Heading back to OT

James is a toe-walker. He is on his toes almost all the time. Ever since he started walking really. Right after his second birthday, we started physical therapy and we did that once a week for one year. He is still walking on his toes. My gut tells me that it's not a physical issue but a sensory issue. Physical therapy didn't help then and it won't help him now. Yesterday, I called the facility we went to because I want to have him re-evaluated. And the fact that the facility set his appointment with the physical therapist he used to work with did not instill any confidence that they understand his needs. I remember the PT telling me that it wasn't helping (he also added that he thought James needed speech therapy because he couldn't understand him. He seemed to be the only one though) and suggested we try working with one of the Occupational therapist. It was a great experience! I learned that James had some other sensory issues like crossing his midline (reaching across his body rather than rotating his entire body to reach, touch etc), vestibular issues and, of course, oral/food sensory issues. Now James will be seeing the OT he saw over a year ago. She is sweet but awfully young. There was not much attention paid to his oral sensory issues. This time around, we have a different insurance plan with limited visits each year. I have to make the most of what is being offered. I took the risk of asking parents of the homeschool coop for any information they could share. I knew some of the moms had experience as PT's and OT's and I wanted to get their expertise advice. But of course I opened myself up for any and all opinions. One Dad emailed me back right away and diagnosed James as being autistic and suggested we try a special diet because it worked for his kid. Thanks but no thanks. But with the risk comes reward. One mom emailed me last night who used to work as a speech therapist in a multidisciplinary team with children. I was so excited! She was encouraging and even recommended a place for us to try too. But my dang insurance is not cooperating so I am back to the facility we went to. If it weren't for my fear that continued toe-walking could damage leg muscles and tendons I would let it be. But I know that some kids require braces, special shoes or even surgery to correct the damage. James has already been through 2 surgeries in his short life and it was hard on me! He did great! I can't imagine the recovery and PT required after a surgery like that and I don't want first-hand experience with it. Wish us luck.

Going Rogue

It's official. I have completely left behind the curriculum I bought to use this year. It assumes that a preschooler knows nothing AT ALL about letters or numbers or word meanings and I find it completely tedious. So I am being creative and working on James' strengths and encouraging him to develop skills that he needs but isn't quite interested in yet. Today we did a hodge-podge of things. I guess that's how it will be from now on. Always, we start with the calendar, the Pledge and Show-and-Tell. We then read 2 poems (James got to participate in one of them). I read "Three Little Kittens" and James did the "miaow, miaow, miaow" part for each stanza. I read the story of "Sarah and the Toys" in which they come to life and play with her one night. After that, 3 worksheets: an alphabet maze, handwriting (he always complains) and Thanksgiving addition. Even though James might him and haw about handwriting, he takes great care in his attempts. I give him praise and that is motivation enough for him to continue just a little more. He practiced writing "James Hutchinson" today. He said his hand was tired and so I told him that was enough. Baby steps. I had found some numbers flashcards not too long ago so I convinced James to count. He counted to 50. He's never done that before and he enjoyed it. And lastly, he practiced saying his ABC song. Hilarious. When he gets to "L-M-N-O-P", he doesn't yet realize that he is saying the letters super fast so it sounds like a word. He loses his place after that. As always, learning happens all the time, not just in the fun yellow room. Yesterday, even though we didn't "do school", James, Chris and I went to Blue Jay Point Park. We hiked by Falls lake and collected an assortment of acorns, we through big and small rocks into the lake and made BIG splashes and small ones. We looked for the disturbance in the water that was a tell-tell sign of fish nearby. We marveled at all the shiny sand. We figured there must be a lot of shale around or something. James got to play on the playground and practice hitting the baseball with me and Chris. I see some baseball in his future. Smile.

Time goes by

It's been over a week since my last post. I knew when I started this that I would not be able to do this on a daily basis. Partly to blame is my schedule, but also I am a real-life mother and wife with daily activities that keep me constantly on the go. However, I am happy to report that last week we were on vacation and that is the reason for the absence. We drove down to Orlando to visit Nana and Pop-Pop. We enjoyed Halloween with them and Uncle Mark and Aunt Jill. James dressed up as Optimus Prime- muscles and all. He went trick-or-treating and even helped pass out candy to the witches and zombies that came to Nana and Pop-Pop's house. I'm not sure which part he liked best. We even got to take our first trip to Disney's Magic Kingdom too. One of the best moments for me to witness during our vacation was during an evening after we had all eaten dinner and sat around talking. James sat with Nana for a bit and showed her all the cool games he plays on Mommy's phone. And then, as he looked at the spiderweb decoration Nana had hung, James says, "Spiderweb. That starts with an "S"." "That's right", I say. He looks around the room for another object and says, "House. House starts with an "S"". I said, "No, but house ends with an "S"". He thought about it a moment and said, "Squirrel starts with "S".". "Yes!", I said, "That's right". I have heard it time and again from homeschooling moms that one day, all of a sudden, your child gets it. And that's what happened with James that night. We have talked about the letters and the sounds they make but he had never participated in the activity very much. But! He was listening! We even sounded out the word "Transformer" the other night during storytime. He is on the road to reading for sure. I am keeping calm though. I want him to love learning and always be excited about books and what's in them. One other funny thing (sort of) that happened while on vacation was that James got a blister on his pinky toe one day while out walking. That's not the funny part. When he saw the popped blister with the skin hanging there on his little toe....he....freaked....out. Cried and screamed and begged for a band-aid. That's not the funny part either. With band-aid and Neosporin in place, the crying and whining continued. He couldn't stop thinking about the blister. To get his mind off of the darn thing, I said to him, "James, how do you spell your name? Can you spell it for me?". And here's the funny part: He whines, "J-A-M-E-S!". Just like that! Nana, Aunt Jill and I were kind of stunned. I thought it would take him a few seconds at least; that he'd have to think about it. But NOOOOOOO! The kid has been holding back on me! The blister made top billing from his vacation. He had to tell everyone about it or asked that I tell MawMaw and DiDi about it. He needed to know WHO had had a blister before and what did they do. Did it hurt? How long did it take for it to go away? This child will NOT be a doctor...for people. No way. But that's ok. He said he was going to be a hunter instead. Don't even ask.

Halloween Trick-or-Treating

Watching the 3 O'clock Parade at Disney