Click on the Piece of Candy to find out more about me!

•  First My Year    

  I weighed 1 pound 9 ounces and was 12 1/2 inches long.

  • 1-22-98 to 1-22-99: This is how I grew and who helped me from birth until my first birthday.

    When you are born early like me at 25 weeks, you have to wait until you are 32 weeks developed before you have a sucking reflex to suck a bottle that most babies are born with.  My suck was poor from the very beginning.  But there was a nurse in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) that had faith in me.  She convinced the doctors that I needed to practice sucking a bottle.  Because of her dedication I soon was sucking well enough to go home to be with my family.

    When I arrived home, my parents recognized that I was still having difficulties sucking my bottle.  They bought every type and size of nipple that they could find.  This was a hard time for me because I wasn't very good at sucking and my parents were giving me different nipples trying to find a nipple that offered me success.  I was tiny and had to grow but my suck was still not close to normal.  Eating was not pleasant and not enjoyable.

    My parents had to burp me often because I gulped a lot of air into my stomach.  They ended up giving me the largest nipple they could buy to fill the gaps between my mouth and the nipple.  I threw up a lot.  My parents just changed my clothes then changed their clothes.

    They learned that I had to be still - VERY STILL - for about one hour after I ate.  If they moved me I would throw up on them.  They were great and still loved me even if I gave them more dirty laundry then they needed.

    I really changed my families way of life when I came home from the hospital.  My brothers were young and they had to be quiet.  My sister was taking piano lessons and needed a lot of practice.  Needless to say a quiet house really didn't happen very often.  I cried and wished I could have slept more.  My family did try to comfort me but rocking and movement would cause me to throw up.

    I had a difficult time with my vision.  I liked dark rooms.  My eyes were crossed, they shook, and I looked downward.  The doctors said I had sun set eyes.  This meant that just like a sun sets on the horizon my eyes were mostly down with the white showing on top - like a sun set.

    My parents gave me toys that were black and white.  Not that I could play with any of them but the toys were placed in front of me.  Even grandma made a black and white quilt that I laid on.  This helped my eyes settle on the sharp contrast that the black and white provided.

    My body was stiff and I didn't move   What ever one arm did the other also did.  The same way with my legs.  It seemed as if I had one arm and one leg.  That is what my brain thought and felt. That is what it feels like to have cerebral palsy.  My mom could hold me with one hand by pressing me against her body.  I was so stiff that she never feared that I would flop around.  And I didn't because I couldn't.

    When I was taken outside to a brother's soccer game, I lost my breath.  My head had to be covered or I would hold my breath and then throw up.  On the other hand a blanket on top of my head caused me stress and that would caused me to throw up.  My parents had to experiment until they thought they found what worked for me.  I don't think they ever did figure this one out because I was different every time I was outside.

    I experienced trauma in car rides.  I would cry as if I was being tortured.  But then any movement was bad for me.  I threw up every day for some reason or other.

    I saw quiet a few doctors that are not listed.

    • 3 months NICU care at Baylor Hospital.

    • Occupational therapy through Early Childhood Intervention (ECI) once a month.

    • Speech therapy through ECI once a month.

    My mom and Dad read the book What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child by Glenn Doman.  They liked what this book had to offer, hope.  No one else had anything good to say about children with a brain injury.  The book offered healing ideas that were put in place in my daily routine and my family believe this was a foundation to my future success.

• I am one year old!  

  I grew to 12 pounds and was 18 inches long.

  • 1-22-99 to 1-22-00:  If you noticed last year ended and I all I did was threw up from everything.  Other than laying on a black and white quilt for short periods of time I did nothing.

    My family had me on a schedule of a bottle every three hours.  My stomach liked this schedule.  After I turned one year old the doctors switched me to drinking PediaSure.  I only liked vanilla.  The other flavors caused me to throw up.  Can you believe that it took my parents almost the entire year to figure this out.  They also tried to feed me baby food.  You would probably think that this would be a good thing.  WRONG!  I would just throw it all up.  They never gave up.  They just kept trying and I just kept on throwing up.  Except vanilla PediaSure.  They did learn some tricks like burping me often.  This helped but by the end of the year I still was dependant on bottles for all my nourishment.

