January Chaos

I thought life would slow down after the new year, but 2014 is off with a jolt!  This is week 3 of outpatient PT and week 1 of daily school!  James is pooped!  We were so lucky to find the school James attended in the fall.  The founder sat down with us this month and helped develop a good plan of action for James.  He is now with kids his own age and learning great new skills (we hope!).  He doesn't like when we leave, but settles in very quickly.  When he tried to follow me out the door today his teacher helped by having all the kids in circle time sing "Wheels on the Bus", James' favorite song.  I love how wonderful everyone at the school is to James.

Back to school, yay!

James is working hard at therapy.  He is more motivated to work on his fine motor skills than before started.  We are working hard on his pincher grasp, but raking those cheerios is just so much easier!  He also has a hard time focusing on what his hands are doing.

James is getting so strong!  However, it is hard to convince him to put weight through his arms.  Hopefully, we can encourage him to keep up his gymnastics!

We are bundled up inside to avoid the cold! 

We hope your days are sunny!

With love.

Lots of Work

There has been a ton going on lately!  We received approval for an attendant for James.  We are in the process of finding a full-time attendant, but my sister has been helping us until she goes back to school. It has been such a big help in keeping consistent with his therapy.  Now we have someone to keep James going while I do normal house chores (or while I am exhausted from the third trimester).  

We also added two and a half hours of therapy each week.  The big addition is occupational therapy which James desperately needs, but wasn't approved through early intervention.  James is frustrated because his fine motor development has fallen behind his mental development.  When he can't complete a fine motor task he throws the toys, hits, or throws a fit.  His OT sessions should help decrease this frustration.

We are trying to come up with all sorts of ways to strengthen James' muscles.  He is doing much better in the stander with the help of his orthotics (and the distraction of our new TV).  We are also working hard on kneeling, stair crawling, and arm strength.  He can be really strong when he wants to be, especially if he doesn't want to do something.

His new favorite toy is his ride-on car.  He learned how to push himself backward and he loves it!  It is good exercise for his legs!

James is also headed back to school in a week!

With love.

Happy New Year!

We hope this will be the year where James feeds himself and learns to walk.  He is making some great progress.  We have been working hard on fine motor skills so he can put food in his mouth.  He hasn't quite learned to isolate his fingers or grasp with a pincer, but he is getting close.  He is also getting excited about food he can hold and lick like lollipops, carrot sticks, and french fries.  That is a huge improvement from throwing any food offered him and not letting any solid foods near his mouth.

He just recently received his orthotics to aid with standing.  His standing has improved now that he is such a good sitter (he has learned to use the muscles in his trunk), but the orthotics give his ankles and knees the support he needs.  His standing used to be crooked and he leaned into his support but now, with the orthotics, he is standing straight and using less support.

Former crooked standing.

He has also learned how to be stubborn which has presented a challenge for therapy.

Boycotting crawling upstairs.  You can barely see the orthotics on his feet.

He is also really good at saying "NO" and giving us his stubborn face.

Although, he is just good at faces in general.

Pirate face.

With love.