Ilan gets a "drivers license"!

This evening we went to the supermarket and it was the first time Ilan agreed to get into an electric shopping Kart. At first he was a bit wary of handling the controls but within 2 minutes he was busy racing up and down the aisles and putting the Kart into reverse so it would make the annoying beep-beep reversing noise! The store manager told him he would qualify for a special drivers license if they had one!!

Nevertheless, a few minutes after this picture was taken, Ilan was surrounded by several (4-5 very cute) San Diego college students that unabashedly oohed and aahed over him. Ilan told me later that he thoroughly enjoyed the ride as well as the attention from the female students!!

This week Ilan was given the task of using 2 ski-type poles to balance himself while standing and also to take a few steps.

He met the challenges with true Ilan determination. He stood up and balanced himself very well. He also walked by himself (with the poles) for about 12-15ft; however, the walk made him very nervous an he has not repeated it since. We are waiting for a few additional days and will have him do it again.

Ilan is also progressing quite well in the academic dept. His math has improved tremendously and he is now working on improper fractions and algebra equations; he is also working on basic crossword puzzles which is a super achievement for him.

He goes for swim therapy and is gaining ground there; vision therapy is helping but speech is going quite slow and we just found out that he has difficulty hearing in the right ear.

The ham that he is, he surprised us the other day when (lying down) he pulled his legs over his head and put his knees at the side of his head, as he said in order "to stretch" before exercising!!

Ilan is a delight, always with a positive take on things; even if he does get annoyed about something, we hand him a mirror to take a look at the funny face he makes and he right away cheers up and smiles.

Thank you for keeping up with this blog about Ilan.

We wish everyone a great, happy, healthy and fun-filled summer.

Ilan's "G" day finally arrived today!

This past week Ilan has had a few tummy pains caused by his g-tube. Well, today he went to see the doctor who said that it was time to remove his g-tube and he did!! Ilan was in heaven as he had been asking us for months to remove it. His challenge will be to make sure that he is able to drink enough liquid every day!
This weekend David and Jarone took Ilan to the tennis courts to play. One of them stood him with a racket in Ilan's hand while the other hit the ball to Ilan. At other times they sat him in his wheelchair and raced him around the court. Ilan did very well, enthusiastically waving the racket around and getting quite a few good hits on the ball to get it over the net to the other side. Throughout this activity Ilan was ecstatic and had a smile on his face the whole time; firstly because he was with his brothers and also because he was able to achieve.
We hope that everyone had a good Passover (and Easter) and thank you for reading about Ilan's progress -- L'Chaim and cheers!!