Ronin's OT eval was fine. He's doing great as a kid. Some low muscle tone, needs some upper body work, but we knew that since he became sickly with his asthma, plus his food allergies. Classic case. We're still doing speech therapy because Pete says he needs to work on his cognitive and expressive language. OK, fine. I suppose I could call the coordinator and just tell her we're through with speech, but Denis was in favor of continuing it. FIIIIINE, I'll keep going. It doesn't hurt, but I don't want Pete to put any more useless thoughts into my head.
I'm worried every time I hear Ronin cough, and tonight Audrey's been hacking away. I felt her forehead and she's not warm at all, but it could be something viral. I'll have to see how she is in the morning. Ronin had a flu shot at the new allergist's office. They watched his reaction to it, because the flu shot normally has egg in it. He did fine. On Saturday both Nikko and Audrey will get the flu shot at the pediatrician's office. We are going to have to wait until they get the H1N1 vaccine. My friend Alexa stood in line for 7.5 hours to get herself and her daughter vaccinated. I don't know where. But that is a LONG time. There are so many pros and cons to getting the vax, it would make your head spin. There are overall cons for the kids because they are all at risk, Nikko has developmental delays/neurological delays, Ronin has asthma, and Audrey is just one year old. Nikko's autism could also be aggravated by any mercury or thimerasol or anything funky in the vax. Actually, ALL the kids could be affected by something in the vax down the road. I'm slightly nervous about Audrey's future shots because there's a possibility that any vax, flu shot, H1N1 shot or regular ped shot could make her regress. Nikko was pretty much born with his neurological delays in my book, despite his achieving most of his milestones like sitting up and walking, but he was never pointing or waving or clapping his hands when he was a baby. He waved for a very short period of time, but lost the skill. Therefore, I don't believe that vaccines caused his autism. But could they cause it in the other kids? I think Ronin is in the clear, he's over 2 years old, but after shots and sicknesses you never know if he could regress. I've read that it happened to someone on one of the autism boards, the boy Zavier was 28 months when he regressed after getting sick or shots. That is so scary. Especially since Ronin is talking and is so sharp. Guess I should be nicer to him than I was today. LOL! And Audrey seems to be developing quite normally, she can clap, pick up small objects with a pincer grasp, points in a rudimentary way, tries to say words like Cheese (Chssss), Ball (Bah), Pacy (Pah), Ma, Da, Duck (Dah), Pig (Pa)... that's pretty good for a 1 year old, I think! Ronin didn't even crack any real words, or close to them, until almost 20 months. We're still waiting for more from Nikko.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Walking Audrey
On Thursday, Oct. 8, I was waiting for Peter to arrive for Ronin's speech therapy session when I noticed that Audrey was pulling herself up to stand and taking 3-4 steps at a time before falling back on her butt. I saw her pull up onto her feet, then let go and stand alone for a minute at a time. In the back of my mind I said to myself, "OK, she's walking longer today. That's great!" The next day at the in-law's house she was taking 4-5 steps and standing even longer. Each day after that she has been toddling around more and more, and so this week she has truly learned how to walk. It's amazing. She's still doing some crawling, but the majority of the time she's on her feet, walking like Frankenstein. All this before her 1st birthday. YEA!
Ronin is obsessed with the Disney Cars characters. He also watches Finding Nemo, but he is fixated on playing with the matchbox-sized cars and is lamenting that he couldn't take home Doc Hudson from my friend's kid Boon's house. This evening, Pat and Anna found two Doc Hudsons at Babies R Us and dropped them off for me (I owe them moolah and thanks for that!). I'll bring one to church tomorrow and whip it out when Ronin has a meltdown. I'll save the other for when we lose the one he'll open. Ronin's speech is coming along, but not enough that I was able to get us out of another 6 months of speech therapy. Ronin was a late talker, and he's good at repeating what we say, but his spontaneous speech isn't smooth. It's still early, he'll catch up I'm sure. But Peter is making me paranoid about Ronin's behavioral problems i.e. his fixation on Cars, his inability to transition between activities (stuck on cars), and his "perseveration" on cars, according to Pete. He recommended an OT evaluation. I hope Ronin passes it well, if/when it happens, because although he is a difficult-acting child at times, I don't think he has delay or sensory issues. Peter thinks he has sensory issues. Who knows? Doesn't hurt to get the evaluation.
