money, Money, MONey, MON-EY!

Layne fell in love with my grandma's old electric juicer. He started up he own juicing business by selling his orange juice for $2 a quart. I think he ended up making over $50 over the last month and now he is burnt out.

Jarom did most of the picking, but Layne did most of the bagging. At home he washed them, cut them, juiced them, poured the juice in jars, sort of cleaned up (it was the month of the fruit flies) then called people to buy them. I was mostly impressed with his system, except for his phone skills. The worst being when he was talking to one person on the phone and someone rang the doorbell. People at the door are the most important people in the world to Layne.

He put about half in the bank, paid tithing, spent some and gave away the rest.

Record Keeping

Time is so hard to keep track of anymore. Someone asks when did he start doing this or when did you notice that? I don't have the foggiest idea. But I have found scrolling back through this blog (and emails) quite helpful in pinning down dates. So let it be known that 2 days after taking his first steps, we got Roxwell to crawl.

During his AZEIP evaluation on Friday the therapist made mention of his weak core and upper body muscles because of his lack of crawling. She discussed how beneficial it would be to his strength to do such an exercise that forced him to bear a heavy load on his left side like crawling does. Now, in addition to all the other things we have been working on, we are on the floor with him encouraging him to crawl and using the exercise ball to strengthen his core. As exhausting as a newborn, but very rewarding.

Milestone

Roxwell took his first steps today,just shy of 18 months. This is quite an achievement for out determined little one. He has been working so hard these past few months, but progress has been slow.

After taking him to the doctor last month for delayed motor skills, getting an MRI and having it all translated by a pediatric neurologist, we learned that Roxwell has a small amount of scar tissue in the right-center (semiovale, corona radiata and corticospinal tract) part of his brain. It is the result of bleeding in the brain which most likely occurred around the time of birth and the cause is indeterminable. His grey matter (the area that tells the body what to do) is well developed but the scar tissue interferes with the transmission of information to the spinal cord. While the spinal chord naturally tells everything to be stiff and the brain tells everything to relax, this affected areas are rigid. The technical terms are; hemiparesis from hypoxic ischemic brain injury.

We are so fortunate that it is mild and feel very good that he will able to fully recover. I have been working with him a lot; immobilizing his right hand while initiating play with his left, massaging his left side 2-3 times a day, using essential oils and cold laser therapy at the chiropractor. Hopefully we will start formal therapy soon, he is being evaluated this week for that.

It is possible for his brain to heal, but the main focus is for his brain to be made aware of the connections that are missing. Even if the scarring does not heal, young brain cells are very capable of taking on extra duties when there is a need to. Before three years of age the brain can rewire when given the right stimulation, so physical therapy is key right now.

Brik is the supportive big brother behind the camera. I didn't even tell him to cut me out because I hadn't showered yet, but he did anyway, he is so thoughtful. Roxwell got bitten up by misquotes, that is what is on his head and why his left arm is covered (to keep him from scratching.)

Almost Free

“Hey lady.”  Buy this dress, buy this, hammock, buy this rug, buy this jewelry, buy this Mexican junk.  For real.

Those locals were really creative in finding ways to make a living off of all the tourism.

Pay me for throwing this sedated donkey on you and taking your picture.

Pay me for making sculptures in the sand.

Pay me for stacking rocks.

I will put some iguana’s on you, grab the camera out of your hands, shoot a picture and tell you, you have to pay me. For real.