Thursday, December 17, 2009

Weekly Update -- 14 - 20 December 2009

Yay, I'm 154 weeks old today!

Masinja had a quite an eventful week this week. His speech session went pretty well. He cooperated quite well with his therapist and she is very impressed with the progress he has made so far. One of the activities she does with him every week involves picture cards that represent verbs. She puts them into a pillow case and lets him pull them out. He cracks us up every week though because after he pulls out each card and she asks him what the person pictured is doing he always says, "crying." For some reason he seems to think everyone is always crying. After she tells him to try again, he tells her exactly what action is being portrayed. Next he will take all the cards and line them up on the floor. He insists that they be lined up just right; none of them can be touching! When it is time to pick up he has to tell us once again what action is being portrayed before his therapist can put the cards back in their box. He is very particular about the entire process :o) This week his therapist had to put even more cards in the pillow case because he wanted to do more.

Masinja has been having some difficulty with stuttering and I asked his therapist about it. She said this time of year it is normal for kids his age to stutter due to the holidays and all of the new vocabulary that they are learning. She said that we will monitor him and if he continues to stutter after the holidays, she will look into it.

Masinja got his second H1N1 shot this week. He handled it like a trooper. About the only thing he got upset about is that the nurse only gave him one sticker instead of two :o)

Masinja had his 25th ECI session this week. We further discussed ways to use the First/Then poster utilizing pictures of his toys as well pictures of daily activities. We also discussed making a Daily Schedule using the same pictures and switching things up a bit from day to day to help Masinja break out of his rigidness. Lastly, we discussed ways to get him to sit in his chair instead of standing directly in front of the tv. He starts out sitting in his chair but he inevitably winds up standing so close to the tv that I swear his nose it touching the screen!! His teacher suggested getting a throw rug and putting his chair on it and explaining to him that he has to sit there if he wants to watch tv. She also suggested turning the tv off any time he stands too close and telling him that the tv doesn't work if you stand too close. When I told T.M. about this suggestion he just laughed and said that knowing Masinja, he'll just walk up to the tv and push the power button to turn it back on :o)

Below is a video of Masinja eating chocolate. We wanted to share it with y'all because his pronunciation of chocolate is priceless :o) He says "crocket!"


Chocolate Video



That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 7 - 13 December 2009

Yay, I'm 153 weeks old today!

Masinja had quite an eventful week. T.M. had to go out of town and unfortunately while he was gone we had a pretty big winter storm. By the time the storm was over we had a total of 13 inches of snow on the ground! Masinja didn't quite understand what the snow was though. He kept saying, "It's raining!" I took him outside with me on Tuesday while I was shoveling and he fell down in the snow and the proceeded to follow me around saying, "Wet. Cold." We were going to go sleigh riding with his friend Clay but he just wasn't as impressed with the snow after he fell :o)

Masinja didn't end up going to speech this week because the roads were so bad. All of the schools were closed and even the base was closed. We did venture out to Target early on Tuesday just to pick up a few things in case the power went out. On Wednesday I had to shovel the driveway in sections because there was so much snow. When I shoveled the first part I left Masinja in the living room watching Sesame Street because it was way too cold to take him outside with me. I came in to check on him after about 5 minutes just to make sure he wasn't getting into any mischief. The picture below is what I found :o)

Surrounded by CDs pic

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 30 November - 6 December 2009

Yay, I'm 152 weeks old today!

We drove the rest of the way back to Nebraska this Monday. Masinja really didn't seem to mind the drive at all. He slept for a good portion of it and played quietly with his link-a-doos for the rest of the time. T.M. and I were amazed and we're pretty certain that when we have another child he/she probably will be Masinja's polar opposite :o)

Masinja had speech on Tuesday and since T.M. was off for the day he got to go with us. I think it was quite enlightening for him! We tried to make an appointment for Masinja's formal occupational therapy evaluation but they are short staffed right now so we might have to wait a few weeks.

Masinja was supposed to have his 25th ECI session on Wednesday but we had to cancel because T.M. was sick. He was running a fever and we figured it would be best if we canceld so Masinja's teacher wouldn't get sick.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 23 - 29 November 2009

Yay, I'm 151 weeks old today!

Masinja got to spend Thanksgiving with his Grandpa Murphy, Uncle Gary, cousins Taylor and Jordan, Uncle Sean, Aunt Joyce and Uncle Vin. He also got to visit with lots of friends and family that haven't seen him since he was about 6 months old. It was a very busy week but it was nice to get to spend the holiday with loved ones. Everyone was amazed with how big Masinja has gotten and everyone was very sad when we had to leave to head back to Ohio. We drove to Masinja's Uncle Gary's house on Saturday so we could rest up on Sunday before heading back to Nebraska on Monday. None of us were too psyched about that 14 hour drive :o( On a positive note, we were able to visit with one set of Masinja's Godparents while we were in Ohio. Tom, Leslie, Gabe and Patrick drove to Gary's house to see us and we all went to lunch. It was a short visit but it was well worth it!

