Speech Video

The much-anticipated annual speech video is here!

Kiddo: Age 6 1/2.  Current speech diagnosis: Moderate apraxia, mild language delay.  We're making progress, woot woot!

So much progress in language, it's awesome.  Other people are able to understand a lot of what he says so I don't need to translate for him as much.  I tried to in this video just in case you couldn't catch it, but so far several people are saying they can understand most of what he said, whoo hoo!  So very proud of this guy. :)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Jumping!

My little superman can finally jump from a higher surface while keeping his feet together.  He now jumps off of steps, curbs, playground equipment, and most recently, our couch.  Love it!!

Speech and School Update

With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I'd have to say that one thing I'm super thankful for is hearing the precious things my kiddos say.  Every day there's a new phrase, a new funny conversation, a new complex thought that I just can't even keep track of all of them anymore.  I love it!! 

Kiddo:

Kiddo now speaks in complete sentences! Though he may leave out a few words here and there, they are indeed complete sentences.  And the cool thing is that others are beginning to understand him and I don't need to translate for him as much, whoo hoo!!  There are some things he says that I don't understand, but he is getting so much better at finding other ways to communicate it to me--he can oftentimes tell me what letter the word he's trying to say starts with, or take me to whatever he's trying to say.

And he's jumping!!

It's a milestone I've been waiting for and praying for for years.  Jumping--a skill I've seen two year olds do, and yet Kiddo turned six and still wasn't jumping.  Years of physical therapy, of trying to help Kiddo get the motor planning down by prompting him "bend your knees, and 1, 2, 3 jump!  Feet together!!"

At the beach one evening (pics of our beach vacation coming soon!!), Hubster built a sand castle and told Kiddo to jump on it.  We expected Kiddo to do his usual bend of knees and then one foot forward and then the other, but Hubster and I just stared in shock as we watched him bend his knees and jump with his feet together.  Hubster asked me "Did he really just jump?"

I told him "I think so, let's see if he can do it again."  I grabbed my camera and told Kiddo to jump.  And he did!!

Hope you enjoy the video as much as we enjoyed seeing our son master this major milestone. :D

End of Preschool!!

Oops, it's been a good amount of time since I posted.  To make up for it, I'll be writing a few posts spaced out over the next few days.  Today's post is about Kiddo finishing up preschool and will be told in pics with captions.  Enjoy!!

Kiddo and his AMAZING preschool teacher, Ms. Jessica

Kiddo and his 'girlfriend' at their end of year "Water Day!"

More Water Day fun.

On the left, Kiddo's open house for preschool, August 2015.  On the right, Kiddo at kindergarten registration, May 2016.  The difference in his social skills, language, and behavior is evident in these pictures.  I am so proud of how much progress he has made. :)

Potty Training Take 2

I have two kiddos with speech delays and sensory processing disorder.  I've read articles and follow Facebook support groups for parents who have children in either of those categories.  And in both support groups, I see over and over questions about potty training, potty training horror stories, children who are 5, 6, 7 years old and still not potty trained.

So, I have to admit, I avoided potty training as long as possible for both boys.  Meaning, I didn't even attempt potty training until they were 3 1/2 years old.  I found this three day potty training method that I decided to adopt, and determined to stop procrastinating and just try and see if Kiddo could indeed be potty trained.  I cancelled an appointment and had Kiddo miss a day of preschool so that I had three days to stay at home with the kids and just focus on potty training Kiddo.  He was over 3 1/2, Little Brother was 1 1/2 and Hubster was out of town for work.  Which meant that while I was flying solo, I could focus solely on potty training and keeping the kids alive.

With Kiddo, I was amazed how quick he caught on to potty training.  By the end of the first day, he was using his potty chair like a pro.  Day 2, I introduced underwear and he handled that like a pro. By day three, his nightly pull up was dry in the morning.  Say what?!  Within three days, this kid who struggles to talk and walk up and down stairs was day and nighttime trained, and only had two accidents since then.  You can read more about it in this post.

I was on cloud nine.  I was more than willing to offer advice to parents who posted questions about potty training their speech delayed kiddos with sensory processing disorder on those Facebook support groups.

And then, potty training Little Brother came into the picture.  I used the exact same method as I did with Kiddo.  By the end of day 1, I had cleaned up a ridiculous number of accidents, and had yet to see him go in the potty.  I was beyond frustrated and ready to give up.  But Hubster encouraged me to try it for one more day, and I reluctantly agreed.

Day 2 Hubster had Little Brother sit on the potty chair and then tickled the kid until he peed in delight.  We then praised Little Brother for peeing in the potty, making sure he was aware of what had happened and what it had felt like.  Hmm, that was not part of the potty training method I was following, but it definitely worked and I was grateful.

And then, Little Brother kind of got it.  As in, once in the while, he'd pee in the potty.  Sometimes on the floor, or the couch but he'd tell us he went pee.  Sigh.

By day four, he was peeing consistently in the potty chair, but only if he was bare bottomed.  If he was wearing pull ups or underwear, that was an invitation to pee or poop in them.  So the kid ran around the house bare-bottomed for a total of three months.  I've seen more than I ever wanted to, let me tell you.  And we always put on pull ups before bed and before we went out anywhere.

We started the potty training process in January, and now, at the end of March, he is wearing underwear out in public and having very few accidents.  He tells us he has to go and he sits on the toilet and does his thing like a pro.  I still carry an extra pair of pants and underwear with me in case of accidents, but I think I can safely say he is potty trained.

Little Brother sporting his big boy underwear. :)

I naively thought because potty training using this method worked so easily for Kiddo, well then, that's the method to use for all kids.  Not so.  Little Brother needed a different method and a lot more time.  Way more than three days.

But he got it!  Which makes this exhausted but proud mama heart oh so very happy.  :)

ABCs

For your viewing pleasure, I present to you both kiddos' renditions of their ABCs.

Kiddo:

Little Brother: 

Stay tuned for longer speech videos to be posted in the next week or so. :)

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!  It truly felt like a happy holiday for us!  It is the first time (other than Kiddo's birthday this past summer) that Kiddo has been truly aware of and excited about an upcoming holiday.  He insisted we kept a countdown of how many days until Halloween and then every morning would tell us what number to change it to.  He also told us for Halloween he wanted to be Woody from Toy Story.

