October 23, 2006

October 23, 2006 | Updates

Well, this week we kept with the “famous Mr. Samuel” theme from last week! Recognize that guy in the picture with Samuel? I’ll let you know who he is later on in the post.

School lunch week went well. I went to lunch with Ben one day and Wes another. Samuel & Nathan tagged along and we all had a good time. Lunch was great both days - much better food than I remember eating when I was in school!

We also did parent teacher conferences. I can almost tell you what the teachers will say at the first conference of each year. Ben is so sweet and a pure joy to have in class, but a little behind in reading still. Wesley gets along well with everyone, does great work, but has a hard time getting things in on time. Tanner is a great kid, good example, but likes to be a little chatty at times. Funny how those same themes carry on from year to year. But I certainly can’t complain! I have great kids! And Samuel’s teachers just reiterated what we had talked about the week before and how impressed they are with him.

Speech therapy went great this week with Samuel eating enough of an m&m cookie to make a nice big mess. It was one of the first times we’ve seen him actually enjoy eating something. He seems to be acquiring a taste for chocolate. Go Samuel! Physical therapy was amazing. That last reduction in Samuel’s pump gave him HUGE improvements in his head and trunk control. I noticed it last Sunday in church when he was sitting on my lap literally “working” at his head control. He was holding up his head better than I’ve ever seen since his accident. And his physical therapist couldn’t believe it when we went in. I think we really blew his mind at the change Samuel made in just the last week!

We also spent a little time at another therapy clinic letting them meet and assess Samuel. They seemed like good therapists and now we just need to do a little playing with the insurance and see what they will and won’t cover for Samuel.

Sunday, Ben & Wesley were in the Primary program and it was so cute as they stood up on the stage and sang. Samuel was VERY wiggly and not in the greatest mood for that hour. But every time all the kids would sing, he would sit perfectly still and listen. Then when they would stop, he would start fussing again. During one of the songs, the kids held hands and raised their hands up in the air for certain parts of the chorus. Every time their hands would go up, Samuel would smile and once he would smile, Ben would start smiling and could barely sing. It was so cute! Ben got into it so much, that he nearly ripped the arm off the poor kid next to him (his buddy, Nate)! And those eye doctors say they don’t know what Samuel can see?! We were sitting halfway back to the back of the chapel and Ben was clear up on the back of the stage. Samuel could see him just great!

So, that was our week! Oh, yea, almost forgot the “famous” part. (Just kidding!) Extreme Makeover Home Edition (my favorite TV show) built a house in Logan this past week. We were lucky enough to be there on Saturday when they offered a tour of the VIP silent auction to those willing to make a small donation to the Pauni family. We took them up on that opportunity in a heartbeat.

Once we were in the VIP tent, we were able to donate some log furniture to the silent auction and get some passes to return the next day. While there, I suddenly noticed one of the designers from the show, Tanya McQueen, walking through the crowd. She came directly up to Samuel and sat and talked to him for about 5 minutes. He was all smiles, of course! I was in too much shock to realize I should be taking pictures, but a nice lady came up to me later and said she had taken some and would get some to me. A bit later, Preston Sharp and Tracy Hutson, two other designers came through and we were able to get his signature. We waited a while for Ty Pennington (the star of the show), hoping he would be there for the handoff of the keys to the house, but he never showed. So we watched the furniture be moved into the house and then headed home.On Sunday, we went to church and then headed back to try and see the “move that bus” moment. But we missed it by about 45 minutes. We hadn’t really tried that hard to get there in time, because we figured with Samuel’s wheelchair and the crowd, it would be nearly impossible to see anything anyway. But we later found out that there had been a specific place up front designated for those in wheelchairs and their families. Live and learn! We were pretty bummed we’d missed it. But later that day, Ed Sanders (who is now my favorite designer) spent literally hours in the crowd signing autographs and taking pictures. We waited for quite a while to get Samuel’s picture with him, and Samuel eventually fell asleep. But, apparently, Ed felt the same way and took a little nap with Samuel! (Thus the “sleeping” picture.) Cute, huh?! We waited again to see Ty, but he didn’t appear and the kids were getting cold, so we headed home.

RSS feed for comments on this post.
TrackBack URI

Leave a Reply