Therapy at home

This is the original swing I bought from Walmart for son. I've ended up doing double duty with it. There is spandex tied in a knot to two huge caribeener clips on the right. I have giant clips (like clothespins) on the rail so it won't wander over into the space of the spinning pod on the left. The pod on the left is what we bought at Ikea but since both of my boys are on opposite ends of the sensory spectrum, it works great for us. My older one who needs to front to back rocking motion can swing back and forth like a regular swing on the spandex or stretch the spandex out and lay long-ways and then use the green strap to help get himself up. My younger son can use the Ikea pod and twist himself up all crazy and then let it go and unwind. My younger one can then switch over the the fabric and practice trying to swing in regular swing by leaning front/back and learning to pump his legs.

I also have these wonderful drawing sheets that I bought at Target last year. I laminate almost everything and these types of drawing sheets are no different. Rather than writing on the actual paper though, we clip up the picture on the top of the chalk board and my son either uses small pieces of chalk and draws on the chalkboard or sometimes he'll request a sheet of paper. Here he has used a piece of construction paper and also used pink chalk to write with.

I get so busy with things that I needed a way to try and make sure my son was doing enough therapy during the week to help make lasting changes. Doing therapy once a week for 45 minutes isn't enough for a true change I wanted to make sure you can do his "homework" from his therapist. I bought this wipe off chart at the Dollar Tree and it says 'Job Chart' on the top of it with blanks on the left and the days of the week at column headings. Based on recommendations from his therapist, he has a list of 6 things he can do and he chooses 4 a day (he has do everything at least twice a week and we don't do therapy on sundays). Supermans (on his belly, arms and legs straight out) and sit-ups are to help strengthen his core which is really week. He's now up to 10 sit-ups but we started with 5. 1 paper is actually a variety of things he can do. I have papers that have the big circles on them and you use bingo markers to color in the circles. I have cutting papers (some I printed from things I found on-line) and some are from this great book that his therapist showed me from Kumon titled, "My Book of Easy Crafts." I ordered it on Amazon for less than $8 and it has 40 different activities in it. They all require cutting and most also require folding or gluing. The really neat thing is that they all involve some type of action as well. For example, my boys just cut out these frogs (there were 2 on a page) and then you need to make a few folds to turn them into frogs that jump when you push your finger down on the back of the paper. There's a cat that when you pull its head up and feet down, the hands clap. My kids have yet to throw one away (which I don't mind since they actually still play with them). A paper activity can also be practice writing letters in boxes as well.

Lacing, putty, hammer, or pinch can include a variety of activities. I have lacing cards that I found at the Dollar Tree. Another lacing activity I started was taking cardboard marking and then cutting small slits every 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch around a piece (this one is a rectangle but we have squares, circles, triangles, and crosses of different shapes) and then he gets to pick a color string (I use embroidery string) and he has to make sure every slot has string in it. It is very challenging for him because he has to stabilize the piece of cardboard with one hand and he has to really use his fingers to pull the string into the slot. In this picture I put purple tape in the center of the cardboard to give it more stability but now I either put tape all around the cardboard (except where the slits are) or do not do it all depending on how long I want it to last. I have putty which I purchased for about $8 on-line and I hide treasures (small buttons and beds) and he has to find a certain number of treasures (usually 10-15) and recently we started keeping track of how long it takes him to find those items. He now is starting to compete with his 'records' which he finds fun. It works out great for me because I don't have to encourage him to find 3, 4, or 5 more because he's excited to do it and is trying to beat his time. I found this little hammer at walmart for $5. It fits in his hand and is a little heavy put it's great for him to use. My husband put a few pretty sturdy nails in a piece of wood and we make a mark on the nail and he has to sink that part down into the wood and then he's done. Pinching activities include having a large bin of clothespins of different colors and then doing various games with him (using index cards that have numbers on them and putting the correct number around the index card, seeing how many he can pin on his shirt at one time, or making a paper path by letting him slightly overlap two colors of paper and then putting a clothespin on to keep the paper together and he does that for 10-12 feet and loves to see his color path).

