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.
Monday, September 7, 2009
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.
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.
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.
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.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Weekly Update -- 3 - 9 August 2009
Yay, I'm 135 weeks old today!
Masinja had speech again this week. He cooperated for the most part. His therapist is working on getting him to immitate actions and sounds. She is pretty confident that if we can get him to immiate things then he will be able to correctly pronounce the few sounds that he is having the most difficulty with right now. He didn't have much of a problem immitating the actions such as clapping his hands and stomping his feet, but he would not immiate the sounds at all. She tried to get him to say buh, buh, buh; puh, puh, puh; and mmmmmm but he just wouldn't do it. I told her that I could pretty much guarantee that he would be saying those sounds all the way home. He didn't do that exactly but as we were getting into the car I said all three sounds and asked him to repeat me, and sure enough he did it without hesitation! He is just one stubborn little boy.
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Masinja had speech again this week. He cooperated for the most part. His therapist is working on getting him to immitate actions and sounds. She is pretty confident that if we can get him to immiate things then he will be able to correctly pronounce the few sounds that he is having the most difficulty with right now. He didn't have much of a problem immitating the actions such as clapping his hands and stomping his feet, but he would not immiate the sounds at all. She tried to get him to say buh, buh, buh; puh, puh, puh; and mmmmmm but he just wouldn't do it. I told her that I could pretty much guarantee that he would be saying those sounds all the way home. He didn't do that exactly but as we were getting into the car I said all three sounds and asked him to repeat me, and sure enough he did it without hesitation! He is just one stubborn little boy.
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Weekly Update -- 27 July - 2 August 2009
Yay, I'm 134 weeks old today!
Masinja went for the second half of his speech evaluation this week. It went much better this time, thank goodness! I scheduled the appointment for 11 o'clock which made a huge difference. He got to play with some toys again but this time when the speech therapist asked him to identify the pictures in the book he cooperated much better. It might have something to do with the fact that I bribed him with Kix :O) Anyway, the funniest part was when the speech therapist flipped to a picture of a clown. Before she could even ask Masinja what it was he pointed to it and said, "Mommy!" She and I started to laugh hysterically. It took a few minutes before we could proceed with the rest of the evaluation.
Masinja got to go to a Japanse restaurant this week. T.M. and I, along with Masinja, went to Kobe to celebrate our 11 year wedding anniversary. It is a hibatchi restaurant so you get to watch them cook right in front of you. Masinja had a blast! His favorite part was when they lit the grill. He kept watching for the fires. Each time a chef would light a grill he would grin from ear to ear and giggle like crazy. I hope that's not a sign :o)
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Masinja went for the second half of his speech evaluation this week. It went much better this time, thank goodness! I scheduled the appointment for 11 o'clock which made a huge difference. He got to play with some toys again but this time when the speech therapist asked him to identify the pictures in the book he cooperated much better. It might have something to do with the fact that I bribed him with Kix :O) Anyway, the funniest part was when the speech therapist flipped to a picture of a clown. Before she could even ask Masinja what it was he pointed to it and said, "Mommy!" She and I started to laugh hysterically. It took a few minutes before we could proceed with the rest of the evaluation.
Masinja got to go to a Japanse restaurant this week. T.M. and I, along with Masinja, went to Kobe to celebrate our 11 year wedding anniversary. It is a hibatchi restaurant so you get to watch them cook right in front of you. Masinja had a blast! His favorite part was when they lit the grill. He kept watching for the fires. Each time a chef would light a grill he would grin from ear to ear and giggle like crazy. I hope that's not a sign :o)
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Weekly Update -- 20 - 26 July 2009
Yay, I'm 133 weeks old today!
Masinja went for a speech evaluation this week. It didn't go very well because the appointment was at one o'clock which is right in the middle of nap time. He didn't really cooperate at all with the speech therapist. She gave him some toys to play with and asked T.M. and I a series of questions. Once we finished that portion, she showed Masinja some pictures in a book and tried to get him to tell her what was in each picture. Masinja was more interested in playing with the toys :o) He pretty much threw three temper tantrums in the span of ten minutes! We have to take him back next week to finish the evaluation. Hopefully that portion will go much better.
Masinja went to the ophthalmologist for a checkup this week. He had to have his eyes dilated this time because he didn't have it done last time. The doctor basically did so in order to check Masinja's prescription. He was pleasantly surprised and so were T.M. and I. Even though Masinja has grown quite a bit in the last 6 months, his vision hasn't changed at all. It hasn't improved, but it hasn't gotten worse either!
Masinja had his 19th ECI session this week. We discussed his speech evaluation and talked about some strategies to use at home to help improve his language skills.
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
Masinja went for a speech evaluation this week. It didn't go very well because the appointment was at one o'clock which is right in the middle of nap time. He didn't really cooperate at all with the speech therapist. She gave him some toys to play with and asked T.M. and I a series of questions. Once we finished that portion, she showed Masinja some pictures in a book and tried to get him to tell her what was in each picture. Masinja was more interested in playing with the toys :o) He pretty much threw three temper tantrums in the span of ten minutes! We have to take him back next week to finish the evaluation. Hopefully that portion will go much better.
Masinja went to the ophthalmologist for a checkup this week. He had to have his eyes dilated this time because he didn't have it done last time. The doctor basically did so in order to check Masinja's prescription. He was pleasantly surprised and so were T.M. and I. Even though Masinja has grown quite a bit in the last 6 months, his vision hasn't changed at all. It hasn't improved, but it hasn't gotten worse either!
Masinja had his 19th ECI session this week. We discussed his speech evaluation and talked about some strategies to use at home to help improve his language skills.
That's all for now.
Peace,
T.M.M.
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