Last Physical Therapy, an OT Session and Guitar Lessons

Anastasia had her last physical therapy appointment this week. She is officially a proficient walker (for toddler standards). Anastasia's been in some form of physical therapy since she was 5 months old. It's nice to move away from this phase of life. She has her torticollis under control, I still message her neck muscles to keep them loose, mostly out of habit. Then she was a late sitter, late crawler, and finally a late walker. That's all behind her now.   

Just as she got out of physical therapy, she's now into speech therapy. That's right, starting next week she'll begin her own speech therapy through Early Intervention. Anastasia is delayed in her speech even if we adjust her age. Instead of letting the gap get wider and wider Rowan's speech therapist, Jill, wants to intervene now. We're hoping that Anastasia has been so focused on things like gross motor skills that she just couldn't devote energy into her language skills. However, now that the physical side is catching up she should be able to work on her speech. 

Anastasia has been inconsolable lately, if she were a a year or so younger I'd say she has colic. That's what its like in the house right now, constant crying. We've tried everything. She started having another crying fit while Rowan's OT, Vicky, was over. Vicky got out a compression vest for Anastasia to try. It's like swaddling but for bigger children to adults. It gives you the wrapped up tight sensation and since it's spandex it doesn't hamper breathing. I think she likes it. As you can tell from the picture she still isn't a fan of her shoes or socks. 

We had a fun experiment for OT. Vicky is working on Rowan's food aversions. What the plan was it to couple something he loves (yogurt in this case) with something uncomfortable (cereal). We crumbled a little bit of dry cereal at a time to his yogurt. Making it slightly lumpy and a little textured. He did so well we added a whole piece of cereal to a bite. To which he instantly gagged. We took a step back and just worked on crumbling cereal again. 

We also used other foods as dippers with the yogurt. We used graham cracker sticks, dried fruit spears, and teddy grahams. The goal is to expose him to new foods via favorite foods. 

Anastasia on the other hand will try ANYTHING. She's going to eat us out of house and home. I think she's just trying to catch up growth wise. Or she has a speedy metabolism and just can't get enough.  

Rowan has been doing amazing with his speech. The other day at ABA he and his friend R kept taking turns repeating what each other said. The therapists joked that they were worried the boys would be caught in an endless loop. 

Rowan's trying to repeat harder words or more words from a sentence. He knows a lot more than he says. For example, I was putting his laundry away and he named the objects on his shirts. "Ball, Tractor, Truck, Fire-ie (fire engine)." Then he points to a shirt and says "Robot!" I told him "I didn't even know you knew that word." He replied "That word."

I think it's amazing how a routine is started. Especially a nap / bedtime routine. It's seriously a series of accidents or you do something different 1 time and the child either hates it with a passion or thinks "I like this change, this is how it must go hence forth!"

Take Rowan's requirements to go down easier: 

1. Must have Cass the dog watching over him

2. Must have a plane or car to cuddle up with

3. Must have his blue & brown pillow

4. Must be wrapped up with his; light green blanket, light blue blanket and the dark green blanket has to be UNDER him. 

5. Have his quilt over him, unless it's nap time. Then no quilt. 

6. Has to be picked up once he's been wrapped up. Twice. He'll say "Up?" You cuddle him a few seconds. He says "Down." Promptly followed by "Up?" again. 

7. Put him down with his head resting on the pillow. 

Nothing will be in the same order when you go to get him. Stuff is every which way in his crib. (Except Cass, Cass will always be by his side). He's a terrible sleeper, constantly moving. I'm not looking forward to him moving to a big boy bed, I'm pretty sure he won't stay put. 

Heidi has officially begun guitar lessons. We decided she needed something of her own and wanted her to learn an instrument / have a hobby. I like the school we're going through. She gets a 30 minute private guitar lesson per week where they work on new cords, how to hold the guitar, different warm up exercises, new songs. 

On top of personal lessons you get at least 30 minutes in the lab, you can spend as much time in lab as many days a week you want. The lab is where the students work on music theory, ear tuning, caring for your instrument, etc. 

Heidi is practicing hard because they have a recital in December she wants to participate in even though she's new. They also have a year end recital in June that everybody performs in. If she works hard enough she can move up a level around June. It takes 8-10 months to reach a new level of skill and you get a medal for every level completed. It just takes a lot of work on her part. I'm encouraging her as much as possible, daily practices and all. So far she's loving it.