Today was our first day of therapy. It was a great day! It exceeded our expectations and washed away our fears. It was amazing the things that they got Justin to do today, in fact, what they got all of them to do. Each child has four adults assigned to them. One therapist, one dolphin trainer, and two interns--one to take pictures and one to take therapy notes. The interns are from all over the world, two are from Germany, one from Australia and one from Italy. The rest are from all over the United States. They say that their intership is quite coveted and heavily competed for. I can see why, it truly is an amazing program. The staff are exceptional, kind, personable and really seem to want to work with and help the children.

Justin was up first. We only got a few pictures today. Rosie was suppose to be taking them but she got so fascinated by the dolphins and the activities that she forgot to take pictures. Justin met with his therapist, Eli, before getting in the water. They are working on fears and following directions. Justin responded well to him and even put on a wet suit without even fussing about the tags or the texture of the suit. That in itself is a major accomplishment. Then he slowly worked with Justin and the dolphin. The dolphin would swim by and rub Justin's feet and wave at Justin. Finally Justin got in the water. You could see the fear begin to flood over him but Eli would gently reasurre him and redirect him to Squirt, the dolphin. Justin wasn't interacting very well with Squirt so Eli suggested I pet Squirt. That made Justin laugh. Then Eli told Justin to tell me to kiss the Squirt. Thanks Eli...but that was all it took to get Justin started. They played with a duck, a hoola hoop, shook hands, ventured out deeper into the water, swam holding onto the fins, snuggled, and rubbed bellies. Justin had to take several breaks but after a couple of minutes Eli would be back encouraging and coaxing him back into the water where they practiced following directions and talked about fears.

Misty and Jesse watched Justin so when it was their time they were ready to go. Misty was working on following directions, maintaining control, and fine motor skills. She did superb. She had the same dolphin as Justin, Squirt. Squirt has a baby who tried to do everything Squirt did. Squirt really liked Misty and would on her own come up to Misty to snuggle or to take Misty on a ride. Very quickly Misty let go of the therapist hands and began to "swim" with a vest on all by herself. Again a major accomplishment even it was with the vest on. She was so proud of herself. Squirt even let Misty have a belly ride, something apparently she doesn't let many people do.

Jesse also did really well. He actually had two dolphins, Fiji and Bella. They would each get a hand and spin Jesse around and around. They had to really work at it but they got Jesse to smile several times. Jesse doesn't smile a lot or very easily so that was a joy to see. He got to swim in between the two dolphins by holding on to their dorsal fins and he played basketball with them. The dolphins would just laugh and click at him. They would nudge and cuddle his feet. Then after class the therapist suggested to us that we have Jesse evaluated by a facial doctor. The therapist thought it might be possible that Jesse has a muscular or facial structure issue with his lower jaw that is keeping him from opening up his mouth when talking or from smiling very much. We had never even considered that as a possibility. We will have to have it checked out.

To top the day off we ate our big meal out tonight. It was spectacular. The restuarant was right on the ocean. The ocean is so calm here. It just laps at the island. No big crashing waves or anything. We sat outide and ate our meal while we watched the sun set. It was breathtaking. The colors and quietness of that majestic moment was so calming and reassuring. God is truly an artist beyond the talents of Van Gogh or any other earth person. Not just in nature but in people too and we saw some of that beauty in people today. Thank you God for truly being the master artist!!