Growing Up

The theme lately for Bug has been growth and maturing.

Mentally and physically...I feel like I just sewed him new clothes!

While we've been fighting off multiple rounds of sickness, Bug has been amazingly accepting of the lack of routine. Even if he is unhappy about something, he typically doesn't get too worked up, and calms down very quickly. I had to take him to the doctor last week, and I was amazed at how cooperative he was. He definitely wasn't happy about being there, but he stood on the scale by himself for the first time and made an effort to comply with the doctor's requests during the physical exam. Eventually the anxiety/uncomfortableness did take over, but it was a much better experience than we've had in a long time.

Miss Frances and I have noticed a huge improvement in Bug's willingness to try new fine motor activities and explore his surroundings. She tried a Lite-Brite with him for the first time, and after modeling a couple times, physically helping him once, he was able to put the pegs in by himself! He even seemed to like it!

He doesn't love coloring, but will do a little at least. We are still working on getting him to draw lines, but again, while he isn't particularly interested, he's at least not resistant. I've been trying to relate it to letters, which at least provides some motivation.

Today I met with his teacher and school SLP to review his IEP. We made a few changes to his goals (adding stuff about improving transitions and requesting help when needed) but for the most part, Bug is making great progress and everyone is super impressed with how well he's doing! :D Even at school he's beginning to step outside his comfort zone. His teacher said that while he has a hard time being in the gym (because of the echoing--too much sensory input) he's started to explore and move away from the teachers. He also engages in parallel play with the other boys in class, which is a HUGE step forward!

I've got some sensory ideas to run past Frances to help Bug focus a little better in speech and school, and want to work on some of the fine motor stuff at home too. I feel like we have a little bit more opportunity now that he's not as resistant and we can do some activities with both boys.

All around, we are so proud of this kiddo and how much he's grown in the past year. It's hard to believe that we've only been in private therapy for about a year!

Back to routine...sorta

One of the things that amazes me about Bug is that actually, he doesn't get too phased by it when we have to change the schedule. We missed the last week of school before break because Bug was sick, and had some changes to our therapies due to the holidays. Bug handled it all like a champ. On Monday, he went back on the bus and to school with zero trouble! :D When I picked him up he told me "Have fun at school at the library. Have fun at school ride the bus." It's so cool to hear him try to tell me about his day! Unfortunately, Monday I found out that Wiggle has RSV, so I ended up taking Bug out of school for the rest of the week too. BUT, I had called his teacher to talk to her about it and she told me that she is so impressed with how Bug is doing! She said that she doesn't have the hitting/kicking problems that she did and that when he came on Monday he was ready to go just like he didn't have 3 weeks off! I am so proud of this kid!

OT has gone very well, even with the changes in routine. Bug has been very receptive to Frances' challenges and we are both really impressed with his efforts on the fine motor. She also observed that he's definitely exploring his surroundings more, not just immediately wanting to get into the swing at the beginning of the session. I love that he is so comfortable at OT and with Frances, I'm always so impressed with how much he gets done and how much he grows.

Speech is going well again too. Laura has been pushing Bug to expand his phrases and show that he more fully understands verbs. It is hard work for him, but he handles it very well. We definitely are seeing him improve. His "yes" is back, pretty consistently and he often self-corrects. He tries very hard to get his words out but struggles with the organization. He's getting there though.

At home, we've seen Bug do a lot of play with Legos (building castles) and train tracks. With train tracks, we're even getting the whole family in, although the boys stay pretty far away from each other. Also, Bug has been asking us to read to him a lot more, which makes me so happy! I love having both my boys snuggled up with me reading a book.

Hopefully this week we can get back to normal. Bug might still miss school and therapy tomorrow, he's still pretty sick, but I'm happy that he's at least in good spirits and still working hard with us!