    My mom went to Philadelphia and took the course 'What To Do About Your Brain Injured Child' given by Glenn Doman and the staff at the Institutes of Higher Human Potential.  My mom took her education on brain injured children and adapted our home life to put me in a winning home environment.

    I got my first tooth when I was a year and half old.  I really didn't need teeth because I couldn't eat anyway.

    Toward the end of the year I began to say 'ahgooh'.  My family translated 'ahgooh' to 'I Love You".  If they tried real hard they could get me to laugh and smile.

    I spent the year on my black and white quilt.  I had to be on my back as I would screamed in fear when placed on my stomach.  I got a developmental toy that dangled toys down from a criss-cross over me.  I could not hold a rattle so my family hung rattles over my head.  I liked to look at them and a few times I hit a rattle.  Mostly I just laid there looking.

    The thing I hate the most is nursery rhymes.  I try to tolerate nursery rhymes but they made me cry.  I would cry and hold my breath and they would still sing to me.

    Occupational therapy through ECI once a week.

    Speech therapy through ECI once a week.

    Vision Teacher through the school district once a week.

    Conductive Education, a two hour Mommy and Me class taught by Hungarians.  They combined physical, occupational, speech therapy with a preschool teacher and call her a conductor.  The class was amazing and was Monday through Thursday every week.  This class started in November, I was almost two years old when I started the class.

     

• I am two years old!

  I now can lay on my back and look at things for a short period of time.

  • 1-22-00 to 1-22-01:  Did you notice that I still am the same only I added more things made me throw up.  I enjoyed Conductive Education except for singing nursery rhymes.  They taught me to stick out my tongue.  If I wanted attention I would stick my tongue out.  The Conductors tried hard every day to actually teach me to sit, stand, and move around the room.  They taught my parents some life theories that were different than what Americans told them.  The Conductors that worked with my family when I was two years old are still a big part of my life as I grow today.  Not a day goes by that Conductive Education is still not a part of my life. At the end of the school year, May 2000, I could tolerate positions better but was still doing not much more than the year before.  I also experienced many possible positions and I practiced to accomplish them.  They train cerebral palsy children as if they are Olympic athletes.

    I began to have seizers right after I turned two years old.  I had five seizers this first year.

    In June 2000 I had 35 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen.

    • During the first few hours of Hyperbaric I had four teeth erupt.

    • I began to sleep through the night.

    • I gave up the pacifier.

    • I began to drink from a cup.  No more bottles!

    • My legs relaxed a little.

    During July 2000, I did a five week intense Conductive Education Camp.  Four hours a day for five days a week.  During this time I began to actually do the exercises and participate in the program.  The Hyperbaric Oxygen helped me advance in my skills.  I still don't like nursery rhymes.

    • I could sit with out my mom applying pressure on my arms.

    • I stood holding onto a table bearing weight on my legs.

    • The class was easier for me and much more enjoyable except for the nursery rhymes.

    In August my mom took me back for 26 more hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

    • My tongue began to move a small bit to the sides.

    • I became a bit more social.  When I got close to someone, I would put my feet on them.  My mom would not see me do this but I could always get my feet on who ever she was talking to.  This may sound strange but it was the only way I could let someone know I cared.

    Even with the great strides I made this year, I still threw up a lot.  Not to the extreme that I did before Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy but I still did have bad spells.  I was fed vanilla PediaSure every three hours and burped often.  The therapies outside of my home had to be one hour after I ate.  My mom became my personal attendant making sure my schedule worked best for me.

    By the end of the year I still cry at nursery rhymes.  My vision teacher determined I could distinguish  color and she taught me to turn pages in a hard cover book.

    I was so small that I could only ride a horse laying down on my back.  I started the session tight and after one half hour I would let some tone go.

    I received the following services:

    • Conductive Education 2 hours a week, four days a week until May.

    • Conductive Education summer camp.  Five days a week for four hours a day for six weeks in July.

    • Physical therapy at Cook’s Children One hour a week

    • 61 hours of hyperbaric oxygen.  35 hours in June and 26 hours in August.