Ronin is obsessed with the Disney Cars characters. He also watches Finding Nemo, but he is fixated on playing with the matchbox-sized cars and is lamenting that he couldn't take home Doc Hudson from my friend's kid Boon's house. This evening, Pat and Anna found two Doc Hudsons at Babies R Us and dropped them off for me (I owe them moolah and thanks for that!). I'll bring one to church tomorrow and whip it out when Ronin has a meltdown. I'll save the other for when we lose the one he'll open. Ronin's speech is coming along, but not enough that I was able to get us out of another 6 months of speech therapy. Ronin was a late talker, and he's good at repeating what we say, but his spontaneous speech isn't smooth. It's still early, he'll catch up I'm sure. But Peter is making me paranoid about Ronin's behavioral problems i.e. his fixation on Cars, his inability to transition between activities (stuck on cars), and his "perseveration" on cars, according to Pete. He recommended an OT evaluation. I hope Ronin passes it well, if/when it happens, because although he is a difficult-acting child at times, I don't think he has delay or sensory issues. Peter thinks he has sensory issues. Who knows? Doesn't hurt to get the evaluation.
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Bed rearranging, and just busy!
Just a quick note. I think I'm going to have to do more during the day in terms of organizing and cleaning instead of trying to fit it in after the kids go to bed. Yeah, we have a dishwasher now, but after loading it and cleaning up the physical kitchen, I go over papers and blog about Nikko, look at websites and end up staying up too late to start any new project. I've got tons of filing to do, papers to sort and put aways, as well as overall JUNK that needs purging and I can't seem to get to it because I'm doing other things after the kids are asleep. We've just been through a busy weekend, transferring kid furniture and now Audrey is sleeping in the 2nd room by herself and the boys share the nursery. Ronin has a new bed which he doesn't want to sleep in at night. Audrey has the crib, which she seems to LOVE. And Nikko is ambivalent about where his bed got moved, showing no signs that it bothers him in the least that he's not alone anymore. Audrey's not Ferberized yet, still sleeps with a paci. In fact, I've replaced it twice tonight, and am thinking that after tonight I should just not go in and let her cry herself back to sleep. Unfortunately it will be at the expense of the boys if they wake up, but I'm hoping she will complly. I HOPE. Anyway, I've got to hit the hay. I have an earlier schedule now that Nikko's in preschool. I set my alarm for 6:45a so I can get the breakfast stuff ready and rolling for Nikko, then go fetch Nikko hopefully around 7:10ish. I'm still working out the morning schedule kinks.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
R&A update
It's been about 3 months since I've posted about Ronin and Audrey. I've blended in some of our daily activities into Nikko's blog since Nikko's therapies with Early Intervention ended on his 3rd birthday, July 20th. Ronin gets speech therapy once a week with Pete Lyon on Thursday mornings, 9:20a. Quite honestly, in the week or two before his therapy began, Ronin started saying words and repeating words. He started with Pete and didn't really want to interact with him at first, but later warmed up to him. Within the first two weeks, Ronin's speech snowballed and he was naming things as we pointed to them, repeating what we said, and starting to say two-word phrases. Ronin really got into the movie Cars and it proved to be a good and bad thing during therapy because he was so stuck on playing with Lightning McQueen that he didn't care to read books with Pete. However, he was still repeating phrases prompted by Pete. Ronin is also saying three-word phrases now, and has flashes of spontaneous talking. I still have to ask him questions to get answers, and he still whines and cries when he wants something, but with just a little prompting he can focus on saying something. When he accidentally drops his cars behind the tables and he cries out, I ask him if he needs help, please and he says Help Peas! On two occasions when he wanted something, like juice, he'd say, "I want juice!" Other times it's just "Juice! Juice!" Or he'll say, "I LIKE Cars!" As for the Flovent, I took Ronin off the aerochamber for about two months to see if it was the Flovent that made him all whiny and crazed at times. Well, even though he was drug free, Ronin still whined and cried until I wanted to tear my hair out. I've been screaming because of some resistance with him for the past three days, and only today I noticed that he was actually behaving and I wasn't drawn to scream at him for anything. Ronin is so sharp. He's actually quite adorable lately, but I could really do without his high-pitched screaming.
Audrey is 10 months and crawling really fast. She is drinking less formula and wanting to eat more solid foods. She hates jarred food nowadays. Booo! That means I gotta get her some fresh stuff. She tries to tangle with her brothers, but that means she may learn to walk sooner. Audrey is now sporting one tooth on her upper right gum, to go with the bottom two teeth. She's very animated and loves cuddling with a burp cloth and a pacifier. I'd write more, but it's past 2am and I'm tired! Will catch up another time....