So after looking a few places, I decided to go online and order a Woody costume, and while I was at it, got a Buzz Lightyear costume for Little Brother.

Hubster and I practiced trick or treating in our home a few nights beforehand.  Hubster went into the kids' bedroom and closed the door.  The kiddos and I pretended we were going up to a house and would knock on the door.  We practiced saying "Trick or Treat" and "Thank You", until Kiddo caught on and could do it by himself without prompting.  Little Brother never did say Trick or Treat, but the thank you he mastered after a few practices.

So, the night of Halloween arrived.  Kiddos excitedly put on their costumes at Grandma and Grandpa's house (they have a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating).  And Kiddo did awesome!  We told him we had to go to houses that had lights on.  So as we walked, he'd tell us "This house light on!" or "No light."  He'd walk up to the houses with lights on, knock on the door, say "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you!"   He'd show us his candy bucket and declare "Lots candy!"  Hubster and I were just grinning with pride.

It is the first year we have ever even attempted something like Trick or Treating.

After about half an hour or so we determined the kids had collected enough sugar to last them quite some time and we went back to Grandma and Grandpa's house, where Kiddo asked if he could have one of his lollipops, to which we agreed.  He was was so excited to be given the opportunity to pass out candy to other kids who came to the door.

The first batch of kids who came to the door, he told them "Here you go" as he gave them the candy.  By the third batch of kids at the door he had added a "Have nice day!" as they left.

And he would wait, kind of impatiently, for the doorbell to ring.  "No more kids?" he'd ask.  And then the doorbell would ring and he'd get all excited.

It was a great night. :)

New Words/Phrases/Conversations

Oh my goodness, there's so many new words and phrases I don't even think I can list them all.  But here's a few of my favorite new words, phrases and conversations with the kiddos:

Kiddo:

Hubster: (tucking Kiddo into bed).  Can I pray for you?
Kiddo: Of course!

Me: (sweeping kitchen floor).
Kiddo: Oh, good job, Mommy.

Me: Here, don't forget your backpack.
Kiddo: Lunchbox?  Peanut butter jelly?
Me: Yes, you have peanut butter and jelly in your lunchbox.  And strawberries too.
Kiddo.  (rubs his tummy).  Yummy!  Thanks Mommy.

Little Brother: (gives Kiddo a slobbery kiss on the arm)
Kiddo: Eww, yuck!  Big wet kiss!  Yuck!

Kiddo: (sees an ad for new Lego sets).  New Legos?
Me: I don't think you need new Legos now.  Maybe for Christmas.
Kiddo: Christmas?  Yes!
Me: Christmas isn't for a while though.  About 100 days.
Kiddo.  Oh. Lots days.
Me: Yes, you'll have to wait awhile.
Kiddo.  OK.
Hubster:  What do you want for Christmas?
Kiddo: TWO Legos!! (he was referring to two Lego sets)
Hubster:  Just two little Legos?
Kiddo:  NO! Lots, lots Legos!  Lots toys!  Christmas!!

Kiddo: Go outer space today?
Me: No Buddy, we can't go to outer space.
Kiddo:  Oh.  Later?


Little Brother:

He's finally starting to put two or three words together into phrases.  Most commonly heard are:

More drink.
More pizza please.
Oh sorry.
Oh, thank you!
Big kiss (before or after he plants a big slobbery one on you)
Big hug (as he's squeezing your neck)
Baby cry (every single time he hears anybody cry)

While ordering at Chick-fil-A
Cashier: Can I help you?
Little Brother: "Cow hat!" (see picture.  He LOVES the "cow hat")
Cashier: "Ok, here you go, a cow hat."
Little Brother: "Oh, thank you!"




His newest words and their pronunciations:
Pizza (said correctly. No longer Zizza, which I'm a little sad about.  I like zizza.)
Eephen.  (Elephant).
Nana (banana)
Yoyuck.  (yogurt.  He loves it).
Gas (Madagascar, the movie).
Mumu Me (Despicable Me.  Why do kids' movies have such hard names for kids to say?)
Bobot (robot)
Paint! (for anytime he wants to color anything.  Even if it's with crayons or colored pencils and not paint).
Coon up (Clean up)
Uhcorn (popcorn)
Bawoon. (Balloon)
Tees (tickles)
Coocake!  (Cupcake)
Gwapes  (Grapes)
Soo bus (school bus)
Hippo (Nipple.  He'll lift up his shirt and point to one of his nipples and declare them a hippo.)
Belly Butt! (Belly button.  Again, for when he lifts up his shirt to point out his belly butt and hippos.)
Numnut! (doughnut)
Chut (church)

Unfortunately, some of his pronunciations are not appropriate to write out, but I'll put them here so when he's older I can remember these stories.  As for now, it is so embarrassing to have him shout out these words when he sees these items.
Frog sounds like the F word.
Fish used to sound like the S word.  It has now changed to sound like the B word.


There's so much more I could put for each of them, but life is busy and their language flourishing at such a rate I cannot remember it all.  And the latter part makes me super happy. :)

OT Update

Kiddo has been in occupational therapy with the greatest OT ever (in my very biased opinion) since March of 2014.  In the 17 months he's been in therapy, we've made lots of progress.  Lots.  I mean, he's walking up and down stairs alternating feet now.  His run is a lot less of a waddle and much faster.  His balance and core strength have improved significantly.  He now attempts to color pictures rather than just scribbling all over paper, he can write the letters of his first name, and can draw circles and squares and a happy face.  His sensory issues have become less and less problematic.  He can kick a ball now, and can throw with a lot more accuracy, and can even catch a thrown ball about every other time.  He's now fully potty trained and can dress himself (except he needs help with shirts).