    • Weekly ECI services, occupational and speech therapy.

    • Vision services through the school district one hour a week.

    • I began riding horse (hippo therapy) in the fall.

• I am three Years Old!     

  I weighed 15 pounds and was 29 inches long.

  • 1-22-01 to 1-22-02:  Last year was life changing when I found Conductive Education and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.  It took the extreme oxygen and the intense therapy to get me kick started. 

    Another break through was when the doctors listened to my mom and I was diagnosed as a pituitary dwarf.  She knew I wasn't growing because of my pituitary gland.  The testing took a few months and then a few months past while my body got use to the growth hormone shot.  Everything that made me throw up for the past three years stopped when my body was given growth hormone shots.

    I did an eight week Conductive Education Camp.  I did my 'business' in the potty chair.  My little feet didn't even bend to touch the floor but I went potty!!  A few weeks later I did a big job!  Once my mom figured out my signals, I went poo in the toilet every day.

    Camp was great, I began to sit better, stand better, participate better . . . but I still cried at the nursery rhymes.  Conductive Education worked because my mom was with me.  This way she learned what I was doing and could take my strengths to my home environment.

    My mom noticed that I could repeat a rocking motion in my walker.  I had this walker for a year and a half and never actually walked in it.  So this small movement was big.  My dad had hardwood floors installed through out the first floor in our home.  He knew that I could walk most successful with hardwood and tile floors instead of carpeted floors which would cause to much resistance.

    I began to see a neurological chiropractor in July.  Dr. Peter Jailett followed a developmental protocol and more changes started to happen:

    • Strabismus (crossed eyes) and Nystagmus (shaking eyes) began to show signs of diminishing.  (strabismus surgery was cancelled.)
    • Babinski reflex was gone.
    • Normal reflex patterns began to emerge.
    • I was able to calm myself.
    I did another Conductive Education Camp in July.  I began to tolerate being on my stomach.  My disgust of nursery rhymes was so strong that my brothers and sister would sing to me just to see if I would cry.  Guess what?  I usually did but sometimes they would be funny and I would laugh.  They started playing a game if they could be silly enough to make laugh. I still lived off of vanilla PediaSure, but once a day I started to have a Danimals drinkable yogurt.  By September I began to eat vanilla foods, pudding, ice cream, yogurt, and white milk.

    My mom had an idea to use a SoniCare tooth brush (with water only) on my few front teeth.  This took about a second each day but the benefits were my gag reflex began to go away.  Of course this took months but it worked.

    By the end of this year, I was eating bland foods; rice cereal mixed with baby food fruits and the vanilla flavored foods.  Yum!

    I still laid down while riding a horse.  I could for a short time ride on my stomach.

    Hunter received the following services:

    • ECI was replaced by Public School when I turned three years old
    • Conductive Education camp in February and July.
    • Began seeing Dr. Peter Jaillet, neurological chiropractor, in July.
    • Continued to see private P.T.
    • Continued Hippo Therapy
    • Began Growth Hormone Therapy

• I am four years old   

  I weigh 20 pounds and am 34 inches long.

  • 1-22-02 to 1-22-03:

    Thank God for the growth hormone shot!  My stomach feels so good.  I am enjoying bland baby food so much that my parents are spending $50.00 a week at the grocery store.  By the end of this year I could eat fruits, vegetables, and meats.  I ate all baby food but it is food!  I didn't know what to do with the food at first, I had only drank from a cup for four years.  I was a different kind of mess.

    For a year my parents asked me if I had to 'go to the bathroom'.  So I don't know why they were surprised that I would say "go" when I had to go to the bathroom.  It took them awhile to put it all together.

    I could tell the horse to 'go' and the 'whoa'.  They were so patient with me because when I figured this out I said 'go' and 'whoa' often.  This was the first time I ever could control anything and I was going to work it.

    I did 26 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

    I found enjoyment in my brothers being disgusting.  When ever they would sneeze, had a burp or other body function noise I would laugh.  I could now feel my parents tickle me.

