Austyn's Big News

I know Austyn already featured in a blog post this week, but he has some pretty big news that we wanted to share with you.  Check out Austyn's bio and you may notice a change.  It's only some numbers that have changed (a '1' changed to a '7', just to give you a hint), but they have big implications for Austyn.

We were told when Austyn arrived here a year ago that he was born in 2001, making him 12 years old. Given that he was the size of a malnourished toddler, this was pretty hard to believe.   Hard to believe and, as it turns out...not true!

Just today we received the news that Austyn's orphanage have double-checked some records and his date of birth is in fact August 16, 2007, making him almost 7 years old.  Not almost a teenager.   

Mistaken dates aside,  Austyn was certainly very malnourished and is still small for his age due to his eating difficulties.

Big news on that front too!  Austyn has just begun to drink his cereal (still like baby food, with a very milky consistency) from a bowl instead of a bottle.  At first he just tolerated his nanny holding the bowl to his mouth, then started using his lips to suck the cereal.  Then he grabbed the bowl and started feeding himself!

Austyn has been making amazing progress with his standing and walking and he interacts with others so much more than when he first arrived.  His nannies, therapists and Samantha (a long term volunteer) have been working with him on his sensory issues, and the fact that he will now accept food in a new way is very exciting progress towards normal eating.

Today's news has made us happy.  It makes a whole lot more sense, and it means that Austyn has a lot more time.  More time to catch up on his development, and more time for his forever family to find him.  We look forward to putting just 7 candles on his cake in two weeks time!