Weekly Update -- 8 - 14 February 2010

Yay, I'm 162 weeks old today!

Masinja had a pretty busy week. Speech went well. His therapist has added a few more goals for him, one of which is to increase his attention span. She read him a very long Dr. Seuss book today, The Foot Book. Masinja actually sat still and paid attention for over ten minutes!! His therapist and I were very impressed. He is still struggling with imitation but he's getting better. He now puts his fingers in his mouth and touches his tongue when he is supposed to be sticking it out. This is a big improvement because before he would just look at his therapist with a blank stare. At least now he knows where his tongue is and that she is trying to get him to do something with it!

Masinja also had his 3-year checkup this week. He weighs 31.8 pounds and is 36 inches tall. T.M. and I mentioned the recent concerns about autism that were brought up by both his speech therapist and his ECI teacher. Masinja's doctor is going to put in a referral to have him evaluated by a local clinic that specializes in autistic disorders. We'll keep you posted on how things go.

Last, but not least, Masinja went for his first Parent's Day Out this week. It is part of the ECI program and Parent Connections. Basically, he gets to go and play for two and a half hours and I get some time for myself. T.M. and I were really concerned at first that Masinja would throw a fit or have separation anxiety but he didn't even notice I was gone! I was supposed to drop him off around 9:00 and pick him back up around 11:30 but I couldn't hold out that long. I went back and got him around 10:45 but we stayed a few minutes and chatted and played. It's a good thing he did so well because it will make transitioning to preschool that much easier. If only I had done as well as Masinja!!

That's all for now.

Peace,
T.M.M.