Kings of the beaver dam!  17 months ago, Kiddo wouldn't have even attempted to climb it. :)

A few weeks ago his OT reevaluated him, and I got the report on Wednesday.  At first, all I see are the percentiles. His locomotion (gross motor skills like walking, running, stairs, jumping, hopping, etc) is at the 5th percentile.  Meaning 95 percent of his peers can perform better than him in this area.  I see it every time we go to a playground or a play place, but seeing it in writing is not fun.  His object manipulation (catching, throwing, kicking, etc) is at 25th, not so terrible.  Nor is his hand eye coordination, his highest at 50th percentile. (Maybe there's a chance he won't be terrible at sports like his mama?)  His grasping (fine motor skills like writing, cutting, etc) is at the 5th percentile.  And his stationary skills (balance, posture, core strength) is at the 2nd percentile.

I'm feeling defeated.

Next, I see the month equivalency.  He is 63 months old, but his stationary skills are like that of a 33 month old.  His locomotion 29.  His object manipulation 46.  His hand eye coordination 52.  His grasping skills 37.   Did I mention he is 63 months old?

Forget defeat.  Now I'm just discouraged.  Can he not be ahead or equivalent with his peers in any of these areas?  How long is it going to take him to catch up?  Should we be doing more therapy?  Should I be focusing on these areas more than I do his speech and language?

But, I have to see the positive in everything or else the defeat and discouragement and the questioning can be paralyzing.  So, when we got home I pulled out his huge binder filled with all his evals and I found the one from his first eval in March of 2014.  I had to see how much progress he has made in 17 months.  And I crunched some numbers  I desperately needed to see the positive, and I found it.  In 17 months of weekly private OT, twice a month OT and PT from school, and me working with him he has made:

Stationary skills: 15 months of progress.  Not bad, Kiddo.  Not bad at all.
Locomotion: 7 months.   Really?
Object manipulation: 19 months.  Yay!
Grasping: a whopping 24 months.  Go Kiddo!!
Hand eye coordination: 14 months.

Ah, much more encouraging.  Though the locomotion is still not as much as I would like, he's made two years worth of progress in 17 months on his fine motor skills.  He's making progress in every area.  While his peers may be making progress too and that's why his percentiles are still really low, he is making steady progress and gaining new skills.

I can't wait to see his next evaluation, because I KNOW those numbers are going to be even higher.  Once he masters jumping and pedaling a bicycle those locomotion numbers are going to go way up.  And we will master them soon, I can feel it.

Plus, these stupid evals don't take into account how dang smart he is.  His teacher has told me multiple times "He is so smart."  Yep, I know it.  He's been reading for a while now and loves science.

So anyway, take that stupid apraxia!!  We are surely and steadily beating you!!

Kiddo can climb any mountain he puts his mind to.  :)

Last Day of Mini CHAMP

So, the last day has come and gone.  It started with a receptive language test, and I wrote down every area where he struggled, for us to focus on later.  These include things like:

• Prepositions: in back of, behind, in front of
• Sequential order: first, then, last, etc
• Understanding not/doesn't
• Pronouns: his/hers, and he/she/they
• Most/least
• Identifying words by their beginning letter sound
• Rhyming
• Same/different
• Together/apart

Whew.  I'll get a formal report of the language test in a few days, but it's just so interesting to me how he does so well with academic stuff (he aced the colors, numbers, shapes, letters, sight words, and even adjectives like biggest, smallest, longest, etc) but struggles so much with basic language.

He then worked on his goals of saying words that start with D and F.  He's doing so well!  I was given a report that states that in the first session he had 10% accuracy of his words beginning with D, and 0% accuracy of the words beginning with F.  By the end of the second day, with cueing, he was getting 73% accuracy of D words and 90% accuracy of F words.  Whoo hoo, go Kiddo!  I'll get a report in a few days of today's progress, so I'm looking forward to seeing the results of his overall progress.

He had lots of fun with the clinicians today, but his favorite game was collecting Angry Birds after saying his words to put on a parachute.  After he had collected them all, he got to make them fly, which he was so excited about, he started doing his marching dance while they were playing with the parachute.  :)

By the end, even though he was tired, he was counting with four and five both starting with an F sound, and Jodi and I, who were sitting in the observation room, were clapping and cheering together, haha.  Awesome, proud moment for both of us.

The exhausted Kiddo with Jodi (in blue) and his clinicians Michele, Erica and Courtney

Honestly, I had this moment during one of the sessions where I felt so overwhelmed and lost and I put my head down on the little table and wanted to cry.  To think that we're spending three days, three sessions a day, working on two sounds that he's been working on in therapy already for a while, and will need more practice on for a while, well sometimes it just doesn't seem fair.  He still has so far to go.  And I was thinking that he's getting as much therapy in these three days as he does privately in three months.  How long is this going to take for him to talk like his peers?  But whenever I feel that way, I try to think of the positive and how far he has come.   He's made 90% progress on his F sound in two days, imagine what it will be after three?  These ladies know what they're doing and I see the results.

In fact, in the elevator as we were going up to our hotel room a man asked him how old he was.  Kiddo said proudly "Five!" (with the F sound, whoo hoo!) And the man laughed. "Five?" he said. "Before you know it, you'll be twenty!" And Kiddo giggled at that.

And as if that didn't make me proud enough, when we made it back to our hotel, he proudly declared "I'm back!" a phrase they had been working on with him in day two.

I am so proud of all the hard work he and Jodi and the clinicians did.  I love CHAMP, but even moreso, do I love my little Champ who always amazes me with how hard he works to learn what comes so easily to others.  He inspires me.

Climbing New Mountains

I took Kiddo to Pump it Up, an indoor inflatable party zone.  This place is awesome, though the last time I've been there was when Kiddo was almost three.  Other kids his age were climbing on the inflatables by themselves, jumping around, having a great time.  But Kiddo wasn't able to do any of that.  I helped him up all the inflatables, went down the slides with him sitting on my lap, and left wanting to cry.  

It's been a few years since then, and we joined a friend of mine here for a play date.  Wasn't sure if he'd be able to climb everything by himself this time, but knew he'd have fun.  And he did.  

He did climb everything all by himself.

And he had a blast.

And I left with a smile on my face and my heart beaming with pride.

He may still have a long way to go, but times like this reminds me he really has come a long way. :)

Thumbs up for Pump it Up.  :)

Climbing every (inflatable) mountain.

