Year in Review

The year in review is one of my most tedious and time consuming posts to write, but I absolutely love it because it's just so encouraging to look back on where the kiddos were a year ago, and all my posts along the way show how much progress they've made and the adventures we've been on.  And so, without any further ado, our 2015 in review, plus a current progress report, because I haven't posted one in a while.

January:  I posted speech videos of the kiddos so we could see where they started the year at.  After viewing them, Kiddo was saying two word phrases and Little Brother was saying lots of words like "yeah!" "no" and animals and their sounds.  No two word phrases yet.

February: Kiddo started asking questions (whoo hoo!) Little Brother started jumping and Kiddo started contributing to bedtime prayers.

March: We visited with family and had a grand time with all the cousins and family members on Hubster's side.  It's the first time Kiddo was really able to communicate some thoughts with peers, and was awesome to see them having a blast together, especially because two of those cousins live across the world in Australia and we miss them, and seeing all of the family together.  It was a great time for all of us.

Kiddo with his cousins who were all born in 2010. :)

April: Kiddo started talking in three word phrases and we finally found him a good physical therapist who taught him really quickly how to alternate his feet on stairs.  Little Brother got a speech evaluation, where he was diagnosed with severe speech delay, possible mild apraxia, and qualified for speech services through school when he turned three.

May: May 14th we celebrated Apraxia Awareness Day and also said goodbye to our school therapists.

June: We celebrated Kiddo's 5th birthday, which was incredible, because it was the first year he was excited about any holiday or celebration, and the first year he was able to tell us how he wanted to celebrate it. We catered to his every desire (this year at least, haha) and had a b-day party at Chuck E Cheese with a Minion cake and friends from church.

July: We made it back to George Washington University for a three day intensive with the amazing Jodi Kumar.  Kiddo worked hard on his F and D sounds and learned a few new phrases.  I also got to see how much progress Kiddo has made gross motor wise by going to this fun place.  I got Kiddo's OT reevaluation (17 months after starting OT) and found the results both discouraging and filled with progress.

August:  We celebrated Little Brother's third birthday amidst our move across the state where Kiddo could go to an amazing new school and he is FLOURISHING there.  Worth the move, just for that.

First week of school!

September: Lots of new words and phrases from both kiddos!

October: Kiddo gave me a very special b-day present of singing to me the Happy Birthday song.   Kiddo started asking "What's this?"  And the kiddos had a blast trick or treating for Halloween as Woody and Buzz Lightyear.


November: November I didn't post much, because Kiddo had an allergic reaction at school, where they administered him an epi-pen and then we took him to the ER.  We kept him out of school for a few weeks until we could get allergy testing done to see what was going on.  Kiddo is fine and dandy, but it was a stressful time.  For Thanksgiving, my in-laws came to visit, and they helped build a ball pit for our kiddos to play in (great for the sensory issues!) and also my amazing mother-in-law made the kiddos weighted blankets (also great for sensory issues!) which the kiddos love, and Kiddo calls a "Nana hug all night long."

December: Kiddos were uber excited about Christmas, counting down until the days, adding new words and phrases to their vocabularies.  It was the best Christmas ever, just because of the kids' excitement and how well they can express themselves now.  My parents watched the kiddos for us for a few days so Hubster and I could have a much needed few days to ourselves, which we enjoyed at a nearby beach.  It rained most of the time, but the view from our hotel was great, as was being able to sleep in and eat wherever we wanted and watch a few movies.

Little Brother now asks "Why?" and is being potty trained.  He says lots of 3-4 word phrases now.  He can sing his ABCs though he leaves out G, N, and W every. single. time.  He LOVES to draw and color and is such a rough and tumble kid but oh so snuggly too.

Kiddo is learning how to pedal a bicycle and singing songs and has so much to say.  He loves school and has lots of friends and even a girlfriend at school.  I asked him what he and his girlfriend do at school.  He told me "Play. Learn. Hold hands."  He loves showing us how much stronger he is getting, and helping (he's great at putting away the silverware from the dishwasher and helping me with the laundry).


