Tuesday (Happy Birthday, Mom!)

Dom was sick much of last week with a fever but has been better since Saturday. Despite Dom's illness, he did manage a new word Thursday: applesauce. It came out very clearly. He asks for applesauce a lot now. Also, he's been using "up" and "out" a lot, which are both very helpful. Other favorite words are "guck" or "uck" for truck and "uck" for milk. This morning he said "bye-bye, duck" to the garbage truck, and just now when I put him down for his nap, he said "sory" for story. It's good that he's attempting so many words, but he's dropping lots of letters, which may be completely normal. Sometimes, though, his words are very clear.

Mike said that Thursday night after the phone rang, Dom brought it to him and said "Dad." It's happened so gradually that I don't know when Dominick began calling Mike "Daddy." He even called my dad "Pop," both when looking at his picture last week and when we were in Joplin recently. I'm still waiting for "Mama," though!

Dom's having major meltdowns around people again. We went to a Memorial Day barbeque, and for a solid two hours, he cried and had to be taken away from everybody else. Eventually he came closer but sat still in the grass without moving for the rest of the time. Playgroup today was about the same. I'm going to ask the new OT tomorrow if she thinks this is related to sensory problems and, if so, if there is anything we can do about it. For now, I need to make sure we get back to brushing. Once we stopped our routine, it was hard to start again, but we'll just have to make ourselves get back into the habit.

Oops!

I thought today was our OT meeting, but I looked at my calendar and saw that it's actually next Wednesday. That's just as well because Dominick is sick today. I called Monica this morning and postponed speech therapy until next week. We'll do a make-up session whenever we can fit it in.

Something new

Actually, two new things. Yesterday Dom blew bubbles for the first time. He was really excited and would just laugh and laugh every time he made some bubbles. It's still not easy for him, so he didn't get bubbles each time he tried, but he is getting better.

Also, when we're reading to him and pause for a moment, he'll fill in the next word. Obviously, it has to be a book he knows really well. He had done this first early last week with "Five Silly Monkeys," and I meant to tell Monica on Wednesday but forgot. Several weeks earlier, she was reading the book with him and paused before saying "bed" each time to encourage Dominick to jump in. Of course, he didn't do it at the time. I was really thrilled when last week he did. Now he does the same thing with several books and even says words that he hasn't used previously.

On the downside, Dominick has become upset around other people, the way he was last fall. He'll cling and climb all over me trying to protect himself, so to speak, and he's really too heavy for that right now! My clothes usually end up covered with tears and mucous. It's bad enough just being around other people (in close proximity only--he's fine in stores), but if anyone dares to laugh, he freaks out. This happened when we met friends at the airport last Tuesday, with family in Joplin over the weekend and at playgroup today. I had thought we were over this, so to see it happening again is very distressing. When the new occupational therapist comes tomorrow, I'll have to ask her what she thinks.

OT session scheduled

Jacqui called this morning. She's going to come by Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 for our initial meeting. We are tentatively scheduled for sessions on Tuesdays at 8:15 am, which shouldn't conflict too much with playgroups (unless I'm hosting, perhaps). The regular sessions won't start until June 13 because she's going to be out of town. We'll have to do lots of sensory activities in the meantime so Dom doesn't get too far behind.

Back to brushing

Dom was very excited for his speech session yesterday, and he was full of words and word approximations. He was trying to copy almost everything, and several times he initiated speech himself. It's amazing that, just two months ago, he wasn't saying anything, and for the first several speech sessions, he wouldn't respond when Monica tried to get him to make some sounds. Now, he's coming out with new words almost every day. Here are some recent additions to his vocabulary: bed, elbow, nose, shoes, salsa. Dominick also refers to his Spiderman toothbrush as "Shydy" (to spell it phonetically).

