Well Visits...

Today I took both kids to see the Dr. for their well check ups, Peyton's 15 month and Jack for his 4 year.  Both kids did really well and we didn't have to many tears prior to the end when they had to get their vaccinations.  Jack weighed in at 39 pounds and was 3'4" tall, and Peyton weighed 22lbs 1.5 oz and was 29.75 in. tall.  I now realize why its getting harder to carry them both at the same time...together they are around 60 pounds.  Good motivation and reason to keep working out, they are only going to get heavier ;-)

Happy today is Friday!, hooray we made it through another week. The second week of summer vacation has had it challenges but I we have had a pretty fun week.  We went swimming on Monday, had two play dates here at the house, and Jack went to his usual OT appointments on Tuesday and Wednesday. I am really hoping to get out of the house this afternoon, but it might have to be to an indoor locations because I have been outside playing with Jack and it is HUMID, yuck!

This weekend will should be fun.  We are looking forward to celebrating Father's Day with Justin, even though we don't have any specific plans at the moment.  We are also looking forward to Justin's mom coming for a visit.  She will be arriving Sunday morning and staying with us for the week.  It will be nice to have an extra set of hands around the house and I am looking forward to doing some me and Jack activities while Peyton spends some QT time with her Grandma.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Friday and great weekend and Happy Father's Day to all the amazing dad's out there!

Listening Therapy

Hello Wednesday!  This week has been a little better then last week but I am still looking forward to next week when ESY begins.  Jack will have an abbreviated day but I think he will benefit from getting some structured classroom time.  The kids and I have had a very relaxing morning which include Jack's new favorite breakfast scrambled eggs and we even took a trip to target to buy more eggs :-) 

Today marks day 3 of doing Listening Therapy with Jack.  This is a therapy we will (work up to doing) everyday for 30 minutes- broken up into two 15 minute sessions.  This week we have been working on him getting use to the head phones and learning that mommy is the only one allowed to put them on and take them off.  So far he has been doing very well with that rule.  My goal for the first few weeks is to get him comfortable with the idea and not to push him to hard and do my best to keep him from becoming frustrated and upset.  I showed him the new pecs card that says "all done" and he has used that a few times to tell me he wants to be done.  I will then tell him ok and do a verbal and finger count down from 5 and then remove the head phones and say "all done" then we end with a high five.  I have been trying to do a couple sessions with him while Peyton takes her nap so we don't have any distractions, and yesterday we got very close to hitting that 15 minute mark.  Fifteen minutes may sound like a short amout of time, but when you are trying to keep a toddler destracted and prevent him from ripping off his headphones it can feel like a lifetime. While he listens we have been play with cars, stack books, do puzzles, any type of play that keeps his interested and I also use lots of edible reinforcers.  The past few day's that has been rice cakes :-)  This is a very new experience for him and he was never a child that enjoyed wearing hats or having anything on his head so seeing him wear the head phones for long periods of time is a check in the victory column.  This therapy was recommended to use by his Occupational Therapist.  We purchased the head phones and mp3 player and Our Children's House Baylor is loaning us the music which will get changed up every 2 weeks. 

Here is a web site I found that explains Listening Therapy and its benefits in more detail.
http://www.advancedbrain.com/the-listening-program/the-listening-program.html

I hope everyone is having a nice week and here are a few pictures of Jack during his Listening Therapy session we had today.

Never Give Up | National Autism Association - 2012

Summer Week 2

Last week was Jack's first week off school and things started out a little rough, but we got to start out this week with a fun pool play date at his friend Allen's house.  I was a little nervous taking both kids to the pool but with a little help from my friend Jennifer (who's house we were at) and her parents we were able to have a really fun morning swimming.  A while back we went to a birthday party for one of Jack's classmates Hudson and I learned about a great floatation device called puddle jumpers.  So yesterday when I when out to do a little shopping (by myself, thank you so much Justin) I was able to buy him one to wear and be safe while he is in the water.  I also got two new bathing suits and Peyton a cute little baby raft to use which she absolutely loved using to float around the pool!

Jack had a blast at his birthday party last week and the weather turned out to be really nice.  It was a little humid but the rain stopped and the kids were able to play outside and I think everyone had a really nice time.  Here is one of the pictures I have up online of our "not so little anymore" little man after his party:

Hope everyone has a great week!



One year ago...

So I started writing this yesterday, but of course things got crazy and I was unable to finish...One year ago (yesterday) Jack got his official diagnosis of ASD, Autism Spectrum Disorder.  It has been a very educational year full of lots of activity including getting Jack set up with new therapist, since ECI services stopped when he turned 3, and completing his first year of school.  Jack has made some great progress over this past year and looking back I find it hard to believe its been a whole year.  The work he has been doing with his Occupational Therapist, Shannon, has helped him so much.  She has been addressing a lot of his sensory needs which has helped him gain some much needed developmental skills, such as learning how to dress, he's working on buttoning buttons, and learning to use scissor (to name a few).  He has stop mouthing every single toy/object he comes across and his tendency to eat non-food items has decreased greatly.  He has made some progress with his receptive language skills, but in regards to his communication skills we still rely heavily on the PEC system we started a few months back.  We are always encouraging and looking for ways to increase his verbal requesting by being quick to reinforce any thing he does happen to verbally requests.  Jack still has problems when it comes to his social skills.  He doesn't interact with his peers the way a Nero-typical child would at the age of 4, but is a skill he will have to learn over time.  We are always looking for ways to help him learn how to socialize by placing him in more social situations. 