The giant slide.  Love the face plant toward the end. 

Progress Report

*Little Brother*

Sensory:  We got Little Brother evaluated by an OT for sensory processing disorder.  He has it.  Sigh.  His sensory issues are related to vestibular movement, especially when going from sedentary to movement oriented tasks or vice versa.  For example, after he's been sitting for a while, if he stands up and starts running, sometimes he'll fall forward and land on his belly.  It's not like he gets hurt from it, he just gets back up and keeps going.  This also explains why he pauses for a few seconds after he's gone down a slide (it's because he still feels like he's moving.)   I was told by the therapist that he's very impulsive, which is a thing you see in kiddos with sensory processing issues and behavior regulation.  So basically, we're teaching him how to handle being told no (currently his reaction is major temper tantrum and trying to do whatever we told him he couldn't do) to help him become more stable emotionally.  I feel like all we're doing is seeing more temper tantrums and my patience is so very thin right now.  I had no idea that impulsivity was sensory related, I thought it was more personality based.  He also has extremely poor visual tracking.  So, now he and Kiddo get OT at the same time and I love both of their OTs.

Speech: Words and phrases are coming!  This little guy has so much to say.  I've had one therapist say she's sure he has apraxia, and two who think it's just a severe delay.  The more I hear new words, and an improvement of old words, the more convinced I am it's just a severe delay, or if he does have apraxia it's definitely mild and nowhere near as severe as Kiddo's.

New words and phrases:
Ok (said all. the. time.  Especially when being disciplined, though within minutes he's doing again what he was doing before)
All clean
Stomp stomp roar (when he stomps his little feet, than hands out as he pretends to be a dinosaur)
appy juice (apple juice.  Sounds so much like he's saying happy juice I jokingly called it that for a while.  But once he started asking for it all the time, we got rid of it all.  No more happy juice, bud.)
Oh no!
Aww man
Pete Cat (his fav book, Pete the Cat)
Teetee on (Tv on.  When he wants to watch TV)
Kitty cat
Ocdoput (octopus)
Doo doo doo (what the rooster says)
Hew pwee (help please)
Moowee (movie)
Pa pie ee chit (french fries and chicken.  his fav thing to eat)
Zitza (pizza)
Chut (church)
Amen! (after our prayers)
Wet  (especially when playing in the pool or bath)
Mama baby (when pointing out a mother and her baby, especially in books)
I know (his response when we tell him "I love you."


*Kiddo*

Speech: Kiddo is totally blowing me away with all the new words and phrases and sentences (yes, for real, sentences!).  Every time he's done with a speech therapy session his speech therapist raves about how much he is saying and that she is understanding what he saysand how much clearer he is.  Other people are beginning to understand him too, so I don't need to translate for him all the time. I wish I had kept a list of all the new words or phrases, but here's the most impressive ones I can remember off the top of my head:


I love you Mommy.  (My all time favorite phrase.  Took me 5 years to be able to hear it).
Big Hero 6 good movie!
Touch Mommy nose.
Microbot (from Big Hero 6)
Bug fly.  Daddy do this. (demonstrates swiping motion Hubster made to shoo a fly away)
I want to play Angry Birds please. (What?  7 words?  With correct grammar?  I'm blown away.)
Right there (when answering the question where something is.  Before he would just point).
Oh, I get it (when told some new information.  He totally got this phrase from me and whenever I hear him say it I just can't help but grin)
Play Lego Game Daddy (when telling me he played the Lego Game Movie with Hubster on the playstation)
Later?  (whenever I tell him he can't do something now).

A few conversations:

Me: Wake up, we're at Chick-fil-A!
Sleepy Kiddo: Eat play?
Me: Yeah.   Sound like fun?
Kiddo: Yes.  Sleep later.

As we drove past Chuck E Cheese:
Kiddo: Chuck E Cheese!
Hubster: Yeah, we went there for your birthday.
Kiddo.  Yes.  Minion cake.
Hubster: It was a cool minion cake.
Kiddo: Yes.  Cake all gone.

And a funny story:  Kiddo's speech therapist and I are working on the "F" sound with him.  We tell him "Teeth on your lips" and demonstrate.  I did that with him, when we were counting, "four, five" and Kiddo starts giggling.  I asked him "What's so funny?"  He says, "Mommy, teeth dirty."  I had a piece of seasoning stuck between my teeth. ;)

Random stuff: He now can put his shoes on all by himself on the correct foot.  He can alternate his feet on the stairs effortlessly if he has a railing or a hand to hold.  He is no longer having issues with getting his hair washed and is a lot less concerned with getting water in his face.  In fact, in the kiddie pool he went down a slide face first. :)


In the Upcoming Weeks:

We'll be heading up to the DC area next week to visit with family and friends in the area, and to have three days of speech at a Mini CHAMP at George Washington University's Speech and Hearing Center July 13-15.  This is where he went two summers ago to work with Jodi Kumar for CHAMP Camp.  At the time, he had just turned three, had about 20 word approximations, and mainly communicated using sign language.  He left with the k and g sounds and about 10 new words and the phrase "I want ___" which was huge progress for us and really helped me know how to work with him better to get faster progress then we were seeing before CHAMP.  The progress he's made in two years has been pretty incredible, and every speech intensive we've done (CHAMP Camp in 2013 and Nancy Kaufman's 4 day speech intensive in 2014) have been so great for really boosting his speech and progress.  Our goals at the mini speech intensive will be working on his d, n, and f sounds.  I'll keep you posted on how he does, and can't wait to see family and friends again. :)

Kiddo's First Sentence

My mother made some banana bread and I gave some to the kids with their dinner.  They wrinkled their noses at it, but I told them it tasted like banana cake.  That got their attention, so they both grabbed their piece and took a big bite.

Little Brother devoured it.

Kiddo took a bite, made a face, spit it out, and left the table.

I told him he needed to go back and finish his dinner.  That even if he didn't like the banana bread, he needed to finish his chicken and blueberries.

Kiddo replied, "No, I want banana cake go away."

