Pondering the Pons (and a little fun too)

First of all, THANK YOU to everyone who posted such kind, encouraging, informative and inspiring comments! I am a bit emotional right now, and I think I cried over every one! I was so happy to learn that I have some people, whom I didn't know, following our blog since its inception. It is nice to "meet" you. ;) Also, there are some very sweet "friends" of this blog (thank you, Emily) whom always leave such sweet comments but I can't return the favor because they don't have their own blogs. I want you to know that I appreciate you all! And thanks Katie for being one of my closest sojourners in real life and now in blog life too!

We are now in week four of Brain Highways. We have been in San Diego for over a month. I met a father and son last week who are enrolled in the BH program who commute two hours ONE WAY twice a week to attend. We obviously aren't the only family who believes in this program. The part of the brain that we are in the process of "reorganinzing" is the pons. The pons is responsible for most of our automatic reflexes. This is also our "fight or flight" response system. This is how a baby survives. As a baby develops, if proper neurological work is done, the pons takes a back seat to the cortex, the part of the brain responsible for cognitive thinking. If our pons is underdeveloped, any "perceived" threat (a change in routine, transitions, homework, a math test etc. . .) can send a child into fight or flight. These fight or flight responses could result in tantrums, avoidance, unreasonable fears, excuses, etc. . . At BH, they refer to the pons as the "baby brain." As long as the "baby brain" is in charge, life will be much more difficult. It is almost impossible to reason with a "baby brain" no matter the person's chronological age.

To develop the pons, students spend LOTS of time on the floor, and specifically, on their bellies just like babies do or should do. The most important aspect of pons developement is called creeping. Students must creep on the floor using their arms and legs without lifting their chest or belly. I have tried it and it is hard work. Sloan is required to creep for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. When I get home and have all of my proper equipment, I'm going to post a video of him creeping. We try to incorporate fun, food and games to help the time go by. Some days, Sloan creep-creeps away. Other days, I want to pull my hair out because it is such a fight to get the creeping done. My poor friend, Katie came to visit and witnessed creeping on a very bad day. Today we played tic-tac-toe while he creeped and it went great. We have 20 minutes down and 10 more to go. After 12 hours of creeping, we do our first evaluation of any progress made. The pons is supposed to be developed after approximately 150-300 hours of creeping, depending on its underdevelopment. OUCH! Sloan is thought to have a very underdeveloped pons so we are in for a long haul. Double ouch!!

In between all of our creeping, here are a few fun things that we have done these couple of weeks:


A harbor cruise on the ole' Lord Hornblower








A quick, but cherished, visit from "Auntie" Katie


A delightful trip to the New Children's Museum. An urban museum with a complete hands-on approach to art. I took LOTS of pics. This is the "Rain House"

Kensie painting a large, metal whale

Bubbles of all shapes and sizes


Sloan trying out a local inventor's mobile invention

An art project at the musueum

Building. . .

Even rock climbing. What a wonderful experience entirely dedicated to children!
And the child in all of us. . . ;)




Studying marine life at Scripps Aquarium

Sloan modeling with the California Moray

And the reason why we get to have a little fun in between the hard work. Here is a picture of the infamous creeping:


As we ponder our pons, and have a little fun while we're at it, we hope you will join us in pondering our blessings this CHRISTmas season! Hope yours is off to a merry start!