The Stupid Ladies.

I escaped for a few hours this morning to do some Christmas shopping. Those who know me know that shopping is one of my most favorite pastimes, but it's not so much anymore. Everything is different now, or I see things in a different light. It just wasn't as much fun. The good thing is I'm pretty much done. I know I won't be getting many more opportunitites to shop before Christmas, so its good I did it today. Ashton met his Physical therapist, his occupational therapist AND his speech therapist all today. The OT and the PT came at the same time. It took a long time for him to warm up to them. He was not happy at all. He called them "stupid ladies" a few times, but they didn't mind. He is still having a bit of something called Cerebellar Mutism. It is due to the surgery and where the tumor was. He isn't mute of course...his speech is actually great, almost to what is normal for him, but he is easily agitated. These ladies just made him mad and he wasn't able to make them go away so he expressed his feelings really well....at least that's what they said. :) They were all very nice though and we scheduled a few more appts. for next week. They told me a few tricks to do with him to get him moving and at one point as I was letting him sit by himself on the floor, he actually turned to me and scooted into my lap. I was so amazed, I didn't know he could even do that! I'm to practice with him and get him to kneel in front of the couch with his toys on the couch, in hopes he will pull to standing. Alot of what we will be doing is like what you do with a baby to build the muscles. They want me to give him tummy time too! That will strenghten his neck and back muscles. His back is already so much stronger then a few days ago. He sat by himself and played the drums that were so kindly lent to us.....Thanks alot Tim and Sonya!!! Just kidding, he loves them.....but he sat for quite a while playing with them. After all the therapy was over, we decided to go to the Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the community center. Things were kinda crazy there....too many people so we went for a drive into Santa Cruz and checked out the lighted boats in the harbor. Eveyone really liked that. After that we drove by Ashton's favorite church, Holy Cross and let him see it all lit up at night. There was a mass going on and I really wish we could have gone inside and let him see with it looks like in there. But, by this time Ashton is so tired because he didn't end up going to sleep until midnight last night due to the medication they gave him at Stanford. We decided to come home and I read him a few stories and he instantly fell asleep.