March 08- Brett continues to bless our lives

Joel snuggling with Brett. He climbed on him by himself.

It has been a couple months since I've updated Brett's page. Thankfully there have been no emergencies and overall, Brett has had good health. "Colds" seem to be his biggest enemy and he's had 2 of them in the last month. The one he has right now has slowed him down. He had fever one evening and morning, but thankfully no seizure activity. In some ways he is still the same, and in other small ways we see change. When he is feeling well, he is still rolling all around and we find him in all sorts of places. He still likes to hide out under our open-bottom couch! One evening while giving him a bath, he was giggling after I squeezed the rag of warm water on him. He did it several times, although the reaction was delayed. He continues to have a pleasant disposition, for which we are continually grateful. I think he helps us all to just slow down and not stress out so easily!

Brett's new helper, Tini. She comes once a week to work with Brett. She is familiar with G-tubes and has often worked with handicapped children.

Brett knew we put a baby chicken on his lap. He reached for it and watched it when it jumped to the top of his seat.

Gains....small but gains!

We are so thankful Brett continues to gain weight and length. He is now 25lbs., which is quite a lug for all of us. We really hope to bring him back next fall with a small sized wheel-chair so we can move him around easier. His head control is gaining, and his sitting muscles are getting stronger. The area of need right now is his feet/ankles. Because of the low muscle tone, his feet hang down past 90 degrees. This is causing the tendon in his calf to shorten. We are working with Ulrike to get this corrected. Right now we are trying to find ankle infant shoes that will help hold his foot in the right position. In May we hope to connect with a doctor in the US who comes to Haiti. He can make a special brace for Brett to wear at night to hold his foot. If the tendon shortens and Brett walks in the future, he would walk on his tip-toes, unless we had surgery to correct it. Better to prevent the tendon from shortening now. We'll do the best we can! Ulrike reports that Brett is working longer without getting upset. She sees this as positive. Thanks for the prayers....We love you all.

Brett working on sitting up!

Brett practicing sitting in the high chair