All over snow

As we head into the final stretch of winter, we would like to share some of what has been happening with Henry during the first weeks of 2010.

Henry's head circumference has remained stable since his shunt revision, so it appears that the surgery was successful. As you can see from this picture, his scar is barely visible:

He did finally have the ABR performed in order to accurately assess his hearing. The test demonstrated that although Henry's hearing mechanism is functioning normally, his brain does not properly or consistently interpret sound. We know that Henry hears something because he responds in his own way to our voices, and he startles at certain sudden, percussive sounds. We are in the process of finding a hearing therapist in order to help us teach Henry how to use his hearing more consistently.

We made a snowy trek to Pennsylvania in early February. We had dual purposes for this trip: visit a vision specialist in Pittsburgh and see family. The vision specialist gave us many good ideas for helping Henry to continue to improve using his sight. We will likely visit her again in August.

We were able to see Henry's Great Grammy, Nanna and Pap, and all of the aunts and uncles except Dori and Nate, who were snowed in.

After much waiting and drama, we finally have an adaptive chair for Henry. The chair helps to support his body and can be positioned at various heights. He still much prefers to be held, but here he is eating dinner in his chair:

We stayed with the Costellos while in Pittsburgh:

And here we are with my family in Curwensville:

He also got to snuggle with Grammy:

Henry and I watched the Superbowl, but were disappointed to discover that the Steelers weren't playing:

Henry's favorite toy continues to be strings of beads. You can see from this picture that he'll almost roll over for them:

Henry had fun playing on a set of soft stairs at Gymboree:

Henry's friend Owen is learning lots of new skills and serves as a great example for Henry:

Here is Henry with his friends Ciara and Will:

Most recently, we were pleased to be able to host Aunt Cara for a couple of days:

We are now looking forward to a busy start to Spring!