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Jacob at 3 months.
Proud parents of Jacob and Caleb
Since Jacob has no eyes, he will need prosthetic ones for proper facial growth. Starting at 5 months of age, Jacob had surgery to expand his eye openings and put in place a silicon conformer to expand his orbits. He had these surgeries every 2 months for 4 surgeries. After his last surgery, he had a lot of scar tissue and contracture. Currently, he does not have any prosthesis in his eyes. He is scheduled for more surgery in December, although we are still not sure if that is what is best. In the meantime we will try and talk to as many people as possible to make a decision in Jacob's best interest.
Jacob is 14 months old and is doing very well. He struggles with the tasks that non-handicapped children do naturally. At 3 months of age we started putting Jacob in his "Little Room". The "Little Room" is a box that contains objects hanging from the ceiling. The room lies on a resonance board for adequate sound. The "Little Room" is a place for Jacob to explore his world without interruption from adult hands! He is free to grasp objects and let them go as he chooses, and they will return to where they were. This has kept Jacob from being tactile defensive and has allowed him to learn spatial relations. Head control was difficult for Jacob because he didn't have the positive feedback of seeing something when he lifted his head. When he was 6 months old he gained control over his head. At that time he also began transferring objects from one hand to the next. This was exciting to see because some children with ACC have difficulty in this area. At 14 months Jacob began sitting unsupported. His "Little Room" is now a sit up room, where he can explore while sitting. 14 months of age was a successful age for Jacob because he said his first word: MOMMA! Yeah! He has begun patty caking and following simple commands. Jacob knows to stick his tongue out when someone asks him where his tongue is. We are now working on other "tricks" too.
Jacob has brought
a lot to our family. We have learned to appreciate the small things in
life. Despite all of Jacob's obstacles, he is the happiest baby. He hardly
ever fusses and smiles so easily. He is loved by everyone he meets. We
are privileged to have such a special boy in our family. Jacob, we love
you and thank God we were chosen as your family.
Jacob at 10 months. What a great smile!
Jacob at 14 months, with his dad, David!
