We've had a busy month, it seems like forever since we've had a "normal" week without changes in schedules due to therapists being out or snow days or days off from school.
Home: Sleep has been off for everybody. Before the time change, Bug had been getting up veerrrrry early. He's really into knocking on doors lately, so he'd knock on his door or our door. A lot of times it would disturb Wiggle, and suddenly the whole house is up at 6 am. Not so much fun.
We've been watching a lot of the movie "Enchanted" and Bug loves us to sing along with the songs and he even has us act out scenes from the movie. It's quite cute, but it does seems that we've made it into too much of a routine so we'll need to start branching him out a little. It can be very hard to find the balance between letting him enjoy something and it becoming too much for him. Part of the problem is that I like having a break in the afternoon (and also giving him a break after school or therapy) so it's easy to just let him pick something out so I can have some peace. I'm hoping that as the weather gets nicer again we can spend more time outside to blow off steam.
In good news, Bug can now get his pants on completely by himself! He also can get his shirt on, but a lot of time puts it on backwards. He seems to be a little big more flexible about clothing, being more cooperative about putting on warmer jackets and different shoes to go outside. I'm hoping to keep pushing boundaries with him, I'd love to get him into khaki-style pants too!
We've also noticed him having an increased interest in new/different foods. He's told us "yes" when we asked if he wanted a cheeseburger and let us offer foods (but not taste them) a couple times. He also ate a chunk of raw green pepper! Frances said that as we're able to get his sensory systems regulated, it'll be easier for him to expand his comfort zone. :)
School: Bug has been super about getting ready for the bus and heading to school. Today we even had to rush because the bus was early and he handled it perfectly. Beyond that, I think things are going about the same. Bug is resistant about doing fine motor activities, but will do them with protest. He does seem happy when I look at his projects or mention what they're working on.
Speech: Laura made a valiant attempt at working on categorizing things, but Bug is just not there yet. He seems to have some understanding, but really struggles to group things together. I don't think it helps that we don't ever really talk about things being "vehicles" or "money" so it's more novel vocabulary than he's used to. They're working on prepositions and big/little now, and it's a bit easier, and I think more important. I also plan to work with him on this with the Bad Piggies game on the phone, talking about where to put the pig, motor, etc.
One partial success: Laura has been able to get Bug to use a weighted lap pad a few times. The first couple of times, she noticed quite an improvement in his focus. I'm hoping that we can continue offering it to him, so he has options to help him stay regulated while he's working hard.
OT: OT has been a bit wild. Miss Frances was out for a couple of weeks while she took her exam and we've had to shuffle days/times because of the snow too. Bug has handled it very well. He worked with our sub therapist, Victoria, pretty well, although she struggled to get him to do much fine motor. He has started using a new swing, a flat swing with an innertube on it for safety...like a tire swing with a bottom. Eventually we'd like to get him to use the rope to swing himself, but right now he likes the therapist to do it for him. Frances is working hard with Bug to get him to be able to get his socks and shoes on by himself. Socks are really hard, especially since Bug typically doesn't use both hands. We also noticed last week that Bug has some motivation to use scissors to cut (he even cut his pretzels into pieces!) which is a pretty complex action! I wish we could find a way to make prewriting more enjoyable for him!
Sort of on that note, a story I want to record (and will probably reflect more on in another post):
Bug had been saying a bunch of letters, that seemed like they should be words but Adam and I couldn't figure it out. Finally, after watching one of the Planet Earth shows, I realized that Bug was saying a lot of the letters (not completely in order) of "Ocean Deep"--one of the titles of the episodes we watched. I found a paper and pen, wrote out "Ocean Deep" and showed it to him. He got this smile and giggled the way he does when we figure something out. :) Then he said more letters, and when I went to write them, he took the pen and I *think* tried to write too! I would absolutely loooooove to help him learn to read and write/type, because I think it would really expand on his communication skills. It's always fun to see these little flashes of understanding from him.
Well, I think I got us about caught up. I need to stop leaving big gaps, because A LOT happens in a month around here!
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