therapy at the beach

Well sort of.



We have been wanting to get one for Max and Damian to help with their tactile issues and for the kids to play in. Seeing Damian outside playing is huge. It's usually too hot for him so we parked it on a tarp in front of Eric's door on the patio. Nice and covered and cool.



Oh and we finally finished these darn chairs. I ended up having enough plus extra to use for some other projects. Anyone want a makeup bag?
.....
xo

lotsa therapy today!

Max had double the therapy on Friday.

First with Miss Audra who he missed last week...and boy did we see it. He needs his therapy more than ever now and I need to step it up a notch at home with it.




getting better at catching balls and throwing them!



waiting patiently



working on fine motor skills and bilateral coordination.



follow the leader with heavy lifting. His body loves this.



at home on the swings. It took him a month to get on these but now he is in heaven.
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When Max and I got home from therapy and a quick stop at the Dollar store we found gardeners outside. Enter tactile therapy.













it was too hot for Damian and he let me know!



Planting the veggies and getting a much needed tan..sorry babe.



They ended their afternoon of play with the good ol' water table. This offers hours of endless fun for them and a chance for me to surf the internet.

Eric is off volunteering along the river with his friend and I'm frantically cleaning up after breakfast so we can go off on our date!

Life is good.
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xo

updating my fams and Maxie

Life has been super duper busy.

Exciting but tiring.

Interesting and draining.

I did get away with my all time favorite partner in crime who insists on an explanation for every scrapbooking item in Michaels while I try to quietly rack up a huge bill. I end up just ignoring her until I hear a scream in the stamp aisle. We also got bombarded with senior citizens while grabbing a bite to eat. It made for interesting dinner conversation!

I miss her and our wild eventful nights out.


Here's some random shots of the kids around the house this past week. In case you ever wonder why my Eric is rarely in these, it is not my choosing. He is usually escaping the house and spending the night at a buddy's or is hovering over his laptop. He needs his time too right?




no pictures for Damian



sad. He is cutting with bandage scissors. sigh...the medical days



our daily craft time



showing me her spoon skills



ah yes. The Love Day glasses



debating on trimming the hair





it's so unruly and everywhere!





loves loves glue





showin' the tats
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So...Max and I completed our study at the MIND institute this week. It consisted of a 2 hour phone interview, DNA collections from most of the family, including hair, okay I already have thin hair so I freaked when Troy cut off my share, lengthy 4 hour clinic visit and traumatizing blood draws.

I did this for a Genetic and Environmental look at causes of Autism. He participated in the area of children with developmental delays. They did alot of testing and I met the most wonderful doctor who used to work there with Dr. Nowicki the behavior ped. we see.

I often think that God brings these people into my life for a reason. He also works with the psychologist that I'm trying to get to asses Max for more services through school. He is going to put a good word in for us and talk to her about Max.

He did so well throughout the testing. It's alot of fun for kids and he amazed me at how intellectual he is. They knew my concerns of PDD-NOS but after talking to each other they felt Max really only has speech and sensory issues.

They can't really give me a diagnosis but they said if he WAS mild it might not show up until school like Damian. But Max is very social and makes good eye contact when prompted. He passed all the Mullen testing except for some language. He did all his fine motor skills awesome because of the hard work of his therapist and us.

We still think he needs preschool to ready him for kinder and we will ask for that service at his IEP in March. Free preschool?? Heck yeah!!!!

So after all his patience with that testing it was time for blood draws. I'm not even going there. You guess.

So this was a great study to be a part of. We can take all the information we get from the reports and take it to his IEP just like we will with Damian. We will be getting a nice monetary reimbursement for participating but that wasn't why I did this.

I want to be a part of one of the biggest studies on the effects of what I feel is responsible for the sudden increase in autism. If anything I hope what they find will help other children in the future who are just as special as my children.
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much needed O.T.

I Max needed his therapy bad today. We had a haircut in our usual loud, bright and over-stimulating place. After he was "tuned" out, he came back to in the parking lot and WHOA MAMA! Full on tantrum , biting, thrashing and hitting included.

I was so happy that we had Miss Audra to see an hour after. He did alot of crashing and pulling heavy objects and less of the swinging. He didn't know WHAT his body needed.

pooped on the way home.

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xo

snapshots of our O.T days

Today was Max's therapy and he was having withdrawls from Miss Audra so this was a big thing.




I've been meaning to take pics of him to remember these times and today I remembered to bring my camera. I gab gab alot during therapy time and it was hard to get good shots because I rarely shut up.

We usually start out jumping and crashing into the ball pit. This seems to wake up his body. He craves crashing, bouncing and any movement like nobody's business.

gettiing a little tired..

The famous scary swing. Damian uses this in O.T on his tummy and Max sat for the first time today on it. With a smile.

Painting with glitter glue? He gets tactile stimulation while smearing his hands and his legs AND my shirt in it, and more organization skills with the hard squeezing.

Falling out of his favorite swing. It's like a cocoon in there and he loves spinning in it and singing in it.

Wheelbarrow walking to pick up the balls. This is pretty hard for Max and poor Damian can't even take one step like this!

ok..pooped.

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Just a peek into our therapy sessions!

wrappin' up our weekend with Toddy

Well Toddy went back to class today accompanied by his journal of his visits so far and Brandon's poster about him.

Brandon will sure miss Toddy and I threw around the idea of getting him his own Toddy but he said nope. If it's not the real thing it won't do I guess!

Toddy made some new pals!

Toddy went missing for awhile. Mila found him.

A little hug in between!

Brandon's poster that will be up all week.

His contribution to Toddy's journal.

Life with these boys is crazy at times but so worth it!!

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Max's weighted blanket should be arriving today. This is a calming and relaxing item for him. It is 5 pounds of plastic poly pellets distributed evenly throughout the blanket. I got a crib size one so it's not too overwhelming. He likes to have pillows piled on top of him and is soothed when pressure is applied to his body. I've been waiting to get one of these and I'm excited it will be here for our trip to Santa Cruz!

I also have 2 pages of sensory activities that I can do for Damian here at home. His sensory issues aren't getting in the way of his schooling ( so they think) so his O.T will be a consult every month. We started with a vibrating toothbrush that will "wake" his mouth up and work on oral issues.

AND..today was Eric's first day as a JUNIOR!!! Yikes! Of course he was 10 minutes late. We need to either buy that boy a car or I need to hustle in the traffic.

xoxo