Audrey is 10 months and crawling really fast. She is drinking less formula and wanting to eat more solid foods. She hates jarred food nowadays. Booo! That means I gotta get her some fresh stuff. She tries to tangle with her brothers, but that means she may learn to walk sooner. Audrey is now sporting one tooth on her upper right gum, to go with the bottom two teeth. She's very animated and loves cuddling with a burp cloth and a pacifier. I'd write more, but it's past 2am and I'm tired! Will catch up another time....
Thursday, May 28, 2009
The latest update on R & A
Since my last post, I have been giving Ronin the Flovent via AeroChamber, 2 puffs twice a day. Honestly, he hasn't thrown up and his coughing has disappeared. Is it the Flovent? One day this week I forgot to give it to him at night (and Denis hadn't given it to him when I went to a GNO a few weeks ago) and later that night or the next I swear he had a mini-coughing spell. I don't know if that was the Flovent (or lack of it) or not. I am back on it and don't really want to experiment again by not giving it to him. I think he gets a refill on it when it runs out. I'll have to check the script on that.
Peter Lyon, Nikko's former speech therapist, is going to be Ronin's speech guy. He had an opening for tomorrow at 10:30a so I took it. Ronin's normal speech time will be Mondays at 11:30a, after our playgroup. We are going to have to rush to make it home, but he's easygoing so I shouldn't stress out about it too much. I wonder how Nikko will act in Ronin's therapy. Will he want to be part of the action or will he be aloof and do his own thing? Tomorrow (and the next 2.5 weeks) will be tough because Chinny is in the Philippines and I won't have help taking Ronin away during Nikko's therapies. I fear a lot of distraction, probably frustration on the part of the therapists (mostly Gloria, but Shelly might get annoyed too if Ronin is in the way too much. Bo is very tolerant of Ronin) but they all know we'll have to work with what we've got. I am looking forward to seeing if Peter can give Ronin's language a boost. Ronin is also picking up signs from the Signing Time DVD, but lately he's been jumbling them around a bit. I was so proud of him when we went to Mom's house yesterday because I set him down on the ground, he looked at the neighbor's yard and signed Dog (patting his hip) because he remembers that those two yippity yappity shelties always come running when people are in the front yard. Ronin is such a curious tyke and very smart, but he is also a HUGE WHINER and seems to overact to everything. He is an attention seeker. He is not a bad kid; in fact he is very sweet, but boy does he try to defy me right now. I don't like this stage because I have been screaming my head off at him when he doesn't follow what I say. I have to remind myself daily to calm down and not set a bad example for him. I'm sure he is watching everything I do (so is Nikko) so I have to somehow find a ton of patience and be calm in the eye of the storm.
Audrey is 7 months old and is really blossoming. She's so pretty, she looks like a female Nikko. She's got really chubby legs and her hair is growing in sparsely. Audrey hates tummy time but I force it on her because I don't want her to have low muscle tone in her shoulders and upper back. She sits up really nicely, however, and I can leave her on the living room floor for a long time to play and explore toys from her toy basket. When it's time to nap or she needs a break from sitting, Audrey fusses and lets me know it. She was napping pretty consistently around 11a, 2:30p, and sneaking a 30 min. catnap around 6:30p. But today she started the day with a 2 hour nap that offset everything. I wonder if that was a fluke nap schedule today or if she's decided to nap longer. I wonder if it was a result of yesterday's excitement at my mom's house before they left for the Philippines. She's still not the best solid food eater and I admit that it's easier to plug her with a bottle when she gets fussy during a mealtime since the other boys are pulling at me already. Still, I have to try harder to incorporate solids during at least two of her three mealtimes. Her separation anxiety is in full swing, just like her brothers, and her stranger anxiety is also there, just like her brothers. Today and yesterday she's been moving her mouth as if she is chewing constantly, moving her jaw and her tongue up and down. She's still in our bedroom, sleeping in the pack and play, but I've stressed to Denis that we have to change this really soon because she's not learning how to sleep on her own. I love her dearly, but she needs to get out of our bedroom.