Slow rolly poly is a move that I need to take some pictures of to be able to post. Essentially he starts off in a crab position with his bottom off the ground. He then has to flip over to a bear (just on hands and feet) and then back to crab without letting any body parts touch except his feet and hands. We call the entire movement rolly poly but after he started to get the hang of it he wanted to go really fast and cheat so then we had to break it back down that he has to do crab, bear, crab, bear, etc. He goes down the living room one direction and then has to come back facing the same way so he works rotating his trunk both directions.

Thumb touches fingers is just what is sounds like. He has a very hard with the mobility in his fingers (just look at the picture of him holding the cardboard lacing and how his fingers are all tight and contracted) so this was very challenging for him at first. He just has to touch each finger to the tip of the thumb but he has round his fingers out. 

8/2 - Exercising & Eli's first ice cream cone

Now that the boys are in daycare more often, I am not with them as much and when we are together, I haven't been taking as many pictures. Last Thursday was support the Children's Miracle Network at Dairy Queen. For those of you really know Brad, of course he had to support that cause. We took the boys there after we picked them up from daycare. Brad and I had just gone to the gym so we fed the boys and then Brad and I had a Blizzard for dinner. I know, healthy right? :)  This was Eli's first time eating an ice cream cone! He did pretty good. Brad had to coach him along the way and we turned our heads for a minute and he took a big bite out of the bottom of the cone.

Speaking of nutrition, Brad and I started focusing on our nutrition a bit more. We have apps on our phone that let us log everything we eat and how much we exercise. It's pretty cool and has been great for Brad. For our anniversary a few weeks ago, we both ordered a new toy. Brad ordered the NikeFuelBand and I got a new iPod Nano. We played with them for a day and I liked the Nike FuelBand and Brad wanted a GPS high-tech watch from Nike instead. My FuelBand keep track of how many steps I take as well as how active I am. It's pretty cool. It uploads info to my computer and my iPhone to tell me if I am being active enough to reach the goal that I have set. Brad just got his watch  last night so he hasn't even had time to play with it yet.

The boys decided to play with flashcards the other day.  Aiden made his space on the floor in the living room and he matched lower case and upper case letters.

Eli just laid his out all over the couch and thought that was fun enough!

I just bought this little book of tracing and basic drawing stuff for the boys. They use very basic shapes to create pictures so the boys can learn to draw. I laminated them and the boys are loving them (and they are lasting longer than one time).

I was shocked that even Eli wanted to do some and that he was actually pretty good at it.

On Saturday, we hit the gym as a family. We normally do this and base has a pretty good family fitness room. After we get done exercising we let the boys go and play on the equipment. Here they are playing on the rings. They both enjoy swinging on them.

We also make sure the boys get their exercise so we let them pick a park to go to. They chose Vaughn Park which is about a 20 min drive. It's a really cool playground. We stayed there a little over an hour and the kids were tired and hot from the sun. Here is Eli pouring dirt. Unlike Eli, Aiden isn't a huge fan of playing with the dirt. :)

The both love this little raft thing. The problem is when they are both on raft/boat, mommy or daddy has to make it go! :)

I took the picture below on Sunday before we left for church. We've gone to the same church now for 3 weeks and are enjoying it. I think I'll even be helping out with Awana this year. We don't have to leave for church until 8:45ish which is much later than we are used to so we had time for a picnic on Sunday morning.

The last two pictures were taken yesterday afternoon. The boys decided to work on their drawing/tracing with the new laminated sheets. They love having their little table to work on whenever they want.

When we picked up Eli the other day from daycare, he was in time out. Not okay in our world. When we picked him up yesterday, the teacher rewarded him with a ring sucker because he was the only one who listened!! Nice turn around. She then gave Aiden one too which was sweet. Unfortunately, Eli dropped his and it broke so I gave him just a regular sucker. They have to stay on the tile with food/suckers so here they are in the kitchen sitting on the bosu ball.

Brad started school this week but has only had to go for half days. In his down time in the past couple weeks, he's had two private pilots lessons and tomorrow he's taking the aircraft out for the first time by himself. After he practices some, the boys want to go up with him. Brad starts full-time school next week and we'll know when more about what his schedule will be. We've enjoyed having some much needed family time with the boys while waiting for school to start. These boys are growing so fast!! I'm so thankful God has let us borrow these two precious boys to raise. They are getting to be so much fun and it's great to watch them grow.