Masinja & Grandpa Murphy

Masinja & Uncle Gary

Masinja & Uncle Sean

Masinja & Aunt Joyce

Masinja & Uncle Vin

Masinja & Tom, Leslie, Gabe & Patrick

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 16 - 22 November 2009

Yay, I'm 150 weeks old today!

Masinja had a pretty busy week this week. We went to speech on Tuesday and he had a hard time staying on task. He had a few melt downs because he coulnd't do what he wanted when he wanted to! Definitely channeling the terrible twos :o) His therapist found out the resutls of the Sensory Profile today as well. He scored significantly on it so now he needs to have a formal Occupational Therapy evaluation. Once that is completed he will start OT.

Masinja had his 24th ECI session this week. We discussed Masinja's sensory processing issues. His teacher is going to try to get the results of the Sensory Profile and share it with the OT that is on his ECI team and try to coordinate services for him. Masinja started spinning in circles when she was trying to interact with him and I told her that he had been doing so repeatedly several times throughout the day. She said that this is also a sensory issue. We also discussed the fact that Masinja has issues with perseveration. Basically, he gets stuck on a specific activity or insists on doing things a certain way and won't deviate. His teacher is going contact the school psychologist and see if she can come out and observe Masinja and maybe give us some additional strategies to help him.

This Saturday we started our trip home to New York for Thanksgiving. We left bright and early and drove to Ohio to stay with Uncle Gary for a bit before finishing the last leg of our trip. Masinja was great for the entire 14 hour trip. I'm sure by the time we head back to Nebraska he will be sick and tired of the car!! I know T.M. and I will be.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 9 - 15 November 2009

Yay, I'm 149 weeks old today!

Masinja had his 24th ECI session this week. We discussed ways to better help him transition from one activity to the next. Masinja's teacher is going to make a First/Then poster that we can use to motivate him to finish an activity before moving on to another one. T.M. and I are going to take pictures of all of Masinja's toys and his teacher will laminate them for use with the poster. We also discussed trying another strategy to help him make eye contact. His speech therapist at Children's has had success with using a physical prompt. Masinja's teacher suggested using a familiar object or making an "L" with my fingers and placing it next to my eye and saying "Look" to get Masinja's attention. Hopefully this will help because he just refuses to make eye contact.

We STILL don't have the results of the Sensory Profile. Masinja's speech therapist couldn't figure out what was taking so long so she went looking and found it in his file. Apparently the receptionist never gave it to the occupational therapists to be scored. Now that it is in the right hands we should know something next week for sure!

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 2 - 8 November 2009

Yay, I'm 148 weeks old today!

Masinja had his 23rd ECI session this week. We discussed the progress he has made with making eye contact and interacting while reading a book. We also discussed the possibility of Masinja starting pre-school in March. His teacher feels that pre-school would greatly benefit him by helping him develop his social skills, improve his attention span, and also help with his speech development. He would be placed in an integrated classroom where he can get the amount of redirection that he requires. I'm very thankful that March is a few months away because it will most likely take me that long to get used to the idea!! He would only go for 2.5 hours twice a week but I know I'll have a harder time adjusting than he will :o)

We haven't gotten the results of the Sensory Profile yet. Masinja's speech therapist said she would look into it this week since it usually only takes about a week to be scored. We'll let y'all know the results as soon as we do!

Masinja got to play in the leaves this week. I'll let the pictures below speak for themselves :o)

Leaves 1

Leaves 2

Leaves 3

Leaves 4

Leaves 5

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 26 October - 1 November 2009

Yay, I'm 147 weeks old today!

Masinja's regular speech therapist came back from maternity leave this week. He was happy to see her and performed pretty well considering she had been gone for 6 weeks. I gave her the Sensory Profile to have scored and she said she should have the results next week.

Masinja got his first H1N1 vaccine this week. We had to get a prescription for him to get the shot instead of the nasal mist because he falls into the high risk category. We weighed the pros and cons for quite a while before deciding to get him the vaccine. For us, the alternative is worse than the risks involved with the vaccine. Masinja's immune system and lungs are still a bit immature and with his neurological problems we just didn't want to take a chance. So far he hasn't had any adverse reactions to the shot. He has to go back in 30 days to get a booster shot. He really didn't fuss too much when he got the shot and he got two stickers which was the highlight of his day :o)

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 19 - 25 October 2009

Yay, I'm 146 weeks old today!