    My parents would strap roller skates on my feet.  Because of the weight of the skates I couldn't cross my legs.  I loved to roller skate so much I had a roller skating birthday party.  I just stomped but it felt like roller skating to me.

    Now that I sleep through the night, my parents didn't come into my room as much.  I still had a few bad nights and they learned that I could see in the dark room and in poor lighting.  My eyes don't focus for long but when they did they could tell.

    I was in my walker more than other years.  I would lift my feet up and someone would do the moving forward.  Mostly I was carried everywhere.  I enjoy sitting in a shopping cart.

    Hunter received the following services:

    • Hippo Therapy
    • Dr. Peter Jaillet
    • 26 hours of hyperbaric oxygen treatment

• I am five years old!     

  I weigh 24 pounds and am 39 inches tall!

  • 1-22-03 to 1-22-04:

    My dad bought a pressure cooker and started making me soft real food.  He made my meals and mom froze them.  I ate well if I liked it.  If I didn't like the food I would spit.  My mom wore a bib when I ate.  She laughs at that now but at the time she wasn't laughing.

    I was doing aquatic therapy and started to eat with my mouth closed. I started to use sign language for 'more'.  I started saying 'good'.

    SOMETHING HAPPENED RIGHT AFTER MY SISTER'S WEDDING.

    I began to use my toes when walking in August.  I actually began to do the pushing when I walked in my walker.

    I was having a seizer every three weeks until my grandma suggested to my mom to add flax seed to my diet.  I didn't have a seizer for four months.

    I was asked to join a home based preschool.  I went every Tuesday and Thursday with six other children.  At first it was hard because I tried to copy everything they did.  My mom was with me and help me sit, stand, and kneel and because this was preschool, they sang nursery rhymes.  As long as my mom didn't sing I was ok.  At the playground all I could do was swing in a baby swing.  No big surprise that the swinging motion made me throw up.  But it was all I could do at the playground.  I loved preschool and I loved my friends.

    I began gymnastics.  My coach brought her husband and the two of them along with my parents (four adults) would help me do proper positions for forward rolls, back bends, hand stands, etc.  Once a week the four adults would break a sweat.  I am very strong and they never gave up.

    I got to ride a new horse that was rescued.  Phil was very skinny which was good for my tight legs.  I rode this fall with a back rider.  I was big enough to straddle the horse but I wasn't strong enough to hold my body up.  I had to have my mom ride behind me or I would cry.

     Hunter received the following services:

    • Hippo therapy one hour per week.
    • Preschool starting in September
    • Special Needs gymnastics one hour per week, starting in September.
    • Flax seed in diet every day. starting in September.
    • Neurological chiropractor twice a week.

• I am six years old!

  What a wonderful year!

  • 1-22-04 to 1-22-05:  I started eating oatmeal and applesauce.  My parents started to crock pot all my foods.  Then they would grind the stews so my dinners were more like oatmeal instead of baby food.  I stopped spitting unless if I was mad.

    I started to hold my mom's hand.

    My eating was improving through these past years the more my mom use the Sonicare tooth brush on all teeth.  She included some recommended oral exercises that was stimulating my mouth. I never watched TV ever until I was six and a half years old.  I enjoyed interactive programs such as Dora the Explorer and Blues Clues.  The characters talk to me.

    I showed that I could distinguish  mono tone color . Meaning he could see and reach for a brown rein on a brown horse, with a brown mane and brown saddle.

    I was now growing and my parents could tell that they wouldn't be able to carry me to much longer.  They actually thought they could push me in a stroller at a museum.  This was not acceptable to me.  I didn't see any other six year olds being pushed around in a stroller.  They ended up carrying me and leaving the stroller at the entrance.  I showed them and they never pulled out that stroller again.

    The next week at a Harley Davidson motorcycle show my parents brought my walker and I walked the entire show stopping to look at each motorcycle.  This was the beginning of my not being carried and me practicing my walking.

    I was in my walker quiet a bit now.  When we went shopping I loved to have a basket on my walker and I helped my mom shop at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. because I was her shopping cart.

