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.