Masinja will be resuming regular speech appointments next week because the feeding specialist discharged him this week. She is pleased with the progress he has made in the last couple of weeks and feels that he no longer needs her services. In the few weeks that she has worked with him; however, she observed some behaviors that led her to believe he might have a sensory processing disorder. She gave us a Sensory Profile to fill out and return to be scored by Occupational Therapy. It will be interesting to see what the results are because after filling it out, T.M. and I are even more convinced that Masinja does in fact have sensory issues.

We took Masinja to Trick or Treat at the zoo this weekend. He didn't really understand the whole trick or treat concept but he certainly looked adorable in his costume :o)

Masinja Monkey

Happy Monkey

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 12 - 18 October 2009

Yay, I', 145 weeks old today!

Masinja had a pretty uneventful week so we figured we'd just post a few pics for your enjoyment :o)

Sleeping Peacefully

Why'd you wake me up?

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 5 - 11 October 2009

Yay, I'm 144 weeks old today!

Masinja had his 22nd ECI session this week. We discussed a different technique for reading books with him. Instead of having Masinja sit in our laps, which is what he prefers, his teacher suggested having him sit in front of us so he can interact more with the story. She would like us to have him point to and name items as a way to build his vocabulary and attention span. Masinja tends to rush through a book and often turns the pages before T.M. or I have even finished reading! Hopefully this technique will make reading books with him more enjoyable :o) We also discussed working on getting Masinja to make eye contact. It is very hard to give him directions when he looks everywhere else but at the person speaking to him! Lastly, we discussed strategies to help Masinja engage in both busy and quiet activities. His teacher suggested pairing a busy activity with a quiet activity as a way to help him focus more. I am eager to try this strategy because I am hoping it will make it easier to play with Masinja!

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 28 September - 4 October 2009

Yay, I'm 143 weeks old today!

Masinja had a pretty exciting time this week. He didn't have speech because the feeding specialist took a well deserved vacation but he did get to go to a wedding for the first time. Our friends Holly and Nick got married Friday night and Masinja had a blast. He was a dancing fool!! He was on the dance floor for almost the entire reception! He kept following all the little girls around trying to get them to dance with him :o) Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of him dancing with any of them but we did get a picture of him dancing with his friend Bryce.

Masinja dancing with Bryce

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 21 - 27 September 2009

Yay, I'm 142 weeks old today!

Masinja had his second session with the feeding therapist this week. He got to try peanut butter for the first time. We had been reluctant to give it to him for fear that he might have an allergic reaction. Just that weekend though T.M. and I had decided to request that the therapist try it with him. We figured it was the best setting for him to try it for the first time simply because if he did have an allergic reaction he was already in a hospital. When we got to speech this week I didn't even have to ask her to try peanut butter because she had already planned on it. Luckily Masinja didn't have an allergic reaction but watching him try it for the first time was interesting to say the least. The therapist put some peanut butter on a graham cracker and then gave it to Masinja. He turned the cracker around so he could eat the end that didn't have peanut butter on it! The therapist then put more peanut butter on the cracker and Masinja proceeded to try to eat around the peanut butter. Next, she put some on an apple slice. He pretty much wiped the peanut butter of with his finger and then kept saying, "on the plate." He was not impressed with how it felt on his fingers and insisted that we wipe it off :o) The therapist finally gave up and just put some on the back side of Masinja's front teeth. He didn't quite know what to make of it. I'm not sure if he just didn't like the taste or if it was the texture. I guess we'll just have to keep offering it to him and hope that eventually he likes it.

Masinja and I went to Parent Connections again this week. I attended a training session titled "It's Not What You Say But How You Say It." The session was desinged to help parents of special needs children communicate with the school system about their child's needs. I learned a lot of good communication skills that I'm sure will come in handy in the years to come. Masinja had a good time playing with Miss Jacqui again. She tried to get him to play with something besides the kitchen set and food but it didn't work very well :o) Maybe he's going to be a chef when he grows up??

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.

Weekly Update -- 14 - 20 September 2009

Yay, I'm 141 weeks old today!

Masinja had his first session with the feeding specialist this week. It seemed to go pretty well but that's probably due to the fact that he got to spend the majority of the time eating :o) The therapist worked on getting him to eat soft solids like apples and cheese. She gave him some crackers in between as a way to motivate him to eat the soft solids. She also tried to get him to drink from a regular cup but all he seemed to do was dribble milk every where! During the second half of the appointment, Masinja worked on building his vocabulary with picture cards that represent various verbs. He is getting really good at identifying them. The therapist is going to update his speech goals because he has pretty much met all of the goals his original therapist had set for him.

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.