A much better day, I declare. Today was a much better day.
What changed? Not much, really, but my children make it impossible to be sad for long. Not to mention today was such a busy day - which doesn't make it easy to sulk.
Gavin had Occupational Therapy with Miss Stephanie this morning right after breakfast. She was amazed at how well he was picking up and holding things. He's most motivated by his electric toothbrush. I recently ordered a "chew noodle" from a special needs store on Amazon. Gavin will hold it and put it in his mouth, but it's not nearly as motivating because it doesn't vibrate. So Miss Stephanie, the genius that she is, attached one of Gavin's "Five Vibe" attachments to the chew noodle.
He showed off with that for a while before they moved on to lacing beads. Stephanie attached a weight to Gavin's arm to give him some input. I think it really helped - he was picking up the wooden beads and sliding them down the rope when asked. I was totally impressed! She left the weight with us to use for two weeks so I can experiment with it in different situations.
The hour started off with all of us participating...but Brian was a little out of his mind today. Okay, maybe possessed would be a better word. So Miss Anna diverted his attention away from us and they quietly colored in the hallway.
When they were finished with their work of art, Brian proudly carried it to me with a HUGE smile. That was the first time he had ever done that - wanted to show off something he had made. It nearly made me cry!!
Immediately after therapy, Gavin and Miss Anna went in the chamber. I'm so happy to have this back in our routine again. It's great for Gavin...it's a nice study break for Anna...and it's a nice time for me to focus on Brian. A win for everyone! It was tough for this old Mom to keep up with Brian's non-stop energy - especially the EXTRA energy he had today! But we had a fun time playing. He keeps me on my toes - and laughing - all the time. Also, while Gavin was in the chamber, a mechanic came by to make adjustments to his KidWalk. One piece had fallen off...but a certain two year old that may or may not live in our house might have unscrewed a bunch of things and we couldn't figure out where they belonged. This certain two year old may or may not go by the name of Monkey on occasion.
Later in the afternoon was Gavin's hour of Physical Therapy with Miss Wendy. She couldn't believe the story from last week about Gavin crawling up the stairs. She remarked to Anna that the progress he has made in less than a year has been remarkable. Especially with the months of trauma he endured during and after his eye surgeries.
They worked on the ball for some time so he could strengthen his trunk muscles. She also had him reach out to grasp a light up bar toy - and we were all shocked when he reached out and grabbed it with both hands. This is big for him!
They moved on to work on the stairs. Miss Wendy knew that Gavin could crawl UP the stairs - but her goal is to help him learn to go DOWN. This is definitely challenging as there is no motivation for him to go back down. If I held a toy or tried to entice him with singing at the bottom of the stairs, he'd turn his head and want to crawl toward me - he has no concept of dangerous situations. So our plan now is to force him to go down backward for four or five steps and then let him crawl back up - making it a game. Let's hope it works!
No comments:
Post a Comment