Pumpkin Picking & Occupational Therapy Update

P U M P K I N . P I C K I N G

Hello friends!

This past weekend we were able to take the boys to Fun Time Farm & Corn Maze up in Beulaville, North Carolina! It was about a 30 minute drive, a little ways past Mike's Farm. We decided on taking them to the one out in Beulaville because it was more kid friendly. It was smaller but it had a little park, a couple sand boxes, small barn with animals the kids could look at, a maze that was about a mile long, rides for the kids, and they took you out to the fields to pick your pumpkin. The boys really enjoyed their time there.

Last year when we took the boys to a pumpkin patch in Pace, Florida, Jaxson couldn't do anything. He was a potato back then--that was prior to starting Physical Therapy. It was very nice to see both the boys playing in the sand box together and running around. Jaxson really enjoyed the Step 2 Fisher Price push toy, he couldn't get enough of it.

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O C C U P A T I O N A L . T H E R A P Y

Jaxson had his Occupational Therapy consultation today and he did really well. Zero anxiety, he's definitely come a long way with that. He use to freak out and get anxious, even with me in the room with him. Now when he sees a Tupperware box or bag, he knows that the therapist has a bunch of goodies for him in there. It's the cutest. 

The consult was about an hour and the therapist is a fellow USMC Spouse, we actually live on the same street! Hilarious. We went over Jaxson's history and diagnosis over the last 20 months and how he's doing. We were mostly concerned with his Sensory Processing Disorder. I've noticed that he's starting to bang his head more and more when he's upset, he'll get on all fours and slam his head down. I've seen him hit his head on a chair because he didn't get his way.. and he loves to slam his head on my left shoulder when he's trying to fall asleep. We're also concerned about how he LOVES to climb every single thing. 

The therapist recommended two, one hour sessions a week and if that is a little overwhelming for him we can drop it down to 30 or 45 minute sessions. Our main goal is to work on SPD and re-directing, some feeding because of texture he doesn't get enough nutrients, and lastly we will work on his pincer grip.

O T H E R . S P E C I A L T Y . C A R E

We have an appointment with the Duke ENT Pediatric office on the 13th of next month. The Naval Hospital in Pensacola finally mailed out the boy's records so we should hopefully get referrals in for Neurologist, Gastroenterology, Ophthalmology, and Genetics. We do have a Physical Therapy referral, waiting to get in with them and we are going through CDSA for in home Speech Therapy. 

So far so good! We've been here for almost a month and we are getting somewhere. Now to make an appointment to get our oldest enrolled into Kindergarten here. The school has been out since Hurricane Florence blew into town. They will resume on November 5th, I love my oldest but this momma needs a little break!

And as always, thank you for taking the time to read about our little Jaxson and how he's doing!

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Peek-a-Boo! | Jaxson Update

Occupational Therapy Consult

Hey friends it's been a little bit! This momma has been extremely busy since our last post. Daddy came home on the 14th (a day earlier to surprise us) and we have been nonstop with purging and packing for our PCS move. 

Jaxson had his Occupational Therapy consultation a few days prior to daddy returning but I haven't been able to update you all on it. The session took about an hour and he did such a great job. She was amazed with his progress because she went over his notes that went back to when he was just a couple months old. She couldn't believe the leaps and bounds he's made since starting therapy at Sacred Heart Hospital.

The Speech therapist and Physical therapist both warned her that he doesn't do well if you take him away from momma right off the bat. She allowed him to stay next to me and kind of venture out on his own. I was actually amazed how quickly he warmed up to her because he's never seen her before. He was very curious about all the goodies she had in her box! 

You might wonder what Occupational therapy is for... Occupational therapy is to help individuals with improving their cognitive, physical, sensory, and motor skills. She did notice how he had a lot of sensory processing issues and recommended that we do some deep pressure to help him go to sleep--right now he loves to bang his head repeatedly on my shoulder/collarbone.. it's definitely painful for me, I can't imagine it being good for him. She also mentioned allowing him to crawl through bean bags prior to bed. Right now we are in a middle of a PCS move but I'll definitely look into finding more bean bags for him.

His test results were:

Grasping: 13 months old age equivalent

Visual Motor Integration: 11 months old age equivalent

So that puts him at about 12 months old which was to be expected. I already knew that he was going to be delayed greatly in everything. I'm not upset because we are proud of his accomplishments, he has come a long way.. he's definitely not the little baby they met over 17 months ago! He's eating so much, gaining, signing for "more," and walking!

Jaxson ready for Halloween!

Peek-a-Boo

We've also noticed how much of a personality Jaxson has developed over the last month. I'm actually astonished with what he is doing now. He is a lot more friendly and outgoing with strangers--he tries to "talk" to them by making "eh" sounds or yelling. He loves to play games to where he'll reach out to them as if he's going to go to them and then the last minute pull away. 

He's definitely very smart! He plays a little game of peek-a-boo with myself and his Infant Toddler Developmental Specialist from Early Steps. He would hide behind something and then poke his head out and giggle, it is absolutely the cutest thing ever. Last night while we were with our friends for dessert he was intentionally "falling" down to the floor because he knew that my husband would pull his legs and playfully drag him on the floor. He did the a few times before finding something else to do.

It is just amazing what this little Dyrk1a Warrior can do!

Jaxson playing outside

Related Post: Weighting Game - Jaxson's Fight

PCS Update

As most of you know we are PCS'ing to North Carolina next weekend and we originally planned on closing on our home on the 13th.. but mother nature had other plans. Hurricane Florence came to town and evacuated many people and caused a lot of damage. Our lawyer told us to hold off on signing until the storm passed and we reassessed (or post disaster appraisal) the house. So far the only damage was the fence--it was slightly lopsided due to the weather. The appraiser is suppose to come by tomorrow and let us know how the inside looks.

As of right now we are HOPING to close on the 26th.. cutting it SUPER close because we are leaving Pensacola on the 29th. If you're reading this, please pray for us haha. We are hoping that everything goes smoothly and we are able to move in as soon as we get up there!

Thankfully where we are going they have a Developmental Pediatrician at the Naval Hospital.. I'm just dreading finding new therapists and respite provider. Just when Jaxson gets use to our current provider... we leave! 

Inchstones Not Milestones

What are Inchstones?

Like most families I celebrated all of the typical milestones with my oldest, JJ. He reached all of his milestones early.. he crawled by five months, he walked by eleven months, cut his first tooth by seven months, he upgraded to a sippy cup by nine months, and so on and so forth.

So what does inchstones mean? Let's do some math shall we (not my strong suit so bear with me lol):

An inch is an inch.
And 36,650 inches make a mile.

An inch is smaller than a mile but with a special needs child you celebrate every. single. achievement. No matter how small.

No longer needing thickened feeds, consume a 5 oz bottle in less then five minutes (use to take him an hour to consume one whole ounce), and eat small finger/table foods and snacks.

Jaxson just recently started to take two to four steps unassisted AND standing for a couple seconds before plopping down. HUGE ACHIEVEMENTS. Just six months ago he started to army crawl, then he started to crawl on all fours and sit up four months ago, pull up to stand and cut his first tooth three months ago.. and now look at him, 16 months old and taking his first unsteady step.

Potato baby no more!

Pushing our vacuum around