Hello from the Tesori house! We have gained a guest this week (Aunt Lisa from Syracuse!) and lost Daddy to the road, so we’re adjusting! It’s been a super busy past few days, topped off with a celebration of Isaiah’s birth, field trip to Wolfson, and subsequent recovery with a bunch of our friends and family, which now includes several of his nurses and caretakers during his “field trip” time, down at the San Sebastian Winery in St. Augustine! About 40 of us gathered to see our sweet friend Meraux work his “magic” and celebrate this amazing little boy.
Then this morning, right back at it again before Paul left town, with our initial consultation appointment at Early Steps in Jacksonville, which offers developmentally supportive early intervention services for infants and toddlers who have developmental delay or may be at risk for developmental delay. Confused because we were at another service place last week (Hope Haven)? I can help – our responsibility as Isaiah’s parents are to provide him with the most effective tools for success. We LOVE Hope Haven, and will continue to work with our team there. Early Steps also offers some of the same services, but they do it in your home environment. After consulting with our team (including Isaiah’s geneticist, pediatrician and via prayer), we’ve decided to embrace both opportunities for Isaiah to work on continued developmental growth. Ok, so moving on… But before I get to how awesome that appointment was, I wanted to share this with you…
Tonight, Lisa and I watched the Olympics with Isaiah for a little while. We watched the men’s freestyle skiing finals and were enthralled with the story of Canadian skiier Alex Bilodeau and his brother Frederic.
Here’s part of the story on the NBC Olympic website:
Alex Bilodeau toiled for fours years to retain his Olympic moguls title on Monday but said that was nothing compared to the struggles of his inspirational brother, who has cerebral palsy.
The Canadian embraced brother Frederic in celebration after becoming the first freestyle skier to win two Olympic golds.
“When I’m on my skis my colleagues are my inspiration, they are pushing me every day to be a better skier, to go faster, to go bigger. But a four-year process is very long, and when I wake up in the morning it’s my brother,” he told reporters. “The motivation that he has, if he had had the chances like I did, he would have been four times Olympic champion. He’s a great inspiration, a great person and he’s going to be an inspiration for me after my career also,” the 26-year-old said.
Click here to read the entire story (and I very much encourage you to)!
Lisa and I watched, and we thought of our sweet little Isaiah, and how he’s been an inspiration to me, to his Daddy, to our families, to our friends, to strangers all over the world. In just over a month of life. And we thought about today, and what they told us at yet another therapy appointment.
First, let’s set the scene. We’re at Early Steps, in an assessment room, with 5-7 people in the room, including us, plus baby Isaiah. 3-5 of those folks are from Early Steps, then me, Paul, Lisa and Isaiah. The whole purpose of the appointment today was to assess where Isaiah is functioning in 5 major growth/development categories (Gross/Fine Motor Skills, Adaptive Skills, Social Skills, Cognitive Skills & Communication Skills) and set a plan/recommendation for therapy for him. The entire assessment takes several hours, and the team at Early Steps couldn’t be any more gracious and accommodating during that time. And Isaiah? He’s on fire. He apparently LIVES for these assessments. He’s rolling over. He’s tracking voices, sounds, lights. He’s holding up his own head for 20+ seconds at a time. He’s knocking it out of the park eating and sucking and quite frankly, just putting on a show.
So, it’s time for the assessment. and they’re explaining their recommendations based on what they’ve just seen. Isaiah has just tested off the charts. On a points system of 85 (lower end of any child in the “typical population”, meaning not kids with any special needs but a “typical” child of his age) and a high end of 115, Isaiah tested in the “typical” zone for EVERY. SINGLE. CATEGORY. Every one. Except 1. And for those of you who know Isaiah, you won’t be surprised where he got an 84. He got an 84 in communication. Why was he 1 point shy of “typical”? Simple. He doesn’t cry. That’s it. He topped out at97 in Gross/Fine Motor Skills and showed off by rolling over several times, like the little miracle rock star that he is. It was really empowering.
During the recommendation phase, the following was the most encouraging thing we’ve heard yet about Isaiah and his development: “If Isaiah had not come to us (meaning Early Steps) with a doctor’s recommendation, based on his assessment today, he would not be eligible for our services.” Quite simply, our son is so developmentally advanced for ANY typical 1 month old, without doctors papers showing “Chromie”, that extra #21 Chromosome he’s sporting, he wouldn’t qualify for special services. Our son. Who just over a month ago scared the pants off some folks at his birth. Our miracle. Our I-N-S-P-I-R-A-T-I-ON.
Every single day we learn more about what our son CAN do. And we continue to focus on that. He’s defying all odds. He’s truly our miracle. He wont be labeled. His God is just simply too big.
So when we were watching the inspirational story of Alex and Frederic Bilodeau tonight, it got me thinking. I know what my inspiration is. What’s yours? What has God planted in your life that encourages and inspires you. And who are YOU an inspiration for? What are you doing today that could inspire other? God has a plan for you. He has a plan for me. He clearly has a plan for our sweet baby Isaiah, who we named after the prophet who shared the HOPE of Jesus more than 700 years before Jesus even came to earth (Isaiah 53). There is hope. There is a future. What is YOUR inspiration?