Asking Questions

The first time I read the above statement, I felt grief and worry wash over me.  That was closer to the number of words my four year old had in his vocabulary, than the number of questions he asked.  In fact, he didn't ask any questions, even though we tried to teach him the sign language for what, where, why and how are you.  I mourned knowing not only what Kiddo was thinking about, but what he wondered about, what he wanted to know but had no way of communicating to me.  And I worried that even though he did only have 400-500 words, shouldn't some of those be questions?  I mean, I work with toddlers in the church nursery who are asking "What's dat?" a bazillion times, and I'm sure they have less than 400 words in their vocabularies.

I remember asking speech therapists about it, and they would tell me just keep modeling asking questions, especially "What's that?" and "Where's ___?" because those are generally the first questions a toddler learns to ask.  One even told me to not even attempt teaching "Why?" until after he had learned to ask at least four other questions, as that's what happened in typical development.  But no matter how much I modeled, how many times we would go through flash cards I made which included phrases like "What's that?" he never asked any questions.

Flash forward to today, Kiddo now asks three specific questions.  He probably only asks one or two questions a day.  Nowhere near the 437 number, but I'll take it.  We're making progress and that's what matters to me.

His very first question was "Why?"  The first time he asked it, was when he asked me if he could "pay Lego game?" (play Lego Movie video game).  I told him no.  Clear as a bell he said "Why?"  I answered without a thought, just told him because he always played the Lego game with Daddy, and maybe when Daddy got home from work he might play the Lego game with him.  It wasn't until after Kiddo went off to play something else that I realized he had asked a question.  And I immediately informed Hubster of it, I was so proud.  This has become his most frequent question, that I hear at least daily, especially when he's been told to do something or told to wait for something.

Kiddo has asked twice "What dis?"  Once regarding my curling iron, another time about a beaded doll from Africa at my parents' house.  He does tend to repeat words we use with a question mark on the end as if to ask "What's that?" and we'll explain it to him.  For example, we use the words 'shopping cart', but he overheard someone commenting about the kiddos sitting in the buggy, and Kiddo turned to me and said "Buggy?"

And he asks on occasion, "Where are you?"  Usually this is in relation to an item, moreso than a person.  For example, I'll ask him "Where is your cup?" and he'll go around the house, his hands around his mouth as he calls out "Cuuuuuup, wha ah you?"  But sometimes, I hear him calling for me.  "Mommy, wha ah you?"

I find all of these questions interesting, because I never worked with him on these questions specifically.  I know he's heard them, but they weren't the ones we modeled over and over, the ones we had written on flash cards for him to practice saying along with the words he was working on.  He still doesn't ask those questions.  It reminds me that he is developing at his pace and in his own way and it's ok.   I now have a better idea of the things he wonders about, and I'm so proud that he figured out how to ask the questions that matter to him on his own.

A Hard Day with a Sweet Finish

Today was rough.  Both kiddos were more disobedient and whinier than usual.  Kiddo was not cooperating when I tried to work with him on his lesson, so I gave up.  I was tired and my patience was wearing thin with them.  The clinic where we go to OT and speech called and said they need an updated referral, as ours expires soon.  So thinking it'd be a five minute phone call like it usually is to get a referral faxed over, I gave the doctor's office a call.  This call took a whopping 37 minutes, with me being put on hold several times and the kiddos interrupting other times.

And I was worrying about Little Brother, about how he keeps sloooowly adding new words to his vocabulary (he must have 200-300) but doesn't combine them in phrases.  He should be doing that by now.  The magic number of words a child usually has before he starts combining them is 50 and we're well past that.  For example he can say 'more', and he can see 'please', but he won't say them together, even if I tell him too.  So I worried again that maybe I'm to be a mama of two kiddos with apraxia.  Double the speech therapy appointments, double the bills, double the heartache and hard work.

I was frustrated and worried and overwhelmed, so Hubster suggested we go out for lunch.  It sounded great, so we piled in the car, had a great lunch, ran a few errands, and then on our way home I got pulled over for going 5 miles over the speed limit (luckily the officer just gave me a warning).  I was mad as I drove home, making sure I followed the speed limit exactly, since the officer happened to follow me pretty much all the way home.  Mad not so much at the officer or the warning, but at how things in my life were going.  So, when we got home I plopped the kids in front of the TV, grabbed a few chocolates and my Bible and determined to spend time with God.  Question where He was in all of this and what He wanted me to learn from all this, and why He wasn't answering my most desperate prayers for my sons and their healing and their words to come quickly and effortlessly.

Little Brother decided it was the perfect opportunity to snuggle me.  I can't turn down Little Brother snuggles.  And then Kiddo wanted to show me something he had found.  And then Little Brother wanted a snack.  And then Kiddo wanted a drink.  And then Little Brother threw a toy at Kiddo.

And I yelled at them. Fear filled their faces and I instantly regretted everything I said. I snuggled my boys, told them I loved them, then sent them to watch TV.  Finally they did, but I was no longer in a seeking God kind of mood, though I desperately needed Him.

I went on Facebook.  A place I know I should avoid, because I'll read about all the cute things my friends' kids are saying and videos of the milestones they're making effortlessly, and instantly feel sad, but I wanted to do something that would make me feel normal, that would distract me from my angry and sad thoughts.

After 5 minutes of reading articles and random things my friends are doing, I came across this blog post posted on the apraxia support group page:  "To the Mamas of the Special Ones on the Hard Days".  It was a refreshing read and made me feel so much better.  So, not alone.  I felt encouraged to take a few minutes to myself guilt free before spending time playing with the boys.

And then I did play with them.  And I heard Kiddo say a new word "Oos!" (oops!)  I heard it several times throughout the evening, and it made me smile every time.  That new word, that grin when Kiddo said it for the first time, well it made my heart release the frustration and soak in the victory.

And while we were playing outside, Kiddo pointed to the sky.  "Ook!" he said.  I didn't look.  "Oh, yeah, an airplane."  "No Mama.  Hecopper".   I stared at him in surprise.  I've never heard him say helicopter before.  Jeez, that's a hard word to say, but Kiddo was trying it on his own without practicing it over and over again like we oftentimes have to do.  He came up with his own motor plan for it.  Victory!

