27 February 2023

On Shabbat, we put a slice of challa on Nathaniel's plate. The plate was on the table, not on his tray. When no one gave him the piece of challah, he bent toward the table and worked hard to reach for the slice. He got it, put it on his plate, took a bite-sized piece, and put it in his mouth. Due to the damage to his right side caused by attack, Nathaniel can't really use his right side. Until now, Nathaniel used his left hand to cover his eyes for Shema Yisrael; however, he has started to use his left hand to raise his right hand to cover his eyes Nathaniel has gotten much better with his strategy playing the game Connect 4, but he still has trouble remembering to look at what his opponent is doing, unless reminded. We played a game. He won, and then started to just put disks in one after the other without waiting for his turn. He was smiling and smiling because he knew this wasn't how to play and that he was being playful.

In speech therapy Nathaniel is using a whistle to help learn how to moderate his breathing. The whistle was on the table. The therapist told him to whistle, assuming he would pick up the whistle and use it. Nope, Nathaniel put his two fingers in his mouth to whistle, just like he used to do before the attack! He didn't make a sound with his fingers in his mouth, and the therapist corrected him to use the whistle, but it was still a wonderful moment.