Jack's last day of school was last week, and he is off for two weeks before his ESY programs starts.  The change in his daily routine has been harder on him then I expected.  He has been exhibiting more behaviors and having more frustration tantrums then he usually does when he was in school.  I have been trying my best to keep him on some sort of a schedule here at home, but with all the different variable that come with being at home things just can't be as structured as school...especially when you have a 14 month old added into the mix.  Today has been rainy and when you have a boy who lives to play outside it can be hard keeping him cooped up in the house.  I was able to take them out to McDonald's this morning to play, but he wasn't really in the mood to use the equipment. He did enjoy running around all the tables in the play area, and since 7:30 am isn't prime play area time at McDonald's we didn't encounter any problems.  Luckily, now the rain is light and there isn't any lightning or thunder so he is happily playing having a snack and playing with his trains on our covered patio (thank god for that). 

I am cleaning the house and getting ready for the very small party we are having to celebrate Jack's 4th birthday.  This of course was suppose to take place last Thursday but due to illness was postponed till this evening.  We will be ordering pizza (which is his favorite food), but with the rain there won't be any outdoor water activities, except the rain ;-) of course.

Hope everyone is having a great day and if you live in the Dallas area I hope you are enjoying the rain and the cooler temperatures!

  

Happy Birthday Jack!

Happy Birthday Jack!

It was four years ago today that we welcomed our little man into this world!  I still see him as the tiny little baby he was four years ago.  Right now he is at school enjoying his second to last day before summer vacation.  We were going to have a small birthday party for him tomorrow evening, but since Peyton has been sick and he is still getting over a cold we decided to move it to the following week.  Justin and I got to give him one of his gifts this morning and he was all smiles when we kept telling him "Happy Birthday!"  I was saying it to him in the car on the way to school and with every Happy Birthday he would get the biggest grin.  He also started to say Happy Birthday, it was so cute.  I think he may be starting to understand the concept. What I do know is that he will enjoy his backyard birthday bash...once we get to have it :-)...he loves playing in the back yard.  His birthday theme this year is trains.  He loves playing with his trains, building his tracks, making pretend villages and tunnels (using dolls, chairs, pretty much anything that can sit next to a train track) and pushing trains and even cars down the tracks.  I keep hoping with each birthday that he will be able to choose his own birthday theme, instead of me choosing it for him based on what he likes at the time.  It hasn't happened yet, but when it does he will get the biggest and best birthday party his mom can plan!

Unfortunately, Peyton has been fighting a cold the past two weeks and it has finally got the best of her. She got worse over the long weekend and we had to take her to urgent care on Sunday morning.  They said it was just an upper respiratory infection and she would have to fight it off, but when we took her to see our regular Dr. yesterday we found out she has a double ear infection :-(  He also said that it looks like she is cutting her 1 year molars so this is not helping the situation.  She has been up the past two nights off and on getting sick.  Hopefully the medicine will start to work its way into her system and she will start feeling better soon. 

Justin is going to see one of his friends from St. Louis who is in town on business tonight so it will just be me and the kids tonight.  I am going to pick Jack up one of his favorite meals (McDonald's or Chick-fil-a) for dinner tonight and maybe we can watch a movie.  We are having a nice little rain storm today, but hopefully it will let up by the time he gets home from school because it is a challenge to keep that boy inside (very thankful for our covered porch:)  I hope that everyone is having a great day!

3 day weekend's almost here...

I am so excited about the three day Memorial Day weekend.  My parents and sister are on the road and will be getting in around lunch time.  I was very lucky and got to start my holiday weekend a little early.  Justin didn't have to leave for work as early as usual (which is usually before the kids are up) and was here to help get the kids going, fed and was able to take Jack to school.  I got to take my shower right after I got home from working out and got to eat breakfast before 8:00 in the morning.  Those two things are not typical week day occurrences but were a very pleasant addition to my Friday!


The one down side to this morning is that it was my last boot camp workout:-( I can't believe that my 5 weeks is over? I will miss seeing my friend LeighAnne, but I am going to continue working out MWF in the AM over the summer.  I think I will try and sign up for another 5 weeks when summer break ends and Jack is back in school.  I am very excited to have met my new friend and workout buddy Celina who also wants to continue doing morning workouts (it's always better when you have a friend with you to keep you motivated) Thanks Celina!


This weekend will be very nice because I will have my mom, dad and sister around the house to help entertain and play with the kids.  Justin got tickets to the Ranger's game on Saturday and we are planning to get out of the house, alone (which only happens when we have family in town) and see a movie and have dinner.  The last thing on the agenda for this weekend before my family heads back home, is my sister and I are doing the McKinney Memorial Day 5K Monday morning.  It is going to be a hot one, so my goal is going to be to not die...JK :-)  Although, she may end up leaving me in the dust since she is a more established runner, but I am looking forward to it.


Have a terrific Memorial Day weekend!