And then, Little Brother said his newest word too.  I was kissing him all over his face and he was giggling so hard he couldn't catch his breath, and then he gasped and said "Sop!"  "Did you just say stop?" I asked him.  "Yeah," he said.  "Sop!"  I grinned.  A new word, I'll take it.

Or when my children say any new word.  :)

And then, bedtime rolled around.  After Kiddo was all snuggled in bed and we had read his book before bed, we prayed together.  Sometimes I do the praying, sometimes I do it fill in the blank style.  I decided to fill-in-the-blank it.  Me: "Thank you God for ____."  He said his name in response.  "Me," I corrected.  "And thank you God for _____."  "Eesus!"

I choked back tears as I told him, "Yes, thank you God for Jesus."  I've never had any indication that Kiddo understands anything relating to God, Jesus, Bible stories, except for identifying "baby Eesus" at Christmas time.  I've never prayed before using the words "Thank you God for Jesus."  It was his own spontaneous thought and it filled my heart with hope and joy.

We finished our prayers and I kissed that precious little guy goodnight and as I left his room it hit me: God had answered my angry prayers through the mouth of my apraxic child.  How amazing, how incredible is that?  Though things may be rough, I am so thankful that God sent me His son Jesus, to give me strength for all I need to do, to give me peace when I'm feeling overwhelmed, and to forgive my anger and frustration.  And just as I ache inside that my children are not where I want them to be developmentally, oh how much more God's heart must have ached when His son was nailed to a cross He did not deserve.

Yes, thank you God for Jesus.

Progress Report

Hi folks!  We leave THIS weekend to head to Michigan to work with The Nancy Kaufman next week, I am so beyond excited!!!!  Can't wait to see what we both will learn.  Currently Little Brother and I have a cold, so pray that we're all better and there is no sickness during our trip.  That would be no fun at all.  My mom is coming with me to watch Little Brother while Kiddo is in his speech and OT sessions, and after his four day intensive we'll visit my relatives who live a few hours away from the Kaufman Children's Center.  

Anyway, without further ado, the progress report.


Kiddo: 

Motor Skills:
We just got back from his OT appointment.  I had asked his OT to reevaluate him so we could bring the report with us when we go to the Kaufman Children's Center so we don't have to pay the full price for their OT evals, which cost about $400.  Yikes!  Hopefully they accept this and we save some money.  Plus, I did want to know how he was improving, so here's the scoop in how he scored back when we evaluated in March and when she reevaluated him last week:

Locomotion (walking, running, jumping, skipping, etc)      22 months (in March)  ---->25 months (now)

Balance and coordination     27 months ----->34 months

Fine motor       15 months ----->28 months

Hand/eye coordination    38 months----> 40 months

Not as much progress as I was hoping for, but we're going in the right direction.  She didn't reevaluate his sensory stuff, which is where I think he's made the most improvement and what I'd be most intrigued to see regarding progress.

I'll admit I was a little disheartened by the numbers above.  We've been going to this OT for 8 months, and to see only a two or three month improvement in several areas is frustrating.  The fact that he's over four and measuring like a two-three year old in pretty much every way is uber discouraging.  But, he definitely has made progress, and apparently over a years worth of progress in his fine motor skills, whoo hoo!  I celebrate every baby step, every new skill, every victory.  Here's a video of him at our recent trip to the playground.  The fact he even attempted to climb this is huge.  He needs lots of encouragement, but he's getting there and getting stronger slowly but surely.

Speech:  I have found the perfect activity to keep Kiddo motivated while we practice his speech.  I found cute little Angry Bird cat toys at Walmart (shhh don't tell Kiddo what they really are), green pigs and a red bird and I'll set up paper cups in a pyramid fashion with the pigs strategically placed on the cups.  After saying a certain number of words/phrases he gets to throw the Angry Bird toy at the paper cups and knocks the cups and pigs down.  He LOVES this!!  I thought this would work a few times before it no longer motivated him to practice his words, but we've been doing it a few times each week.  The pic to the left is the Pinterest pic where I got the idea for the speech activity.  I love that site!

My new favorite random conversations with Kiddo

While reading a book about opposites:

Me: Look, The giraffe is tall. And the monkey is short.  

Kiddo: Yeah!

Me: Hey, is Daddy tall or short?

Kiddo: Tall.

Me: Is Mommy tall or short?

Kiddo: Short.  (thanks Kiddo).

Me: Is Brother tall or short?

Kiddo: (ponders for a moment).  Tall Baby!

At the consignment shop:

Cashier: Look, your mommy is buying you some games.  Do you want to go home and play games?

Kiddo: Game!  Ok!

The cashier and I both laughed, and honestly I was so excited that what he said was so clear that I didn't have to translate for him.  I left just feeling happy in my heart that he was perfectly understood by a stranger.  Victory.

Random:  Oh my gosh, this kid loves Angry Birds.  He could play it all day long if we let him, and he excitedly tells us how many stars he gets after he beats a level.  (Wa saa! = one star! Boo saaa! = two stars!  Bee saa! = three stars!)  We redecorated his room with Angry Bird wall decals and he was the most excited child I think I have ever seen.  I should have had my video camera out.  He smiles so much more than he used to, and tells me things all the time, though unfortunately half of the time I don't know what he's saying.  He is a master at working the DVD player and my iphone and anything computerized or digital.  He has started doing this coughing thing to get out of doing something he doesn't want to do.  Ex: speech therapist tells him to say a word that is hard for him, and he does this fake cough to (hopefully) get out of having to say it.  It never works, but he still tries, and I think it's cute, though I don't let him know that.  As you can tell by the above conversation, he now says "Ok!" after we tell him to do something, or we give him news that is exciting, which I think is adorable and makes me feel like I have such an obedient child, ha ha.   Ex: "Go get your shoes."  "Ok!"

Little Brother

He loves his animal crackers.  "Goka" is what he calls them.