Peter Lyon, Nikko's former speech therapist, is going to be Ronin's speech guy. He had an opening for tomorrow at 10:30a so I took it. Ronin's normal speech time will be Mondays at 11:30a, after our playgroup. We are going to have to rush to make it home, but he's easygoing so I shouldn't stress out about it too much. I wonder how Nikko will act in Ronin's therapy. Will he want to be part of the action or will he be aloof and do his own thing? Tomorrow (and the next 2.5 weeks) will be tough because Chinny is in the Philippines and I won't have help taking Ronin away during Nikko's therapies. I fear a lot of distraction, probably frustration on the part of the therapists (mostly Gloria, but Shelly might get annoyed too if Ronin is in the way too much. Bo is very tolerant of Ronin) but they all know we'll have to work with what we've got. I am looking forward to seeing if Peter can give Ronin's language a boost. Ronin is also picking up signs from the Signing Time DVD, but lately he's been jumbling them around a bit. I was so proud of him when we went to Mom's house yesterday because I set him down on the ground, he looked at the neighbor's yard and signed Dog (patting his hip) because he remembers that those two yippity yappity shelties always come running when people are in the front yard. Ronin is such a curious tyke and very smart, but he is also a HUGE WHINER and seems to overact to everything. He is an attention seeker. He is not a bad kid; in fact he is very sweet, but boy does he try to defy me right now. I don't like this stage because I have been screaming my head off at him when he doesn't follow what I say. I have to remind myself daily to calm down and not set a bad example for him. I'm sure he is watching everything I do (so is Nikko) so I have to somehow find a ton of patience and be calm in the eye of the storm.
Audrey is 7 months old and is really blossoming. She's so pretty, she looks like a female Nikko. She's got really chubby legs and her hair is growing in sparsely. Audrey hates tummy time but I force it on her because I don't want her to have low muscle tone in her shoulders and upper back. She sits up really nicely, however, and I can leave her on the living room floor for a long time to play and explore toys from her toy basket. When it's time to nap or she needs a break from sitting, Audrey fusses and lets me know it. She was napping pretty consistently around 11a, 2:30p, and sneaking a 30 min. catnap around 6:30p. But today she started the day with a 2 hour nap that offset everything. I wonder if that was a fluke nap schedule today or if she's decided to nap longer. I wonder if it was a result of yesterday's excitement at my mom's house before they left for the Philippines. She's still not the best solid food eater and I admit that it's easier to plug her with a bottle when she gets fussy during a mealtime since the other boys are pulling at me already. Still, I have to try harder to incorporate solids during at least two of her three mealtimes. Her separation anxiety is in full swing, just like her brothers, and her stranger anxiety is also there, just like her brothers. Today and yesterday she's been moving her mouth as if she is chewing constantly, moving her jaw and her tongue up and down. She's still in our bedroom, sleeping in the pack and play, but I've stressed to Denis that we have to change this really soon because she's not learning how to sleep on her own. I love her dearly, but she needs to get out of our bedroom.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Allergy forums
Looks like I ended up doing my plan as stated in my last blog, with Thursday using plan A. Chinny has been working out, but we had to have a "discussion" because she's been late and it affects me, the kids and the therapists. Yeah, that's pressure.
Ronin is really a curious guy, an explorer and a troublemaker too. He has identified me by saying "Mama" and pointing to me, but he doesn't call me Mama. I don't know when his speech therapy will start, but I hope it helps him hit a boom in his language development. I could really use him being more communicative with words instead of whining. I've joined some online boards on babycenter.com, one on autism, one on asthma and allergies, and the last one on food and environmental allergies. I had posted something last night about which is correct, avoiding an allergen or feeding it in small doses so the person gets used to it. I was surprised that I didn't get an overwhelming response, but the one lady who wrote back said it was a question more suited for the Food allergy group, so I joined that group tonight and reposted my question. I hope I get a few responses. Ronin's been throwing up at will, sometimes triggered by his constant coughing. It's disturbing, but I wonder if I start the Flovent on him will it help lessen his coughing? I gotta clean that AeroChamber and just get started. I'm still chicken to give him the medication.
Ronin is really a curious guy, an explorer and a troublemaker too. He has identified me by saying "Mama" and pointing to me, but he doesn't call me Mama. I don't know when his speech therapy will start, but I hope it helps him hit a boom in his language development. I could really use him being more communicative with words instead of whining. I've joined some online boards on babycenter.com, one on autism, one on asthma and allergies, and the last one on food and environmental allergies. I had posted something last night about which is correct, avoiding an allergen or feeding it in small doses so the person gets used to it. I was surprised that I didn't get an overwhelming response, but the one lady who wrote back said it was a question more suited for the Food allergy group, so I joined that group tonight and reposted my question. I hope I get a few responses. Ronin's been throwing up at will, sometimes triggered by his constant coughing. It's disturbing, but I wonder if I start the Flovent on him will it help lessen his coughing? I gotta clean that AeroChamber and just get started. I'm still chicken to give him the medication.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
My "sitter" plan
Was in Peru most of the day for Ziggy's party. Audrey behaved much better than she has in the past, Ronin and Nikko were both happy to be outside and around so many different people, and I was happy to be in good company. Denis was there too, mostly outside watching the boys. It was such a production, however, for me to pack us up to go there because I had to prepare things for a big chunk of the day:
1. I took 8 of each diaper size just to be safe; Ronin went through 4, Nikko 3, and Audrey 2. But who would know if today would be an extra poopy day, or a filled-to-the-brim day, or a runny diaper day?
