Several days ago, I posted a Facebook status update on a thought I’ve had for the past year. It has to do with Zachary being a child for a longer time because of his developmental delay. It occurred to me one day while cuddling with Zachary on the couch. You see, I love being a parent and I absolutely love Zachary and love these early childhood years. I want to soak them all in as much as I can – cuddle time, naps together, laughing hysterically, rolling around, etc.

Since birth, we always knew he’d be a bit behind developmentally because he was born premature. With the seizures and the CP diagnosis, we knew he’d be delayed even more. At three-years-old, there are many aspects of his personality spot-on with typical three-year-olds. But there’s also many parts which could fall in the one-year-old and two-year-old categories.

With Zachary being developmentally delayed, it will take him longer to “grow up”, thus we as parents get him in his childhood years for a longer period of time. It’s a blessing and one I can now appreciate after the weight of the diagnosis has set.

These early childhood years are some of the best – and I only say that through my limited experience, but having talked with others and analyzing grandparents, I think it’s right. Grandparents are so overjoyed to have a little bundle of joy, a little grandchild, and I can only imagine part of the happiness/pride/general “grandparent-ness” comes from getting to enjoy these early childhood years once again – after a couple decades since their own children were little and cuddly.

And so, even the older generations are teaching us this “prime” period of a child’s growth is a very special one.

So with all the negatives that may come with a special needs diagnosis or a developmental delay, I grab onto the positive viewpoint. My son will remain cuddly and fall asleep on my chest for a little longer before he grows up. We’ll roll around and laugh hysterically more. He’ll retain his sweet childhood innocence for a while longer than most. And until he “catches up” to typical kids, we’ll have him and enjoy him as a child in this prime time of childhood.

It may be something born out of what some consider tragedy, but it’s a blessing I’m thankful for.

And Zach surprises me again, HE DID AWESOME!!!! I don’t know what I was so worried about, I guess the separation issues don’t matter when he is doing something fun.

I know so many parents have a really emotional time with sending their kiddos to school for the 1st time but I am so excited for Zach to get to do something new and fun, it is about time that he get some time with other kiddos. I am just bursting at the seams with how excited I am right now!

Zachary (along with parents Nathan & Renee) are featured in this month’s issue of Exceptional Parent magazine! The cover is for an article that Nathan wrote about the launch of a project the Charlan family is involved in called Exceptional Family TV (www.exceptionalfamilytv.com).

We love you little man and can’t believe it has been 3 years! You have taught us more than you will ever know or even begin to understand.  We thank God every day for allowing us to take care of you while on this earth.

In your 1st 3 years you have reached out and touched the hearts of more people than we even know.  We can’t wait to see how many more hearts you can touch with your amazing life.  You are stronger than any one can see and we can’t wait to watch all that you will accomplish!!!

You are awesome and we love you so very much and are more proud of you every single day.

Zachary got his first wheelchair over the weekend. It’s a Zippie 2 that we found used on Craigslist. It was a girl’s, so we’ll have to update the coloring, but all is workable and in great condition. We’ll be taking it to Zachary’s physical therapy appointment this week to get it all adjusted just for him.

After two years of the traditional physical and occupational therapy, Zachary seemed to be getting “comfortable” with the therapies. We decided to pursue an aggressive therapy program and that led us to Colorado Foundation for Conductive Education. It was tough at first to see Zachary be challenged so much and struggle, but it has been amazing for him. After just a month of once a week sessions, his cognitive skills have opened up along with his communication. We love the CE approach to independence and ability for each child. Judit is absolutely loving and patient with our son, who can be feisty during therapy. We look forward to Zachary’s growth, development and learning through this thorough therapy program.

It is such a joy to watch Zachary develop his own love and dislikes for certain things. He absolutely loves the cartoon “Wow, Wow Wubbzy!” and just goes completely nuts in excitement when he sees it. Elmo is a close second, but Wubbzy really makes Zach scream for joy.

He also loves his Priddy Books which combine pictures with a side electronic button pad and he can point out all the animals, colors, numbers and other objects. When at home, he has play time on the floor where he’ll jam on his piano/keyboard and strum his guitar. He can play the music instruments for hours!

Please visit our current blog at Nate Dog’s Blog until we are able to get this page up and running.

Thanks for your patience.

Current Medical/Therapy Updates:

• Zachary has taken a slight break from “traditional” therapies and is now enrolled in Conductive Education in Loveland, CO
• CE is an intensive therapy program, truly pushing Zachary to achieve all his abilities

Current Development Milestones

• Zachary is saying “done” more clearly and with purpose
• He has learned to sign for “please”, “juice”, and says “th” for “thank you”
• Zachary is making amazing improvements in his fine motor control with eating and pinching objects.