Speech: We got Little Brother reevaluated for speech again.  He qualified again.  He hasn't gained any words since his second birthday in August and has been using the 50 or so words he had previously a lot less or not at all, which greatly concerns me.  Also, the way he says some of his words hasn't improved at all, which could be a red flag for apraxia.  Since apraxia is genetic, it's possible for both siblings to have it, and in fact I know of several families I've met online with two or even three kiddos with apraxia.  If Little Brother does have apraxia, it is no where near as severe as Kiddo's (Kiddo only said two sounds at Little Brother's age) and he definitely would only have speech apraxia, not the whole body apraxia that Kiddo does.  But, honestly I'm thinking that it's just a delay and with services by our beloved Ms. Blessing he'll pick up words quickly and be communicating better in no time.

Random: He LOVES puzzles, and gets really frustrated if he can't get one of the peg pieces to fit in properly.  Cue temper tantrum.  He's also started spitting if he's mad, which makes me wonder if the phrase "spitting mad" came about because of a toddler.  He has learned how to gallop and gallops everywhere, especially when he has an audience.  He is the best snuggler.  He'll climb into your lap (especially if you're using a laptop) and tuck his arms underneath him and get all cozy and just snuggle for a few minutes, and I gladly set my computer aside to soak those minutes up.  Bliss.

Anyway, that's about all for now.  Check back next week to see how things are going for us at the Kaufman Children's Center!! :)

Speech Progress Report

Kiddo is in a speech surge!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE these!  I don't even know if it's a real term or not, but I've made it into one, because seriously, it's like he plateaus or makes painfully slow progress on his speech for sooo long, and then all at once, for a few weeks, new sounds, new words just flow out of his mouth.  But the big thing is, he's speaking in phrases now!  Wahooo!!

Here's some of his most common phrases:

• Baby cry (he calls Little Brother Baby)
• Daddy work
• kick/throw ball
• big burp (thanks for letting everyone know that Kiddo)
• big boom
• I need help
• I want ____
• Go potty
• Wake up
• Mommy book 
• All clean
• Brush teeth
• Baby don't touch!
• No Baby!
• I'm four
• Play Lego
• Play game
• Eat apple (his new fav fruit, and he says the "p" in apple now, I'm so proud.  Before it was "ah-oh")
• open door (he now puts the "p" in open.  Before it was "oh-eh"  Consonants are good!)  

And some of his newest words:

• Bible
• star
• brush
• shorts
• hiccup
• puppy (he is mastering these "p" words! Wahoo!)

Now, I haven't included the pronunciation for most of these words, because sometimes they change based on if it's a word said alone or if it's in a phrase and based on where it's at in a phrase. I still have to translate for him a lot to others.  Sometimes it takes me a while to figure out what he's saying and I have to rely on context, and him using sign language.  But we're making progress folks!  We're even having conversations!  Here's a few conversations we've had this week:

Kiddo: (Burps for a loooong time)  Big burp!

Me: Yes, it was a big burp.  What do you say?

Kiddo: Thank you.

Me: (trying not to laugh) No, what do you say after you burp?
Kiddo: Excuse me.  Big burp.

While eating some Nilla Wafers, Kiddo and I were looking at the back of the box, which were covered with those cute little minions from Despicable Me.  
Kiddo: (Pointing) One eye!

Me: Yes, he does have one eye.  Some of them have one eye and some have two.

Kiddo: (Proceeds to tell me 'one eye...boo (two) eye..." for EVERY SINGLE ONE.  Seriously, this takes a minute or boo two.)

Me: Good.  Ok, how many eyes does Mommy have?

Kiddo: (looks at me) Two eye.  

Me: How many eyes does Little Brother have?

Kiddo.  Two eye.

Me: How many eyes do YOU have?

Kiddo: (Pauses then puts one of the Nilla Wafers in between his eyes)  One eye!

Haha, I had no idea this kid was so darn funny!

*           *          *

Little Brother's words are coming too!  He will be turning two later on this week, I can't believe it!  He had only two words (go and da da for all done) for the loooongest time, and so we got him evaluated for speech by our beloved Ms. Blessing and she has been working with both kiddos once or twice a month.  She's amazing, seriously.  Anyway, within no time of her working her magic, Little Brother was making the noises of animals and slowly adding new words.  He no longer qualifies for speech therapy anymore, as he's made so much progress and now his speech is within the normal range for typical development, yippee!

Now, I'd guess he has about 50 words, plus his animal sounds, which I've read is the magic number before they start putting them into phrases.  Here's some of his most common words and their current pronunciations:

Goka = cracker.  His all time favorite snack.

Tizza = pizza.  His all time favorite food.  Hubster and I have to spell it because he seriously hears that word from wherever he is and runs to the oven looking for it.  If I drive past a Little Caesar's or Pizza Hut and he spots it, he'll let me know.

Baba = banana.  His all time favorite fruit.  He asks for this the second we go to get him in the morning, as he always has a banana for breakfast.  Well, good morning to you too, kid.

Go go go! = anytime we are going to go anywhere.

Teetee = TV.  He asks for this ALLL the time.  He hears no a lot.  

Dee = drink

Da da = all done

Mo = more

Hep = help

Tuck = stuck

Opeh = open

Pwee = please

Kookoo = thank you

Deedee = outside   This sounds remarkably to me like drink and TV and since he's realized I assume he's asking for a drink or TV first he's learned to just go to the door when he says it

Mama

Dada

Ball

Up

No.  Or oftentimes No no no!

Boo = book

Bubba = bubbles

Gapa = Grandpa

Gaba = Grandma

Poopoo yuck!  = no translation needed.  His only phrase so far.

Puhpuh = potty.  Hmm, I'm wondering if this kid is going to be potty training soon.

