New Developments

Every day we are discovering Charbel's new abilities. Each and every day we are happily surprised at all the progress he is making and the challenges that he is embracing.

1) Charbel is at the point where he doesn't like to be in his chair anymore. He is constantly moving his head off the headrest and trying to hold it up on his own. When asked if he wants to get out of the chair, he nods, and attempts to lift himself out! He grabs dad's arms and pulls himself up! It's only a matter of time before he can get up and out of the chair!

2) Hand and finger coordination - Charbel is now pointing to various objects and people with his index finger. He is also able to pick up small objects, such as balls and bracelets and he can (slowly) place them in his opposite hand. The right hand is a lot quicker and more controlled than the left hand, but he does have movement in the left, although it takes much more effort to accomplish tasks.

3) Greetings! Charb can now wave hello and goodbye with his right hand, and he loves to shake hands and give 'high five's'! He also gives thumbs up and thumbs down signs for 'yes' and 'no' and answers a range of questions in this manner.

4) Love of exercise - we have noticed that Charbel has remained passionate about exercise, even now. He enjoys his daily workouts greatly, and puts a lot of effort into lifting, pulling and gaining strength in his arms. He especially loves to arm wrestle! He waits for dad to count, 'one, two three, GO' and then off he goes with a lot of power. The other night, he couldn't sleep and so he was arm wrestling with the nurses!

5) Nodding his head - a couple of days ago, mom taught Charb to nod his head for yes, and shake his head for no. He has caught on to this, and has started to use this method to communicate with us when we ask him questions.

6) He understands Arabic! The other day his grandfather was talking to him in Arabic on the phone and was asking him to lift up his arm, and Charbel was doing exactly what he said.

7) His appetite is back! Charb is very interested in eating. Right now he is just allowed to sample very small bites of pudding and soft foods...we have to take him to Halifax for a swallow test in January so that we can determine how well he is swallowing and we can go from there.