Lucas Camilo

It’s been a while since our last post, in part because we’ve been keeping busy.  Burke was gone for 5 days at a retreat outside of Baltimore and came back to a bunch of work to catch up on, while Krista has been teaching lots of yoga and attending her anatomy and physiology class at UDC.

We’re still planning our move to the NW but have acknowledged that it’s not going to happen until the new year.  However, if the pace of our move reflected all the help we’re getting, we’d have jumped from coast to coast in a flash.  So many people have helped orient us to the social justice non-profit world of possible jobs, introduced us to friends and colleagues, and helped us map the possible medical and school services for Lucas.  We sent out an email to friends in Seattle describing the kind of housing we’re looking for, and we now have about 100 eyes looking for a wheel chair accessible house for us, with offers from Burke’s parents and Ashley to go check out homes for us.  As always, we’re extremely grateful for all the support.  With all that help we’re still optimistic about getting everything in place that will allow us to move.  Since we’re still in DC, we’re keeping ourselves immersed in our work and community as long as we can, while still moving forward with our westward preparations.

Lucas has continued to enjoy fall walks – naming the different leave colors along the way – and his usual favorite indoor games, along with some new ones.  His latest obsession is the “bird song” (there are actually a few different folks songs about birds that he enjoys), and whenever music or the radio comes on he’ll insist on a “new song” and that it be the “bird song”.  When we grudgingly make the switch he smiles with glee and wags his hand in the “more/I’m loving this!” sign.  Here’s a taste:

[audio:https://lucascamilo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/05-Three-Little-Birds.mp3|titles=05 Three Little Birds]

We also recently got a “stander” for Lucas, something that was custom-fitted for him some months ago and finally arrived after being approved by our insurance.  It allows Lucas to hang out in the standing position and put some weight on his legs, something he otherwise isn’t able to do.  With the help of his therapists he’s getting better and better at it, and seems to enjoy being upright and checking out the world from a position other than sitting.  He’s able to draw, read books, or play with his iPad while in the stander, and it also gives him the opportunity to work on moving his head around more.

You’re probably looking at that picture and saying “wow, Lucas is a big kid!”  And you’re right… for a guy who’s not even 2 1/2 years old his height is truly remarkable.  He still weighs less than 30 pounds but at over 3 feet (36 1/2 inches to be exact) he’s off-the-chart tall.  And as Burke wrote a year ago in the essay that ended up being published in Rad Dad, Lucas’s fast growth is a bit scary when we think about what it means for the future.

And since we hope the near future includes a move across the country, we can’t help but be a little nervous about what it will mean to move this super tall string bean of a son out of our house and over to the other coast.  It’s already hard just getting him in and out of our car for a short drive, so the idea of a plane (or train!) feels extremely daunting.  Fortunately Lucas was born into a family that is not afraid of a challenge, so we’ll figure out a way to make it work.  We’ve thought of lying Lucas out in an overhead bin, for example.  And of course we’re open to other ideas.