Thank you Lord!

Benaiah went and saw his favorite Neuro today.  The man was smiling and kept smiling which made me realize how much we were missed and how much he truly cares for Benaiah.  Mike thought Benaiah talked more and when asked his colors in English Benaiah answered correctly and that obviously impressed him.  We have a new plan of action and down the road I will be referred to an orthopedic doctor.  Benaiah's tone in his legs was brought up and Mike is under the impression that him being a kid is much better at this point than an pt or ot.  Now I am not sure what pt or ot involves here in Ukraine but he did offer therapy if I wanted it.  For now though we are going to go with just letting him be a kid. I thank the Lord for giving us Mike.

Favorite things

We have been in Ukraine since Wednesday morning.  Today Benaiah and I worked on his apraxia workbook and tonight I asked him what a couple of his favorites were. I asked him what his favorite color was and he said black.  At this point I wasn't sure he really understood the word favorite.  Then I asked him what his favorite animal was and he said слон- elephant.  So yes he understands the word favorite.  He seems to be talking more.  Today I noticed that the school has more playground equipment which will be great for helping Benaiah's upper body strength.  Over all Benaiah is doing really good.  He is walking the stairs well, he loves his sand box even when the weather is below 40 degrees.  Tomorrow he wants to go to Tatas'(Stefa- this is what came out when we tried to get him to say Stefa) house to see her puppy.  Here is a picture of one of Benaiah's favorite things

Hi from Krakow

Our flights on Monday went very well.  The check in lady for Polish Lot was amazing.  She started by giving the 2 little boys stickers.  Then she complimented Benaiah on him being a sweet boy.  This is the lady that helped me figure out what the Warsaw office wanted for the medical form because Benaiah has epilepsy.  We are all happy to be back in Eastern Europe. 

  Benaiah hasn't had a seizure but he did have a funny spell on the flight from Warsaw to Krakow.  This was after they loaded us on a bus to cart us back to the terminal and dump us in the waiting area.  No seats were available.  It was nice we had the medical form as we ended up needing a wheelchair for Benaiah.

Running after the pigeons.  Look Cousin Maya, Benaiah still has the elephant.  

Benaiah has started back with his speech therapy with me as the therapist.  We worked hard last night, jet lag is a great thing :), with his Apraxia workbook and today this is what he said "I want nut....I want more please....I want more nut, punk......I want more nuts." Yep, I got a plural out of Benaiah after many tries. Benaiah doesn't say plurals and he also doesn't talk to strangers.  So if you see him and say Hi to him, don't be suprised if he doesn't answer you cause he usually can't.  I am very interested to see what Benaiah's reaction to Stefa is.  He knows we are almost home. 

Indiana

We are now visiting family before we leave on Monday.  Benaiah has been doing very good with the interruption of life and the break from therapy.  He loves his aunts 2 dogs and I think they may love him but may find him annoying.  He says they are going to Ukraine along with his grandma's dog.  So it appears we may have a dog lover in the family.


If you plan on shopping at Amazon, please take time to support CHASA. If you're buying items from Amazon.com this year, you can help raise funds for the Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association (the org that sponsors this facebook group). Amazon will donate a portion of sales to CHASA if you access their

site by using the link on the CHASA site. http://www.chasa.org/you-can-help/amazon-fundraiser/ There's no extra cost to you - it's a freebie, so help us out! This is what has helped me so much understand Benaiah's stroke and lasting effects

 

Finally, I didn't post this last month. I was thrilled to see we are getting the word out on pediatric stroke.  "The Children's Hemiplegia and Stroke Association, CHASA, was awarded the National Outstanding Group at the National Stroke Association's RAISE Awards this evening. CHASA was nominated for this award by Lisa Curely, Conner's mom. Lisa contacted us in July to let us know that she was nominating CHASA as an Outstanding Group. We were really excited and honored that Lisa wante

d to nominate CHASA. Lisa has attended the CHASA Family Retreat, so she knows some of the things we do to help kids with hemiplegia. In September, NSA contacted me to tell us that CHASA was nominated by multiple people - I don't have all the names - and that we were chosen for this award. NSA knew all the activities that YOU, CHASA families, have done to increase pediatric stroke awareness - purple hair dye, tattoos, signs on your houses, walks, selling wristbands, giving talks at school, making posters, setting up displays at pancake restaurants and all the other crazy things you do to spread the word about pediatric stroke.

So, what we want you to know is that every time you told someone that our kids have hemiplegia or pediatric stroke, you were spreading awareness. And, one of the adult stroke organizations took notice. Jana Smoot White and Julie Julie Stumpek Ring are accepting this award on behalf of all of you, the CHASA Families. This would not have happened without you!