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.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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