My angels!

My angels!

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Parenting 101....

Tip number 1

If you hear your child say "Eeewww!" Go check, cause whatever it is, its probably nasty!"

I picked this tip up after hearing my 1 year old Ally saying "EEEEWWW" as she pulled stuff out of the garbage can! Yeah, eww is right, along with gross, nasty, and yuck!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Sensory Diet

It has been almost 3 weeks since Tophers OT (occupational therapist) sent home his sensory diet plan.  That is a program she has designed for me to implement at home.  I am supposed to do this 3 times a day! 

Topher's Sensory Diet is as follows: 
    Step 1: Vestibular/Movement input:  stopping and starting frequently as well as changing speed and direction!  spinning, crazy swinging, jumping on trampoline, running in circles,  ... until he stops seeking additional input
    Step 2Active Proprioception/Heavy Work:  pushing, pulling, play tug of war, animal walks, wheelbarrow walk.....
    Step 3:  & Step 5:  Passive Proprioception/Deep Pressure:  massages, sandwich game, joint compressions (we call them boom booms), vacuuming (he is the vacuum),  weighted backpack...
    Step 4:  Tactile Input/Touch:  brushing, finger paint, play in water, digging in sand,beans, corn kernels, etc...
    Step 6:  Skill:  functional task: homework, following directions, potty time, shoe tying, fine motor tasks...

We have meet 2 huge obstacles with this process.  The first hurdle is Topher's sisters!  They are extremely jealous of the extra attention he is getting, and naturally want to be involved to.  They actually are more cooperative with the therapy than he is!  They love the joint compressions, brushing, vacuuming, and sandwich game. 
However, this makes completing his sensory diet a struggle because not all activities are easily done with 3. Especially since Evie and Topher are close in age but Ally is only 1! It takes a long time, and is extremely exhausting (for me)!  It is also A LOT of work finding and setting up things that all 3 can do.
   The second problem is Topher himself.  He has become very non-compliant.  At first he loved it and participated.  Now he doesn't want to at all.  He only wants to sit in the toy room and play. He yells "I wanna play. I don't wanna do nothing...nothing...nothing..nothing....I wanna play!"  Lately I tell him if he doesn't do it I'll take his toys away.  It is supposed to be fun, so it helps.  I feel horrible.
 His play is very fascinating lately too.  He will have the dinosaurs and doll house out.  They will all be playing together.  He plays pretty good with his 4 year old sister, but doesn't tolerate the baby very well. She knocks down his stuff and takes stuff away.  Topher cannot handle that, and responds very aggressively.  He also insists that Evie (older sister) play with him all day long.  The poor girl has to be exhausted.  He will cry if she won't play.  This is a new behavior over the last 2 weeks!  I'm not sure what to do or think about this, but it is getting to be a problem.
Unfortunately, to prevent melt downs he needs to do his therapy.  It's a pain in the butt.  Most days I am not very successful and feel really bad about it. 

The Sleep Study!

Its been about 3 weeks since Topher's sleep study.  The doctor started talking about medications, but I insisted before we get to that point we test everything. I have long suspected Topher to have sleep apnea or something wrong.  He has never, no not ever, slept through the night.  Even when he doesn't wake me up I hear him up getting a drink or something.  He also snores, and it can be pretty loud at times. Yep, he's only 3. 
 I wasn't sure if snoring was normal for him because of the condition he was born with, Laryngomalacia.  I may have spelt that wrong.  It is basically a birth defect, where the throat muscles are weak and actually close up on you when you breath.  Like the way a shower curtain gets sucked in to the shower.  His condition was actually really severe.  The doctor was on the fence about corrective surgery but Topher is strong and made a miraculous recovery.  He still gets bad coughs and vomits alot from them.  We aren't sure if this may actually be a type of asthma on top of all his other problems.  The pediatrician diagnosed him with exercise induced asthma and reactive airways disease. 

So we did the sleep study.  I was so worried I thought it would be a nightmare.  He did so well! I was like who is this kid.  He cooperated with the ladies, and just watched dvds till he fell asleep.  He did complain a lot.  I think it helped that he was really tired and really really freaked out by it all. He wouldn't talk to the ladies any louder than a whisper.  Which was crazy he is usually so loud. I have never heard him so quiet. 

He really hated the piece that went into his nose! He couldn't use his Binky, but thankfully he didn't even ask me for it!  The stickers on his legs with nothing connected to them were his to play with.  He was so freaked out it took forever for me to convince him it was ok to cover up with the blankets!

My only complaint was that at 5 am the lights were switched on.  It was like bam being hit by a freight train.  He looked really scared.  They were very bright.  If I had known I would have asked they wake me up first.  Then I would have woken him up myself before the lights hit.  They also told me they had dvd players there, but they only had one.  It was in another room.  The nurse let him watch dvds on her laptop!

Finally the doctor called with the results.  In all my paranoia I half expected him to say the test was normal.  Unfortunately, I am usually right when something is wrong with the kids.  I know that's actually a good thing, but I didn't want to be this time.  Apparently, Topher has mild sleep apnea and mild sleep disturbances.  I have no idea what that actually means I missed the doctors call and got his message.  I have to wait till Tuesday to talk to him, but he did say we'd most likely need to see an Ear Nose & Throat Dr to see what happens next.

Even thou I suspected this, I wasn't prepared for this.  Listening to that message my heart just sank.  I feel like I've been hit with a freight train.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Lessons from TV!

Evie said to Topher, "If you kiss a talking frog you turn in to a frog, but if you kiss a frog that doesn't talk nothing happens!" 

This is what she learned from watching the Princess and the Frog yesterday!