Here's Johnny!

The horse that is..

Johnny is Owen's Hippotherapy horse. I think it's time to update how fabulous Owen's doing at his weekly Hippotherapy session. First off, Special Strides is just a fantastic place that I am so happy that I found out about. You can read more about them here at www.specialstrides.com. I think that this has become the highlight of Owen's week. He gets so happy when he gets there and literally now just takes his therapist by the hand and is ready to go. We've even mastered wearing a helmet, which I personally think is the cutest thing ever!
These photos are from 2 weeks ago when it was very muddy and they had an indoor session. Owen was a little bit distracted because Daddy was there but he still managed to get some great shots. Back to Owen, he's just rocking therapy. He's riding backwards like a champ, they have him doing high fives, peek a boo and clapping along to songs all while riding along with other therapy tactics. They even are able to cover his eyes so he can find his center of balance. They are even able to ask him if he's centered and he'll straighten himself right out. All reports from the staff are that he's made SUCH improvement with listening during his sessions, he's always in the moment, happy, and so vocal. They all feel that he's sooo close to talking, it's just a matter of when. Which I'd just like to add- Not soon enough! They actually said that he's one of those kids that proves that Hippotherapy is so important to a delayed child. Below are bunch of photos from the session that show how the short man is the Big Man on a horse!

I apologize for the red eye, I can't fix them in Blogger.. Also if you would like to see any bigger for those that don't know, just click on the photo!

Also big news-- Owen's got his "personal assistant" at school. Basically, his one to one aide to really push Mr. Lazy Pants to do better. I'm really happy about it, and I guess calling the school a few times to complain helped get her a bit sooner. :) Her name is Miss Penny and she's blond and he's smitten. He's spent the last 3 days attempting to flirt his way out of work. This should probably last this week, and the early part of next week. If I know my son, he'll attempt kissing her tomorrow or Monday and when that doesn't work he'll just throw in the towel.