New Year, New Goals
The crazy holiday season is officially over for our family. We wrapped up our last two family Christmas parties and are ready to move onto the new year. With the new year, comes new goals. For Maddie we’ve broken down our goals for her into four different categories. They are physical, mental, health, and vitality categories.
For her physical goal, we want Maddie to learn how to walk. Our goal is to have Maddie walk by her third birthday. Her birthday is in the beginning of June, so we have a ton of work to do. She’s been working hard at physical therapy. She actually completed her first round of intensive therapy, which included two sessions a week that were an hour an a half long. These therapy sessions included assisted walking on a treadmill.
For Maddie’s mental well being, our goal is to get her more proficient at her Augmented and Alternative Communication device. Communication continues to be a huge barrier for Maddie. As her personality develops, she is becoming more demanding. At times she cannot express exactly what she wants, leading her to cry or whine until she gets what she wants. She seems to understand us pretty well, we’re still learning how to read what Maddie wants. Having Maddie become used to simple commands on the iPad, will help us get our little one to express herself more.
Health wise, our goal is the same as last year’s goal. We would like Maddie to be seizure free. We were able to go a whole year seizure free, and we would love for that to be the case again this year. This isn’t a case of praying for our intended result, we have to be proactive in achieving this goal. This includes being in constant communication with her neurologist, routine EEGs, making sure Maddie is getting enough sleep, and recognizing when Maddie seems a bit off. Last year we upped the dosage of her anti-seizure medication because of certain off behaviors. We did this in consultation with her neurologist.
As for Maddie’s vitality goal, I want Maddie to have an experience that she has never experienced before. This past year was full of wonders for Maddie including her first plane ride, her first ballet, her first water slide, and many more. We have pushed Maddie out of her comfort zone, and we pay close attention if she becomes over stimulated. If she does, we typically have a game plan to remove her from the situation and help her reset, then we try again. Our logic is that this world is still wide open for our little one to experience, she just might need a few detours along the way. We’re planning a camping trip this summer, which will be the first time Maddie will sleep outside under the stars.
Of course like all goals, these are subject to change. We’re so proud of the progress that Maddie has made over this past year. As I’m watching her play on the floor, I’ve already thought of one for next year. Maddie has seemingly taken her new baby doll’s toys, and made them her own. She even stole the baby’s plastic pacifier. Oh well, next year we’ll teach her to share.
-Written by Adam Birchmeier
