CIT: Day 5

Things are going really well over here! Thank goodness Day 1 was the worst and it has gotten progressively better each day.  At this point, Ryder no longer asks for us to take his cast off, it has become a normal part of his day and he has completely adjusted to having it on.

Watching him walk around with his left hand not in a fist (as Pap-Pap pointed out today, which is something I hadn’t even realized!) is a miracle within itself!  He always has his fist clenched and close to his body, but now that he’s actually using it, he walks with his arm lose, hand open, ready to reach for things and grab things…its really amazing!

So far what we have learned is that we need to find the right balance of not doing everything for Ryder, but not letting him get to the point of frustration.  We basically have to be close by at all times and are spending a lot of time down on his level, ready to help out when he asks for it or at the first signs of frustration.  We want him to be successful at whatever task he’s trying to do so that he’ll build up the confidence to keep trying and not give up.

I have some videos from the past few days.  As you can see, the balance is something I need to work on.  Instinctively I want to give him what he needs, so I have to constantly remind myself to push him to do things himself instead of just solving the problem for him.

 

A HUGE thank you to Nicki for finding the Bendy Spoons!!  I honestly didn’t think Ryder would be able to feed himself from a spoon with Lefty because of how he’s not able to turn his hand.  So watching him do this is beyond exciting!

So as you can see, this is a learning process for all of us, but we’re working hard!  Our spirits are up and we’re so proud of Ryder for everything he has done already in just 5 days!  Can’t wait to see what the next ____ will bring (taking this 1 day at a time, I don’t even want to think about how many days we have left.)