God bless you!
Then this morning, right back at it again before Paul left town, with our initial consultation appointment at Early Steps in Jacksonville, which offers developmentally supportive early intervention services for infants and toddlers who have developmental delay or may be at risk for developmental delay. Confused because we were at another service place last week (Hope Haven)? I can help – our responsibility as Isaiah’s parents are to provide him with the most effective tools for success. We LOVE Hope Haven, and will continue to work with our team there. Early Steps also offers some of the same services, but they do it in your home environment. After consulting with our team (including Isaiah’s geneticist, pediatrician and via prayer), we’ve decided to embrace both opportunities for Isaiah to work on continued developmental growth. Ok, so moving on… But before I get to how awesome that appointment was, I wanted to share this with you…
Tonight, Lisa and I watched the Olympics with Isaiah for a little while. We watched the men’s freestyle skiing finals and were enthralled with the story of Canadian skiier Alex Bilodeau and his brother Frederic.
Here’s part of the story on the NBC Olympic website:
Alex Bilodeau toiled for fours years to retain his Olympic moguls title on Monday but said that was nothing compared to the struggles of his inspirational brother, who has cerebral palsy.
The Canadian embraced brother Frederic in celebration after becoming the first freestyle skier to win two Olympic golds.
“When I’m on my skis my colleagues are my inspiration, they are pushing me every day to be a better skier, to go faster, to go bigger. But a four-year process is very long, and when I wake up in the morning it’s my brother,” he told reporters. “The motivation that he has, if he had had the chances like I did, he would have been four times Olympic champion. He’s a great inspiration, a great person and he’s going to be an inspiration for me after my career also,” the 26-year-old said.
Click here to read the entire story (and I very much encourage you to)!
Lisa and I watched, and we thought of our sweet little Isaiah, and how he’s been an inspiration to me, to his Daddy, to our families, to our friends, to strangers all over the world. In just over a month of life. And we thought about today, and what they told us at yet another therapy appointment.
First, let’s set the scene. We’re at Early Steps, in an assessment room, with 5-7 people in the room, including us, plus baby Isaiah. 3-5 of those folks are from Early Steps, then me, Paul, Lisa and Isaiah. The whole purpose of the appointment today was to assess where Isaiah is functioning in 5 major growth/development categories (Gross/Fine Motor Skills, Adaptive Skills, Social Skills, Cognitive Skills & Communication Skills) and set a plan/recommendation for therapy for him. The entire assessment takes several hours, and the team at Early Steps couldn’t be any more gracious and accommodating during that time. And Isaiah? He’s on fire. He apparently LIVES for these assessments. He’s rolling over. He’s tracking voices, sounds, lights. He’s holding up his own head for 20+ seconds at a time. He’s knocking it out of the park eating and sucking and quite frankly, just putting on a show.
So, it’s time for the assessment. and they’re explaining their recommendations based on what they’ve just seen. Isaiah has just tested off the charts. On a points system of 85 (lower end of any child in the “typical population”, meaning not kids with any special needs but a “typical” child of his age) and a high end of 115, Isaiah tested in the “typical” zone for EVERY. SINGLE. CATEGORY. Every one. Except 1. And for those of you who know Isaiah, you won’t be surprised where he got an 84. He got an 84 in communication. Why was he 1 point shy of “typical”? Simple. He doesn’t cry. That’s it. He topped out at97 in Gross/Fine Motor Skills and showed off by rolling over several times, like the little miracle rock star that he is. It was really empowering.
During the recommendation phase, the following was the most encouraging thing we’ve heard yet about Isaiah and his development: “If Isaiah had not come to us (meaning Early Steps) with a doctor’s recommendation, based on his assessment today, he would not be eligible for our services.” Quite simply, our son is so developmentally advanced for ANY typical 1 month old, without doctors papers showing “Chromie”, that extra #21 Chromosome he’s sporting, he wouldn’t qualify for special services. Our son. Who just over a month ago scared the pants off some folks at his birth. Our miracle. Our I-N-S-P-I-R-A-T-I-ON.
Every single day we learn more about what our son CAN do. And we continue to focus on that. He’s defying all odds. He’s truly our miracle. He wont be labeled. His God is just simply too big.
So when we were watching the inspirational story of Alex and Frederic Bilodeau tonight, it got me thinking. I know what my inspiration is. What’s yours? What has God planted in your life that encourages and inspires you. And who are YOU an inspiration for? What are you doing today that could inspire other? God has a plan for you. He has a plan for me. He clearly has a plan for our sweet baby Isaiah, who we named after the prophet who shared the HOPE of Jesus more than 700 years before Jesus even came to earth (Isaiah 53). There is hope. There is a future. What is YOUR inspiration?
God bless you!
