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. 

11/1 - Did Halloween just pass?

I've gotten quite behind on everything to be honest. I had quite a hiccup with my new medication and it took me out for a bit. It does a great job of giving me a good nights sleep and condensing my REM sleep into alot at night BUT there is one minor  major problem - it makes me nauseous. I'm not talking a little bit either. I'm talking I wasn't able to eat for days. Literally. I couldn't touch a bit of food (usually a cracker) until mid-day and then it was a handful of crackers and a few bites for dinner. So I have this amazing medication that has sorta given me my life back it makes me really nauseous and then to further complicate things, the medicine that I take during the day to help me stay awake makes me dizzy. Needless to say, I've had to play with my medications a lot and figure out the right combination for me. Oh yeah. During all this, my awesome doctor has stopped practicing medicine in Florida and is moving to NC and my primary doctor (her nurse actually) can't understand how to write a referral to get me to another sleep doctor. After weeks of playing with my medication myself and medical personnel having no idea how to write referrals, I have switched my insurance so that I don't need referrals anymore, and I'm down about 15 lbs. On the upside, I just got an appt for next week with my new sleep doctor and the nauseous is finally starting to subside (so thankful for this) and I haven't been dizzy in almost 2 weeks which has felt AMAZING!!

Eli had to get a few vaccinations a few weeks ago and he had a reaction for the first time. He got the shots on Friday (Brad had to take him which was a first for him and Eli - he visited at just the right time) and on Sunday evening I noticed his arm getting all blotchy and red and very warm. After talking with a few friends and reading up on it, I took it as a mild reaction but definitely something I need to tell the doctor about next time. I'm not even sure what shot caused it because they gave him all 3 shots in the same arm (great idea for quickness, horrible for reactions). It took a little over a week to go away but thankfully all was fine.

My mom got really sick after Brad left and was out of commission for a few days. She literally slept almost the entire day for a few days. That said, Aiden had an in-service day on a Friday but I knew my mom couldn't stay awake to watch him so I had to bring him to work. I made him a little corner but at the last minute moved him to the back of the class. He did pretty good. He started standing up and making noises towards the end of class which was really distracting to me but thankfully most of the kids didn't even know he was there until I pointed it out. I was in a bind this day because Eli had testing through the school system and I wasn't allowed to bring Aiden. Thankfully Kia was also out of school and she watched Aiden for an hour while Eli did his assessment. Eli is being referred on through the system for further evaluation because .... he's just so inconsistent. When the woman tested him on his colors he only got 4 right. She asked him again mid testing and got 7 right and then asked him again at the end and he got the same 4 right he did the first time. Very bizzare. That and he won't hold a pencil, marker, crayon, etc in anyway resembling the correct way to hold something. It doesn't help that he keeps switching back and forth from a lefty to a righty and then lefty again. Mrs. Jen had made the boys pumpkins and they were pretty excited about it.

I decided to take the boys to a pumpkin patch and found one not too far away. It was definitely aimed at their age group which was good. There was a tractor ride, a mini barrel ride, a maze (man I miss the Maryland corn mazes), bounce houses, playgrounds, and even a mini petting zoo which the boys wouldn't go near because it smelled too bad. Even though it was the 2nd week in October, it was HOT!! Man I was sweating to death and the boys' faces were all red from running around and jumping in the bounce houses. After 2 hours we left and got a bite to eat on the way home.

The boys don't get much time together at home anymore it seems since we started Tae Kwon Do so I think they are appreciating it a bit more when they do get it. Here they are wrestling and being silly. For the last 2 weeks almost we had a cold front (in Florida it's considered that) and the day temperatures have been in the 70's and low 80's. It was awesome!!!

Rusty, Aiden's former therapist, suggested I try something with Eli and I was all for it. I recorded each segment and then sent it to her so she could see for herself. I asked Eli about his colors and shapes in a book that we have by quizzing him. He got the majority wrong the first time. I then put him in the swing and twisted him all up and let him go a couple times. He was laughing and loving it. We did that for a while and then I re-tested him (I never told him the correct answers before) and he did SO MUCH better. It was quite amazing. Not only did he get most of the answers correct, but he was actually sitting still and attentive when I was asking him which was not what happened the first time I asked him. So now I will let Eli "play and swing" some before I work with him and he actually does better. So amazing.

The boys decided bike riding was how they would get their exercise last weekend and said that was great. I was just following them around everywhere and remembered/realized a few things. They love hidden sidewalks and secret paths. They really do enjoy nature and ask awesome questions about things. They are getting very fast and I can take them out jogging now!!! And finally, I think Eli is ready for those training wheels to come off.





My friend Sue has a Halloween party every year and this is her last year throwing it. I invited Grace and Mike (and Arin when she got off work) to meet us there. I grabbed dinner for the boys on the way over and they ate it once we got there. Aiden wanted to be a bat (not batman) for Halloween and Eli's was Superman. It took three tries to make those bat wings for Aiden using different materials and different measurements because he's so sensory overloaded and many things bother him. The boys had a blast with Grace. Once it got dark and they needed their finger lights, they really started to have fun. They jumped in the bounce house with their lights too. Once it got pretty dark (7:00ish), we watched a Shrek Halloween movie. It was too loud for Aiden so we ended up missing most of it because we had to find Sue and see if she had any headphones Aiden could use to block out the sound. Eli, Grace, and Mike had fun watching it though. It was a fun outing for all of us.

On Thursday, Aiden had to dress up as a book character for a Character Parade his school hosts for the K-1. He went as a pirate. His teacher asked me to come help and that was a lot of fun. I actually didn't get done until he did (it was a half day) so I just brought him back home. My mom took Eli to daycare and then stayed there to help with Eli's school Halloween festivities. I'm not excited about his teacher right now at daycare. He really enjoyed his other teacher but the class was so big that they divided the kids up and Eli needed to be separated from this other little boy that would kick, hit, bully him everyday. Please send a prayer up for me to do the right thing for Eli and his daycare situation. We've never had problems like this before at a daycare and I just don't know what to do. I'm paying a lot of money right now for what feels like babysitting, not teaching. We'll see. I'll continue to go in at random times to check to see what is going on. I went this morning and was totally not impressed with what I saw for 30 minutes!!!

Nana was pretty tired from working outside all day at Eli's daycare so she rested at home some while I took them to Chick-fil-a to trunk or treat and get some dinner. here are my silly boys. We came home and went out around our neighborhood. This is what I posted on Facebook when we got home later that night: "Call me old fashioned but here are my rules for trick-or-treating: walk to the houses (not ride golf carts or piles in trucks when the houses are all close together), don't walk in other people's grass (use the driveway and entry path), when people offer you a bowl of candy you take ONE piece unless they say you can take more, you politely take what you are given and don't ask for a specific kind of candy, and finally, say thank you. What are your expectations on Halloween? Man I'm getting old apparently."

I was exhausted from running around with them but they had a great time. There favorite time was trying to chase people down to give candy to once we got home. They love it when trick-or-treaters come and really like to give them candy. It's just too cute to watch. I will plan better for them to be able to give out more candy next year by getting home a little earlier. I never put a decoration this year and usually I do. I just didn't have time. I even got a pumpkin but didn't carve it ... until tonight. The day after Halloween. I even got all the tools for 50% off!! Better late than never. I've just been burnt out and feel like I'm just always playing catch up. Brad was supposed to be home 2.5 weeks ago but we knew that wasn't going to happen. We are praying he comes home in mid-November but we will have to see.