pm  Now the furor has moved to the credibility of research, see UW President rejects Disney complaints, referenced by Chronicle of Higher Ed piece and I'm sure the Chronicle has just opened a can of worms regarding higher education vs. media/business.  Check out the post/link given below for some helpful thoughts.

While working on a review of Os Guinness' The Call: Finding and Fulfilling the Central Purpose of Your Life, I heard Theresa declare from outside the house You did it Eden!  I saw it with my own eyes. Note:  Theresa's mom gave a report of Eden's first step on her own without holding onto anything just over a week ago, but we hadn't seen it with our own eyes and we haven't seen anything approaching steps since then.  Praise God for this exciting developmental moment for our Eden, who will be 2.5 years old on August 22.  Praying that she'll be running around with Hayley and Ellen by her birthday.

Almost forgot to share that Theresa brought Eden into the office declaring It must be the boots! (the new hot pink cowboy boots)  But Eden wouldn't stand on her own and then walk to me.  I'll have to wait for another time, hoping that there will be lots of opportunities in the near future.  Heading up for dinner.

I know many of you eagerly read the personal and family-type of blog posts (as I do on your blogs!) and I have not been consistent in posting updates.  I realize that Eden is learning so many new things and growing up so quickly I thought I'd share some things about her.

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We realize it's been way too long since we posted any updates on Eden, so here's our attempt to capsulize the last 6 weeks.  I'll make separate posts to make it more manageable to read.  This post explains where she's at with her various therapies. 

In June Eden went through her annual evaluations from all of her therapists (physical, occupational, and speech).  Some things pleasantly surprised us (or gave confirmation to our suspicions) and some things were not surprising . . .

Thought I'd update you all on Eden's second day, post trauma.  She was much better than I expected today.  She didn't cry with pain at all, as far as I could tell.  I kept her pumped full of Tylenol, but I wouldn't expect that to make a huge difference if she was really in serious pain.  She was even bearing a little weight on her left arm, e.g. bracing herself while sitting.  I think I winced more than she did today when she would lift her arm higher than I thought should be comfortable for her.  But I guess she wouldn't lift it if it hurt her.  She managed to get some food into her mouth using her left hand (her highchair tray is pretty close to her chin), but does reach for things with her right hand too.  She just doesn't have the fine motor skills in that hand to hold objects very well.  She seemed a little swollen and bruised this morning which had me worried that the bone was poking her skin (something I'm supposed to watch for), but it seemed fine later in the day.  I tried an ice pack a few times, but she tired of that quickly.  I'm going to try to take her to her pediatrician tomorrow since I can't get into the orthopedic clinic until Friday.  I'll feel better making sure that everything is how it should be until then.  She slept fine last night (Sat. night).  She was bored this afternoon after not being able to get around by herself all day.  So we went for a walk (Eden in the stroller) down to the farm where we got to see the pigs loaded onto a truck and 2 calves.  She enjoyed that, especially the calves.  To say that Eden is obsessed with babies, of any species, is an understatement. 

PS.  After the girls fell asleep, we left a relative in charge of the house and we went out of the house to decompress over some Rita's Ice. Note:  original post at Eden's broken collarbone

Theresa wrote the below in response to Eden's breaking of the collarbone, on the left side, yesterday morning before the family headed out to Marietta Day (Hayley, Ellen, & Tom went to Marietta Day w/the Tom's parents and Theresa went to Hershey Medical Center with Eden).  Please join us in prayer for Eden's quick healing over the course of the next 4-6 weeks, use of sling, and development of the other side of her body for greater mobility and the ability to feed herself.  Also pray for Theresa's continued grace-filledness during the increased time pressure/focus which this will demand.

Eden broke her collarbone on Sat. when she fell off the couch (she was standing on the couch, swatting at Ellen).  After about 30 min. of not being able to console and after checking her out, I was pretty sure something was wrong with her left shoulder.  She cried when she lifted her left arm.  Eden is one tough cookie and doesn't cry at much, and certainly not for any length of time.  She also started to fall asleep in my arms and again laying on the floor.  That was way out of character.  So I took her to the ER at Hershey Med . . .