Monday, September 7, 2009

Weekly Update -- 31 August - 6 September 2009

Yay! I'm 139 weeks old today!

Masinja had a pretty eventful week this week. We were busy just about every day! On Tuesday Masinja got to go back to Parent Connections and play with Miss Jacqui and a bunch of other kids. I attended a workshop on Sensory Processing while Masinja was playing. I decided it would be a good idea to attend this particular parent training session because many of the therapists and educators that have worked with Masinja have mentioned the possibility of sensory problems. I have done quite a bit of research on the subject and T.M. and I have also talked about it at length. After attending the training sessoin and learning even more about it T.M. and I have decided to ask Masinja's doctor about it and see where that leads us. We'll keep y'all posted with what we find out.

Masinja also had speech therapy again on Tuesday. His regular speech therapist wasn't there though because she is out on maternity leave. He enjoyed his session with the therapist that took her place though. We have been working on expanding his vocabulary to include action words. He got to play with a computer program that dealt with verbs and he really liked it. The program involved children acting out actions and his favorite one was "fall down." Every time the boy on the computer would act out "fall down" Masinja would giggle uncontrollably :o)

Masinja had a follow-up occupational therapy evaluation on Wednesday. We are still having feeding issues with him. We stopped taking him to OT months ago because everyone kept telling us that it was normal for a toddler to be picky. We didn't want to take an appointment away from a child who would benefit more from OT than Masinja and we felt that we could work around his picky eating habits. In the last month or so though he has exhibited behaviors that concern us. He doesn't chew his food completely before he swallows it. It may not seem that alarming but when you consider the fact that he does this with chicken nuggets and carrots it is alarming. He still doesn't eat a wide variety of foods either and therefore doesn't have the most well balanced diet. The occupational therapist and speech pathologist that conducted the evaluation noticed that he primarily doesn't chew soft solids but instead swallows them whole. He also is not yet using utensils consistently and is still quite a picky eater. Most of the things that he needs help with can be addressed through speech; however, so starting next week he will get half an hour of speech and half an hour of occupational therapy. This will make things much easier on both Masinja and I because it means only one trip to the hospital instead of two!

Last, but not least, Masinja got to see his Uncle Boop (Jeremy) again this week. He came for a visit and Masinja enjoyed it very much.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 24 - 30 August 2009

Yay! I'm 138 weeks old today!

Masinja and I went to Parent Connections for the first time this week. Parent Connections is a component of the ECI program here. It is basically a way to educate and train parents on various topics. While the parents are in training the children get to play in a setting that is much like a day care. We went for kind of an open house visit. Masinja seemed to really enjoy it and he got to meet some other children as well. His favorite part was the toy kitchen. He went right over to it and started playing with the pretend food. His favorite items were the chocolate ice cream and the hot dogs :o) Masinja got a new "teddy bear" also. Technically it isn't a teddy bear but we really don't know what else to call it! It's one of the characters from the Dr. Seus books. It's really soft and cuddly though. He hugged it and carried it around the entire week :o)

Masinja went to his first Air Show this week. He didn't seem very impressed though. He didn't even look up when the jets flew overhead. I was concerned that it might be too loud for him but he didn't even seem to notice the noise. Maybe next year he'll get more enjoyment out of it.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 17 - 23 August 2009

Yay! I'm 137 weeks old today!

Masinja had his 20th ECI session this week. Masinja's teacher was impressed with his progress as far as his attention span is concerned. He is now completing two inset puzzles before moving on to another activity which is great! He used to flit from one activity to another every minute or less. Masinja's teacher suggested using more action words and encouraging him to imitate the actions as well to further build his vocabulary. We also discussed ways to help him make choices. It was a very productive session.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 10 - 16 August 2009

Yay! I'm 136 weeks old today!

Masinja had a pretty uneventful week this week. The only highlight to report is that T.M. and I finally got him to sit in his chair. He normally stands as close to the television as he can get which obviously isn't good for his eyes! Below are before and after pictures :o)

Before Masinja learned to sit in his chair

After Masinja learned to sit in his chair

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.