9 February 2026

Nathaniel's verbal vocabulary is expanding. He is even bilingual. He can say "hello" and "hi" in English. In Hebrew he can say "amen". He can also say כן (pronounced 'ken'), which means "yes" and לא (pronounced 'lo'), which means "no". It's not so clear yet, but he is getting better.

While traveling on the highway, Nathaniel snapped his fingers every time we passed a car or a car passed us. He also snapped when we were traveling on a 2-lane road through town. It seemed like he was counting, or at least acknowledging, each car.

In occupational therapy, Nathaniel was laying on his back. The therapist raised his right arm to be balanced perpendicular to the bed. When she let go, the arm stayed where it was. She then asked him to lower his arm using his shoulder muscles. Slowly, slowly, he lowered his arm. It wasn't spasticity, it was his brain making the connection to his right arm (and a bit of help from gravity). He right leg is also moving a bit.