    Hunter received the following services:

    • Hippo therapy one hour per week
    • Aquatic therapy one hour per week during the summer
    • Special needs gymnastics one hour per week
    • Neurological chiropractor twice a week
    • Preschool Tuesday and Thursday 9 to 12

• I am seven years old!

  I started eating table food!

  • 1-22-05 to 1-22-06: My parents sold our house and we relocated in a city several hundred of miles away.  When the movers were in our house I was in charge of Chili, my Chihuahua.  When we settled in our new home I would walk around our home and touch our furniture.  Mom teased me that I was playing tag.  I just set a goal and got to the object.  One time I was holding the back of a kitchen chair, I held onto the sofa and counter top.  I even held on to a magazine and a basket

    In June I did 20 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.  I started to stand on my legs using my hips properly.  Before I leaned forward now I can stand.  It's about time. 

    I love eating what every one else is eating.  Cafeteria food rocks.  I love the food at school.  My brothers think I'm crazy. I don't need a potty chair seat adapter anymore.  I sit on the toilet like every one else.  I even can stand up when done.  I love to flush the toilet.

    I can sit in a chair!  I was so excited the first day of school that I sat in a chair with no seat belt!  My mom kept saying 'you don't understand, he has never sat on a chair before! I like to make my parents proud of me. I can now sit at the kitchen table with my family and eat at the same time.  All these past years I ate first then my family ate.  Now I participate in family meals.

    At night I started to sit on mom and dad's lap.  Not only can I in chairs I can now sit on their laps in the evening.  They are forgetting that I have CP.  I am not thrusting back during a one hour show where previously I would thrust back once to twice per minute.

    I like when my therapist talk to me in Spanish.  My parents don't understand Spanish so I have been learning the language and understand what is said to me.  If my therapist ask me to do something in Spanish I'll do it and longer when she counts in Spanish then if she ask me in English.

    In October and November I did 20 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

    I started to say the word ‘no’.  For years I could only say ‘yeah’.  One day at Speech therapy I said 'no' to everything, even my favorite activities just so I could say 'no'.  It was so much fun to say 'no'.

    I started to show my sense of humor.  One day I told my speech therapist that I rode a cow not a horse.  I thought it was funny.  Another day she wanted to know my name so I told her it was Sally.

    In December I did a listen therapy called AIT.

    I don't cry in the car anymore.  At least not as much.  Before I would cry every time the driver stepped on the brake.  This forward motion hurt me.  Now I just don't like when we have to stop at a red light or a stop sign.  I like to drive.

    My eyes straightened.  No more crossed eyes!

    I now wear one pair of shoes for six weeks vs. one week.  I was rubbing off the toes of my shoes but now I'm wearing a little bit of the bottoms of my shoes.

    I can answer questions with a written response vs. a picture.  I can spell my name, too.

     Hunter’s current weekly therapies:

               Monday:     50 minutes – physical therapy

                                 50 minutes - speech therapy

              Wednesday: 50 minutes - aquatic therapy (on land in cold months)

                                 50 minutes – occupational therapy

              Friday:         One hour – hippo therapy with occupational therapist

                                 One hour – gymnastics

              Saturday:     Baseball – eight games in spring and 5 games in fall

     Hunter’s major therapies:

               June – 20 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

              October / November – 20 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

              December – 20 sessions of AIT, an auditory listening therapy

     Hunter’s nutrition and supplements:

               Continue 1 ½ tablespoons flax seed daily

              1 capsule of fish oil, began in November

              1 casual of pumpkin seed oil, began in November

              He continues to receive Nutropin AQ daily for growth hormone deficiency.

• I am eight years old!

  No one can stop me now!

  • 1-22-06 to 1-22-07:  I learned to sing in music class.  I can sing all the songs on American Idol.  I never missed a single episode.  During the summer I have been watching 'So you want to be a rock star?  Super Nova'.  I am a good singer.  I cry when my mom sings because she is a bad singer.

    I had an appointment at the Houston University low Vision Clinic.  They confirmed that my eyes are not crossed.  They couldn't believe the photos of me in December with crossed eyes.  My mom made them say the words 'his eyes are aligned' over and over because she had never heard that before.