There were lots of ups and downs, stressful yet joyous times, and of course, lots of progress and victories.  This year, 2015, was the year we began to feel like the kiddos are really flourishing, and I cannot wait to see what is in store for us in 2016.  :)

Journey through 2014

Wow, hard to believe 2014 is almost over and we're ready to embrace 2015.  Last year I wrote a blog post, Oh the Difference a Year Makes, and it was a great experience for me, to remember how much Kiddo progressed, and the obstacles we faced in 2013.  At the beginning of 2013 he had three words, and by December he had about 300!  So, to see the journey of 2014 with it's victories and setbacks, I present:

2014 in review:

January:  Kiddo started preschool, which he loved.  He was FINALLY able to climb up those play places they have at McDonald, Chick-fil-A, Burger King, etc.  And, according to the speech videos I posted in January, he was using a few phrases, specifically his attempt at "excuse me" after burping and saying "Ready, set, go!"

February:  In February we had two setbacks and a huge victory.  Setback one: Our attempt at therapeutic riding was a bust, as Kiddo refused to get on the pony.  Kinda defeats the purpose of going to therapeutic riding if all you're going to do is feed and pet the pony and not, well, ride it.  Setback two: we attempted a gluten free diet, but something in the gluten free foods was causing him diarrhea and the pediatrician recommended we stop.  And the major victory?  Kiddo was potty trained in three days!!  I thought it was going to take longer than that, just because most skills take a long time to master with apraxia and I've read of apraxic children not being potty trained until 4 or 5, but at age 3 1/2 he was fully potty trained, (night time trained too!) in just three days.  Best victory ever.  :)

March: Both kiddos started to use more words.  And Kiddo was evaluated by a new occupational therapist, who turned out to be a major Godsend.  He has made so much progress working with her and she has been such a blessing to us.  

April: After going to several audiologists and ENTs in our area and not getting the answers I wanted regarding the pressure in Kiddo's middle ears, the increased frequency of ear infections, and whether or not he should be wearing his hearing aid, I took him to a well respected hearing clinic in the city an hour and a half away from us.  Finally got answers--tubes needed to go in pronto to relieve the pressure and to remove the fluid that had been causing the ear infections. Kiddo also started using three and even four word phrases.

May: Kiddo got his ear tubes in, and within no time we were noticing he was understanding more of what we were saying.  Yeah, uh better hearing helps with that.  We also learned that though he still has a severe hearing loss in his right ear, it was not recommended he wear his hearing aid anymore. Research indicates it's best to let the brain learn to compensate for the loss by relying on the good ear and not a hearing aid in the impaired ear.  We also celebrated the second annual Apraxia Awareness Day.

June: Kiddo turned four, whoo hoo!!!  And another setback, one I found devastating: we were supposed to go work with Jodi Kumar, awesome speech language pathologist at George Washington University Speech and Hearing Center.  She is the creator of CHAMP Camp, where we had taken Kiddo last summer and seen great results.  We had the hotel booked and everything, but Jodi had an accident while playing volleyball that required surgery the week she was supposed to work with Kiddo. I was glad to hear she was ok, but I was so disappointed that we wouldn't be working with her.  We went to the DC area anyway, to spend time with family for Kiddo's birthday and I made it a goal to work on those OT skills in play places and playgrounds while we were there. 

July: July was pretty relaxing as we had a lot less therapy appointments.  I went to CASANA, a conference for parents and speech therapists about working with kiddos with apraxia.  Learned a whole lot and got to meet some cool people, hang out with an apraxia mom friend I'd met at CHAMP Camp last summer, and I also got to meet Nancy Kaufman.  We also started Verbal Behavior Therapy, which I feel like Kiddo made LOTS of progress in, but that therapist was sadly only able to work with us for two months and we cannot find another one anywhere near us.

August: Little Brother turned two!  Both Kiddos made some progress with their speech: Little Brother was saying about 20 words, and Kiddo lots of two and three word phrases.  Kiddo was also participating in mini conversations, which always makes me smile.  We also went on an AMAZING family beach trip that was such a blessing to experience.

A selfie with both of my little blessings. :)

September: The new school year started, which meant more therapies through the school system.  We elected to not put Kiddo in a preschool this year, so that I could work with him myself, and we could use the money we were putting toward preschool toward the OT that we were seeing so much progress in instead.  But, this meant I had twice as many therapies to drive him too, and to chase Little Brother around their waiting rooms while Kiddo is in therapy, as opposed to just dropping him off at school where he got the therapies.  Life got real busy, real fast.

October: Little Brother was evaluated for speech and qualified for twice a month speech therapy through the county.   Kiddo had the privilege of working with the "Apraxia Queen" Nancy Kaufman and an awesome OT for four whole days at an apraxia intensive at the Kaufman Children's Center.  We both learned so much, and after the intensive Kiddo is now consistently saying 3 or 4 word phrases, and using final consonants on lots of words, whoo hoo! 