Monica recommended that we keep brushing for now, so I started back today. I don't think Dom was thrilled about it, but he'll get used to it again, and if it helps him sort out his senses and leads to more speech, it's worth a little fussing at first. A few people have asked about the brush, so here is a picture. I didn't put anything in it for scale, but the brush measures about 1.5 by 2.5 inches. It has soft plastic bristles.

Also, because he's getting so distracted and overstimulated by the last part of his sessions, Monica recommends sensory breaks, such as bouncing, swinging and any of the other activities we've been doing. After all, an hour is a long time for a two-year-old to stay focused.

I haven't heard from the OT yet, so I hope she calls this week. This had better not be a bad sign.

Hi and bye

While we were at playgroup this morning, Carol called to let us know that Jacqui is available to provide Dom's occupational therapy and should be contacting us soon. Now if only she has a morning slot...I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Speaking of playgroup, Dom took a long time to warm up, but by the end, when there weren't as many people there, I was able to get him to say a word for our friends. It was really exciting because, like I said yesterday, he just hasn't been that vocal around other people. I picked up part of a Noah's ark toy that had a roof on it and asked him to tell me what it was. He said "house." Perfect. Then, as everyone was leaving, he came running to the front door saying "bye bye bye." He also did this after we were already in our car, but he could still see Emily's as she drove away. He said "bye" again after I said it when talking to Mike on the phone after we got home. So that is officially one of his words now. No more "buh." He says "hi" clearly, too.

Finding a new OT

We would normally be in the middle of occupational therapy right now, but Carol was able to talk to Robin on Friday, informing her that we were discontinuing her services, so there will be no session today. We are currently working on finding a replacement. Our first choice no longer had an opening, but we had a recommendation from Brandie, so Carol contacted the agency where the OT works. We are waiting to hear whether she is available and, if so, when. If she has a 1:30 or 2:00 opening, that will conflict with Dom's nap.

Dom has said a few new words, a couple of them rather interesting. Friday he said "couscous," "batteries," and "tea." Granted, the words were missing a few consonants, but I could tell what he was saying. Usually, if he says something, and I repeat it, he'll smile and/or clap, and that's how I know what he meant. He's saying a few more words spontaneously, too. Last night, when we were pouring his bath, Dom pointed to the tub and said "et" a few times. We realized he was showing us an ant. (Yes, it's that time of year again. I hate ants.) He also said "bap" for bath. We went to lunch yesterday for Mother's Day, and when Mike asked Dom if he was ready to get out of the highchair, Dom said "out."

Despite all the progress, Dom's still not really communicating much with words. They're fairly few and far between, and he generally doesn't use them around other people, except for Monica. It's obviously a slow process, but we're very encouraged with how things are going so far.

Another week gone already

I just realized I let another week go by without posting. We've been so busy lately that the days are flying by.

Dominick is continuing to progress with his speech. He's actually saying a few words spontaneously now, which is really exciting. For example, the other day I was reading the paper at the table while he finished his snack, and he began excitedly saying "daw! daw!" and pointing at the paper. It took me a second to realize that he was pointing at a picture of a dog. Wednesday morning, during our speech session, he was stacking these cardboard blocks that Monica brings over. The bottom one was broken by another kid, so one side is open. Dominick called it a "house," which I suppose it did resemble in a way. So now any building is a house. Another of the blocks had a picture of an owl on it, and owl was a word he had said over the weekend, and he said it again when he saw the picture on the block. We also thought he said "pictures." One of Dom's favorite words right now, aside from "bubble," is "flower." He will usually say it when I ask him to. It's so cute!

I am seriously considering getting a new OT. I waited all last week to hear back from Robin regarding our Monday session time, but she never called, so I didn't know if we were starting at 8:00, 8:15, 8:30, or 8:45. She showed up at about 8:37. When I asked her why she didn't let me know what time she was planning to come, she said she'd had a wedding last weekend and made a cake and was really busy so she didn't call anyone back. She claims she won't have any trouble being here by 8:00, but I find that hard to believe. At any rate, I'm tired of the constant lateness and the excuses. I will probably let her come on Monday so I can return her book, then contact Carol about finding someone else. I'm just not feeling happy about this situation. According to the First Steps provider matrix, as of May 4, our original choice for an OT did have an opening, so if that is accurate, maybe it will all work out. I hope that switching therapists won't throw Dominick off too much. I'm thrilled with our speech therapist, and he really likes Monica. When she drove up on Wednesday, he started banging on the window, then he ran to the door, and after she came in, he immediately went to the living room, sat down, and started signing "more." He was ready to start!