    The school district borrowed me a gait trainer.  When I first walked in the gait trainer in January I was sweating with exhaustion after attempting 20 steps.  By March I lapped the building (225 feet) in 12 minutes.  Then in April I twice lapped the building (550 feet) in 20 minutes.  But in May I twice lapped the building in 15 minutes 18 seconds.  Yes I rock!

    My parents signed me up to play base ball.  With assistance I can throw a ball overhand.  I can bat and hit the ball either off a t-ball stand or from coach pitch with help.  They have young buddies (volunteers) that can help me run the bases.

    I love baseball.  When they gave me my baseball trophy I was speechless.  My mouth hung open and I couldn’t keep my eyes off MY baseball trophy.  This was almost as great as when I played at the Texas State Baseball Tournament in April.

    I started laughing at things and people that I think is funny.  My family used to always have to include me but I can find humor in life by myself now.

    I did 20 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy end of July first of August.

    I love to go swimming. I now can swim by myself.  I laugh so hard when my parents let go of me and I am floating with my arm floaties.  What a great time I have in the pool.

    I love to play guitar with Dad.  I think he is the greatest guitar player in the world.  My mom and brothers go in their rooms and shut the doors when we play guitar.  I think it is because we are loud because I think we play real good.

    My favorite time to walk is when I take the dogs for walks.

    I loves time in my crawler.  I am fast and am starting to use my hands more often.

    In gymnastics I hang on the rings with straight arms.  They ask me to do these real hard positions and I start the movement like tuck, pike, straddle, and v- positions.   I love to do back somersaults.  I hate cartwheels.  I have good friends in gymnastic class.

    I like to swipes at the toilet tissue to spin it.  I sneak it in every time I can in the bathroom.  I play with two yoyos hanging from my in walker.

    I'm able to swinging one arm around mom and dad's neck to give them hugs when they hold me.

    I'm starting to wash my hair with my mom's help.  I can also rub hand lotion on my hands with help.

    For the first time in my life I sit straight up in the morning.  I have always been lifted flat out of bed.  Now I sit first.  Just like you!

    A storm woke me up at 2 AM.  I was scared until my Mom came into my room and put me in bed with her and Dad.  I rolled to my side so I could rub her arm so she wouldn't be scared.  She said "you are freaking me out!"  I just smiled because she had never seen me stroke her arm before.  I bent my elbow and took care of her.  Then I touched her cheek.  I think she might have had a tear in her eye.

    Now I bend my arm and hug my parents.  I am getting real good and even twist at my waist.  My parents are always surprised when I hug them.  They don't expect it.

    I began to play with my puzzles by myself.  I enjoy taking them apart.  Until now I could only play if someone moved my hands.  This is called hand over hand.

    Hunter’s current weekly therapies:

               Monday:     50 minutes – physical therapy

                                 50 minutes - speech therapy

              Wednesday: 50 minutes - aquatic therapy (on land in cold months)

                                 50 minutes – occupational therapy

              Friday:         One hour – hippo therapy with occupational therapist

                                  One hour – gymnastics

              Saturday:      Baseball – eight games in spring and 5 games in fall

    Hunter’s major therapies:

               July – 20 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

              December – 20 sessions of AIT, an auditory listening therapy

     Hunter’s nutrition and supplements:

               Continue 1 ½ tablespoons flax seed daily

              1 capsule of fish oil, began in November

              1 casual of pumpkin seed oil, began in November

              He continues to receive Nutropin AQ daily for growth hormone deficiency.

     

• I am nine years old!

  Fun is my middle name!

  • 1-22-07 to 1-22-08  I did 23 hours of hyperbaric oxygen in January.  I was luckily enough to bring my Grandma and Grandpa with me.  One day we went to Johnson Space Center.  I had fun introducing my grandparents to my Hyperbaric Friends. 

    During Hyperbaric Oxygen therapy, I began to bend my knees.  I would be standing and then I let my knees bend.  It feels so funny that it makes me laugh.  My mom teases me that my bones are gone.  Sometimes kids hear my mom and they ask their mom where my bones went.  That makes everyone laugh.

    I might have found the perfect girlfriend.  I met a girl that can pick her nose.  Since I can't pick my nose she might be my perfect match!  Some of my friends agree and some think I should keep looking.