  

November: We experienced lots of slow and steady progress.

December: More slow and steady progress.  Kiddo's using verbs in his phrases now, like cry, work, clean, sleep, play, eat, and drink.  Some funny conversations.  A Christmas with my family, filled with excitement, in which the kiddos were able to tell us what they got.  Kiddo could read to us who the presents were to and who they were from.  He got a balance board to work on those gross motor skills and both kiddos got a ridiculous amount of other goodies to keep them plenty busy.



Honestly, sometimes I get overwhelmed with how far we still have to go.  Just a few days ago, I was crying to Hubster because Kiddo had only mastered four of the fifteen goals I set for him for this year.  The biggest one I had for him, 'Jumping', I want to see him do so badly, and we're not there yet.  But, he mastered the second goal I had for him, 'Potty Trained', in a record three days, whoo hoo!  He mastered my goal of him speaking in phrases, whoo hoo!  He now goes up and down slides like a champ, which wasn't even one of the goals I set for him, but is so awesome to see.  And while he hasn't mastered 11 goals, he's definitely made progress in them.  Hopefully we'll master them in 2015.

Ahh, see, perspective.  Gotta keep things in perspective, and that's what this blog does for me.  It reminds me that though the progress can be excruciatingly slow and the journey overwhelming and exhausting and expensive and full of worry, the progress is there and the journey worth continuing.  There are victories and blessings and joys and triumphs that we cherish because of the journey.  Kiddo's in a totally different place then he was last year.  So with a proper perspective I can truly say, yes, 2014 was a good year indeed.  And I can't wait to see what victories and progress are in store for us for 2015. 

Oh, the Difference a Year Makes

Well folks, it's been remarkable the progress we've made in a year.  Feel free to relive the struggles, the progress, the busyness, and the victories with me as we go month by month through 2013.

January: Kiddo had only three "words" ('ow', 'uh' for up and 'uh uh' for no) but otherwise was silent.  My first post was about Kiddos' journey before 2013.  We also started fish oil supplementation which gave us some hyperactivity but more importantly, the beginning of him making sounds and attempting to imitate the sounds we asked of him.

February: I recorded Kiddos' first speech video of him working with our awesome speech therapist.  I'll be honest, sometimes when I get really discouraged with how far he still has to go, I watch that video again and remember how far he has come.  I remember how excited I was just that he was making sounds when we recorded this video.  I'm posting it here so that you can celebrate with me how far he has come. :)

March: Kiddo could imitate several vowel sounds and two consonant sounds, and could spontaneously say six words.

April: I initiated Operation Overcome Sensory Issues and began to see ah-mah-zing results.  :)  He is no longer bothered by the noise of vacuum cleaners or other loud noises as long as he has warning about them.  He is much less bothered by wind, and will let me wash his hair without screaming as long as water stays out of his ears and eyes.  Huge progress.

May: Kiddo started saying his animal sounds, his colors, and imitating sounds and words.  May 14th was also the first Apraxia Awareness Day, in which I shared the blog with the Facebook, Google+, and Twitter world.

June: Kiddo turned three. :)   We also started biomed--which really just entailed lots of research and introducing a few supplements other than fish oil.

July: Went to CHAMP Camp at George Washington University in DC, where we received the official diagnosis (severe Apraxia of Speech and a moderate receptive delay) and a week of intensive therapy with Ms. Katie and the fabulous Jodi Kumar.  During that week, Kiddo went from about 20 to about 30 words and learned how to make the "k" sound.  I made some awesome friendships with parents who could relate.  I then got to guest post about our experience on one of my favorite apraxia blogs.

August: Met with a DAN doctor to discuss nutrition and supplementation for Kiddo.  Celebrated Little Brother's first birthday.  Met a new friend in our area with apraxia, and started working with a new speech therapist.

September: Kiddo's vocabulary increased to about 100 words.  Check out the speech videos.

October: Missed a lot of speech therapy, but had lots of fun on two family trips out of state.

November: Finally got around to recording a video of Kiddo reading his sight words.  Yep, he can read!  Kiddo also started speaking in phrases which means we can now have conversations!  Whoo hoo!  Here's the video of him reading his words on his flashcards.

December: Kiddo now says about 300 words spontaneously, and is beginning to use two or three word phrases with prompting or spontaneously.


Overall, I'd say 2013 has been a very blessed year and can't wait to see what God has in store for us in 2014. :)