*          *         *

I know there's a lot more I'm forgetting, but man oh man, I am cherishing all these sweet apples of gold!   I plan on recording and posting speech videos of both of them sometime soon.  I keep meaning too.  Eventually I'll get around to it. ;)

Kiddo's Prayer

Either Hubster or I pray with Kiddo before bed every night, but we've always taken the lead on the praying part, and then let Kiddo say Ah-eh! (Amen!) at the end.  But last night, I decided to do a fill-in-the-blank prayer.  See if he'd participate.  And I was so proud that he did.  This is how it went:

Mommy: What do you want to tell God thank you for?  Thank you for _____?
Kiddo:  Mommy.  (huge grin)
Mommy:  Good.  Thank you for ______?
Kiddo:  Daddy.  (another huge grin)
Mommy:  Thank you for ______?
Kiddo:  Baby.  (That's what he calls Little Brother).
Mommy:  Thank you for ______?
Kiddo: (points to his mouth)
Mommy:  Say it.  Thank you for _______?
Kiddo:  Tee!  (Teeth!)   Ah-eh!

I had no idea he was so appreciative of his pearly whites.

And here's a random picture of his latest craziness. Reason 1,001 why we should always have our bedroom door closed.

Sensory Stuff and OT Awesomeness

I've known Kiddo had some sensory processing issues for a while, and I read a few books on it.  The books say to take your child to an OT (occupational therapist) for an evaluation and treatment, and so I did.  I told them that I knew Kiddo had SPD (sensory processing disorder).  But they (and I say 'they' because we've worked with two different OTs) both focused only on his fine motor skills.  Which I realize is an aspect of OT, but not really what I wanted help with.  OT #1 we worked with for 6 months.  She worked on finger and hand strengthening (using tweezers, clothespins, playing with theraputty, etc) and finger dexterity (stringing beads, playing games, etc).  We then switched to OT #2 which I did not have to pay for anymore, as we saw her through the school system and we see once a month.  She has been working with him on scissor skills (Kiddo can cut a piece of paper in half) and writing skills (he can now draw circles, crosses, and several letters, including most of the letters of his name independently.)

Now, don't get me wrong, this is all good stuff.  But Kiddo cannot do a lot of physical things like jump and climb and pedal a bicycle and walk up a curb without needing to hold on to someone's hand.  And all the physical therapy we've been doing hasn't really been helping a lot with that but I've read that OT could.  So I knew we needed to find an OT who could help us.

And then, my apraxia mom friend in the area told me about a new OT clinic.  And so I got the referral from our pediatrician and scheduled the appointment.  And then we went and I was BLOWN AWAY.

The eval was very thorough.  I filled out a packet of info about how Kiddo responded to certain situations and when he met certain milestones (all of them late except for stacking blocks. Sigh) while the OT watched how Kiddo did certain things in their sensory clinic.  The next week she gave me a copy of the eval: a whopping 7 pages, even longer than our speech eval at GWU where he got the official diagnosis of severe apraxia.

Anyway, here's the results of his evaluation based on each system that effects Kiddo:

Tactile system: Responsible for interpreting touch.  Kiddo is undersensitive: he doesn't notice when he has a messy face, and has poor grasp on utensils, crayons etc, as well as difficulty dressing and undressing due to this undersensitivity.  He also has a fairly high pain tolerance--he's had blood drawn multiple times and he doesn't even flinch when they do it.  He watches fascinated, the nurses and I are always amazed.  But Kiddo is oversensitive when it comes to his ears.  He doesn't like water or wind in his ears.  Washing his hair isn't the most pleasant experience, nor is driving with the windows down.  But he no longer covers his ears and starts crying whenever the wind starts blowing.  OT diagnosed him with moderate tactile issues.

Auditory system: Responsible for interpreting sound.  Kiddo is oversensitive, despite his hearing loss.  Vacuum cleaners, blenders, leaf blowers, weed whackers, etc used to terrify him.  He's gotten much better about that if he has warning that they are about to start.  OT diagnosed him with mild auditory issues.

Proprioceptive system: Responsible for understanding body position without using eyes.  This totally explains why Kiddo has such a hard time climbing things and on the playground.  Also explains why he dislikes swings and slides and when Daddy picks him up and swings him around.  OT diagnosed him with severe propioceptive issues.

Vestibular system: Responsible for discriminating movement in space--works with the proprioceptive system to regulate muscle tone, balance, postural control, bilateral movement (side to side) and eye-hand coordination.  Again, explains why playing is such hard work for him.  OT noticed the way he transitions from sitting to standing, from lying to sitting, and from standing to sitting all indicate severe proprioceptive issues.  The way the OT described it to me was that his vestibular system was very immature, like that of a 22 month old, and so the way he moved around would look like that of the average 22 month old.  Talk about a punch in the gut, but it really does explain so much.  Little Brother, at 20 months, will soon be passing him in both speech and gross motor skills, but that is another blog post for another time.  The following picture I found on Pinterest really helped me understand the vestibular issues better.  Kiddo is most definitely a vestibular avoider.

Our awesome OT now works with Kiddo once a week for thirty minutes, and they're the most amazing 30 minutes I've ever witnessed.  Finally, I feel like we're on the right track and getting him the help he's been needing for a while regarding his gross motor delays.  Here's a pic of the sensory clinic where Kiddo works with his awesome OT.

There's a huge ball pit she has him wade through, bringing pillows from one side of the ball pit to the other.  Then he climbs out, stepping through each of those big tires.  Then he swings for a little while on a little platform swing, which you can't see in the picture, then he climbs up the tires and wooden steps to get a hanging monkey and brings it down.  Then, he goes over to the ramp, climbs up it, walks across the suspended bridge and down the slide.  Most exhausting obstacle course ever for him, but he's getting so much better each time and I've seen such good progress.  She also works on different things with him once the obstacle course is completed until our time is up.  It goes by too quick for me, but Kiddo is chatty but exhausted by the time the 30 minutes is up and he takes a good long nap afterward.  I love OT days. :)

As if finally addressing all these issues isn't awesome enough, we've had a little bonus.  Kiddo's talking more often, and the OT says that usually happens as a child's sensory system regulates.  She says in her experience, a lot of children with speech delays and disorders have a speech explosion after they start OT.  I'll gladly take it.  Finding this therapist has been such a blessing and I truly praise God for bringing her into our lives.

I'll leave you with a video of the boys playing.  I honestly don't think Kiddo would have attempted "jumping" into the ball pit like this before OT.  He probably would have crawled over the pool and played a little bit and then would be done.  But he and Little Brother did this over and over and over again, for about an hour. :)