    I began doing a new physical therapy called TheraSuit.  This suit is used by the cosmonauts when they return to Earth from the Mir.  They can't walk on Earth because they have been in space for too many months.  The Russians began to use this method on the CP kids and got great results.  I am fortunate to have this program in Houston.  They give me an intense work out and I have fun.  I play tennis and go fishing.  I did my first intensive program in February.

    I began to sit next to my mom when we watch TV at night.  At first she thought I was squirmy.  Then she put me next to her and I was happy she knew I wanted to sit like her.

    Soon I was not just sitting next to her but my mom didn't have to hold me, I could sit next to her but she didn't hold on to me.

    This spring I played base ball with out my walker.  My parents ordered my new outdoor walker in February and it is now expected to arrive in August.  They tried to have me play in my indoor walker but I wasn't safe.  So I did my baseball season with out a walker.

    I was published in the Katy Magazine.  My whole baseball team was photographed.

    I was on the Fox News.  My dad had just given me a hair cut.  My mom said he didn't miss a spot.  Dad said he thought I looked like Chris Daughtry who is one of my favorite rock stars.

    I love American Idol more than ever.  I have bought every American Idol CD that is available to buy.  When I hear the singers on the radio I start singing along.

    I can now sing many sentences in a row.  I think I am getting better every day.  I play guitar, piano, cymbals, the triangle, and drums.  I think I rock

    I continued TheraSuit weekly and did another intensive three week program in May.

    I sat on the floor for 30 minutes with out my mom helping me.  She laid on the floor and I played with her hair.  Just a few months ago I could only sit for maybe 30 seconds.

    I can now do hard patterns.  I was doing AB patterns and now I can do ABCD patterns!

    I did 40 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy.

    I did my third intensive TheraSuit program in September.  Now when my parents move one of my legs only that leg moves.  I can separate my legs and arms.  I am faster at playing with my puzzles.

    I can put pictures in sequence order.

    I am wearing underwear all day.  My favorite underwear is Spider Man.

    I can pedal my new bike.  My parents thought I couldn't steer and were surprised when I turned the bike to go down another street instead of going straight home.  I love to ride my bike by the pond and watch the ducks.

    I began riding horse backwards and now I hardly cry in the car.

    I am eating all my foods without being ground together.  This is helping me learn how to chew chicken differently than mashed potatoes differently than corn.  I am able to eat many new foods I haven't tried before.

    My standing is improving  My parents can't tell what is going on but they know something is different.

    I can walk easier with out my walker.  I can walk a long ways with my mom's help.  She says her back doesn't hurt her because I do most of the work.

    I have been taking my puzzles apart for a year now.  My speed is getting fast.  I tell my parents when I am done and they say slow down!

    When I have my arm braces on I can stay in a crawling position.

    I have said words that start with "M" for a while.  In December I started saying the "M" sound when ever I want.  This is one of the first phonics sounds a person will make.  My Mom and Dad are practicing oral motor exercises with me.  I practice blowing whistles, sucking a straw, and blowing bubbles.  They act crazy every time I make a sound.  They sure are funny sometimes.

     Hunter’s current weekly therapies:

               Monday:      90 minutes – physical therapy

               Tuesday:     50 minutes - speech therapy

                                  60 minutes – hippo therapy with occupational therapist

              Wednesday: 90 minutes – physical therapy

              Thursday:     50 minutes - speech therapy

                                  60 minutes – hippo therapy with occupational therapist

              Saturday:      Baseball – eight games in spring and 5 games in fall

    Hunter’s major therapies:

               January – 23 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

               February - Intensive TheraSuit

               May - Intensive TheraSuit

               August - 40 hours of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy

               November – 20 sessions of AIT, an auditory listening therapy

               December - Intensive TheraSuit

    Hunter’s nutrition and supplements:

               Continue 1 ½ tablespoons flax seed daily

              1 capsule of fish oil

              1 casual of pumpkin seed oil

              He continues to receive Nutropin AQ daily for growth hormone deficiency.

• I am ten years old!  

   

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