2. I took a bigger bag to hold two changes of clothes each, plus extra burb cloths for Audrey.
3. I took a backpack for the Bjorn and extra toys.
4. I had a bag with our shoes (just coz we'd be in the car so long, they could be in socks)
5. And finally, the food bag. I dispersed Audrey's bottles between bags because they were filled with water and would be heavy. Had to pack juice for the boys, plus their nuggets, and animal crackers just in case.
At home I had to do the timeline to make sure we'd leave the house by 11:15. I was 15 minutes late, but arrived to meet up with Denis on time.
On the way, I called Brianna but ended up leaving a message on her cell. I told her we needed to discuss our situation and for her to call me back. She didn't, all day. I'm in a quandry about it because I realize it's the weekend, but is she avoiding my call, should I call her tomorrow? No, I'll call her on Monday morning and leave another message. If she doesn't get back to me by the afternoon I'll text her. I know she works for another family on Monday mornings but I can't fire the sitter if she doesn't call back. Actually I could, but it would be more professional to do it "in person" on the phone vs. text.
I'm so glad that Denis and I discussed our situation this morning because I've been having a hard time trying to see how the pieces could fit. First off, we WILL survive without Brianna. We did it before we hired her, and we can do it again. It was hard before her, and it will continue to be hard. Second, Chinny will help us but I've got to see how to best use her time. This is what it could look like:
Monday - playgroup in the a.m., use the Rolling Meadows Park District daycare services.
Tuesday - 10-11a Speech, use Chinny for Ronin. Errands or appointments after lunch.
Wednesday - Nothing
Thursday - a. Use Chinny for: 12-1p Developmental Therapy, kids eat while Nikko works. 3-4p we all go to Occupational Therapy together @ the clinic. Errands at the end of the day.
b. Don't use Chinny. 12-1p I feed the kids during DT. Then cart everyone to OT myself and we run rampant in the clinic. Not a great plan, but possible.
And that's it. That's the plan as I see it.
1. I took 8 of each diaper size just to be safe; Ronin went through 4, Nikko 3, and Audrey 2. But who would know if today would be an extra poopy day, or a filled-to-the-brim day, or a runny diaper day?
2. I took a bigger bag to hold two changes of clothes each, plus extra burb cloths for Audrey.
3. I took a backpack for the Bjorn and extra toys.
4. I had a bag with our shoes (just coz we'd be in the car so long, they could be in socks)
5. And finally, the food bag. I dispersed Audrey's bottles between bags because they were filled with water and would be heavy. Had to pack juice for the boys, plus their nuggets, and animal crackers just in case.
At home I had to do the timeline to make sure we'd leave the house by 11:15. I was 15 minutes late, but arrived to meet up with Denis on time.
On the way, I called Brianna but ended up leaving a message on her cell. I told her we needed to discuss our situation and for her to call me back. She didn't, all day. I'm in a quandry about it because I realize it's the weekend, but is she avoiding my call, should I call her tomorrow? No, I'll call her on Monday morning and leave another message. If she doesn't get back to me by the afternoon I'll text her. I know she works for another family on Monday mornings but I can't fire the sitter if she doesn't call back. Actually I could, but it would be more professional to do it "in person" on the phone vs. text.
I'm so glad that Denis and I discussed our situation this morning because I've been having a hard time trying to see how the pieces could fit. First off, we WILL survive without Brianna. We did it before we hired her, and we can do it again. It was hard before her, and it will continue to be hard. Second, Chinny will help us but I've got to see how to best use her time. This is what it could look like:
Monday - playgroup in the a.m., use the Rolling Meadows Park District daycare services.
Tuesday - 10-11a Speech, use Chinny for Ronin. Errands or appointments after lunch.
Wednesday - Nothing
Thursday - a. Use Chinny for: 12-1p Developmental Therapy, kids eat while Nikko works. 3-4p we all go to Occupational Therapy together @ the clinic. Errands at the end of the day.
b. Don't use Chinny. 12-1p I feed the kids during DT. Then cart everyone to OT myself and we run rampant in the clinic. Not a great plan, but possible.
And that's it. That's the plan as I see it.
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