Reality Check ...

Stopped by Salamander's school earlier, had to drop off materials for tomorrow's annual IEP review meeting.

It was recess time, so I had a rare opportunity to watch Salamander at play, with his class mates.

Socially, he's right smack in the middle of it all (GOOD).

But, OMG, despite the fact that Salamander has physically grown a lot, he is still tiny compared to his fellow 5th graders (maybe I am looking at this the wrong way, maybe his fellow 5th graders are all frippin' HUGE).

And Salamander is definitely having energy/muscle/mitochondrial issues again - he could not keep up with other kids running around and his stiff legged walk is back.
And watching him walk back to class when recess was over did put several more cracks in my heart. The majority of his class mates walk confidently, heads held up high. Not my Salamander.. his head hung low, shoulders were rounded (now it's very possible that he simply saw something on the ground that was utterly fascinating).

I know what Salamander's "I can do this, I believe in myself" walk looks like. And what I saw today wasn't it...(mitochondrial issues definitely make him very fatigued too).

We have traveled far and we have come far, no doubt about that. But we still have far to go ....

Baby steps, baby steps.