Update: After talking with our PAT educator, Brandie, I decided to go ahead and notify Carol from First Steps that we would like a new OT. Both Brandie and Carol were fairly horrified to hear about Robin's unprofessional behavior, and Carol was particularly glad that I called. The great thing about having an intake coordinator is that she does all the dirty work, so I don't have to fire Robin myself. I hope we can arrange for a new OT to start next week, but if we can't, we'll have a makeup session. I'll keep you posted on the situation.

This week

I've been lazy and haven't posted in a while, so here is an update of our week.

Monday was OT, and Robin was 12 minutes late. (More on this below.) The main activity for the day was having Dom play with a shoebox-sized plastic container full of rice and small objects. We gave him some measuring cups and an ice cream scoop, too. After he'd gotten use to playing that way for a while, we added some water to the container. I was surprised that Dominick actually got his hands in and mashed the rice around. It seems like a good activity, but ultimately the dining room floor and table were covered with rice. I think next time we'll do this outside! The idea is to start with textures like rice, oats, pasta, beans, etc. and work our way back to messier things like peanut butter, which Dom disliked so much before.

Tuesday was our playgroup, which was going to be messy play, but my friend had hurt her arm and was unable to set everything up that she wanted to have. The weather was nice, so we went outside and did bubbles and Play-doh. The kids all loved chasing the bubbles. I'm not sure how good any of them were at actually blowing any. I let Dom try until he started sticking the wand in his mouth.

When we got home, there was a message from Robin saying she wanted to schedule our sessions to start--get this--earlier, like 8:00 or 8:15. I left her a return message saying that was fine as long as we could start on time. She hasn't called back yet. Considering she has yet to make it here at 8:30, I don't see how she can realistically expect to start 30 minutes earlier.

That evening we went to a birthday party for a four-year-old (how time flies!), and Dominick got to try his hand at tee ball. It was pretty funny. The two four-year-olds took nice swings at the ball, but when it was Dom's turn, he'd rather solemnly approach the tee, holding the bat out straight in front of him, and gently push the ball off the tee.

Last Friday night, we went to the dollar store to look for some good therapy toys for Dominick. We found a four-pack of pinwheels and a harmonica and also bought a toy truck that Dom tore open in the store. For a few days, we'd been trying to get him to blow the pinwheels and make some music, without much success. He spent some time with the pinwheels and was able to make them move but couldn't work the harmonica. Then Wednesday morning, just before Monica arrived, Dom figured out how to play it. He was so proud of himself! Ever since then, several times a day he picks up the harmonica and plays it. He's getting pretty good.

As for speech, Dom was distracted or tired or something, because he wasn't playing very well with Monica, even with toys and puzzles he usually loves. I hope next week goes better. Still, Monica was impressed by his progress, especially with the pinwheels and harmonica.

Dominick's new word for yesterday was bubble. We were reading a book about fish which has lots of bubbles in it, and he would point to all the bubbles and say "buh-buh." I made a point of really overreacting each time (screaming happily and then tickling him), so he would laugh and do it again. He's also been saying some numbers and letters, such as A, C, F, S, 5, and 7. He continues to sing the ABC song constantly, using a variety of sounds instead of the letters. Also this week, Dom has also started to do the hand movements to "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider," and he's finally learned to pedal his tricycle, though he still likes to have someone give him a push to start.

I hope that makes up for my slow blogging week! As you can see, it wasn't for a lack of events or progress.