Big Al is on the move...

Allan has been making great progress lately. And that's not just us talking. We have a substitute PT while Julie's daughter is out for surgery and Miss Beth came this morning. The last time she was there was 2 weeks ago and she was very impressed with his improvement. He is able to walk much farther distances without wobbling or falling. He stops, steadies himself, pivots, side-steps, steps back, pretty much the whole package. We even went outside to show her how well he walks on uneven terrain (he found this to be an affront because the grass was wet). Griffith is very impressed, too, and keeps saying, "AlJude, run, run, run!" Not today, baby, but soon. Really soon.

Allan is also coming along with the eating and the talking, too. Today he ate quite a lot of mushed up banana -- and then accidentally choked himself with an empty spoon and spit it all back up. Still, progress. He can now say "all done!" and "off" and "on" and "yeah!" He knows the sign for "more" as well. It is just so nice to have some progress made on those fronts -- Miss Edie has said all along that he will pick up the language skills but (as with everything else) when HE wants to.

As you can see from the photos, Allan was not all that impressed with the trip to the duck pond. To be honest, Allan has never been a fan of the ducks. I think that they are too floppy and jumpy and too close to his face. Or, as Stephanie will tell you (with a shiver), they have FEATHERS everywhere. Allan spent all of his time climbing the stairs and crawling as far away from the ducks as he could. Which made it easier for Griffith to teeter on the edge of the pond and frighten Aunt Lee with the potential of taking a dive in to rescue him. It also made it easier for him to eat the stale, moldy bread that was meant for the ducks. Typical divide and conquer conduct from my boys.