And another entry starts with Poor B.....

Poor B.  He loves going to OT and looks forward to it and they cancelled his second session this week :(  Now that Miss A is gone, they are trying to cover her patients with the other OTs until they can replace her but there just aren't enough slots to go around.  Honestly, I'm a little annoyed, though.  I'm so happy for Miss A that she find a full time spot but one of the other therapists told me that they are moving a part-time therapist up to full-time in May and adding another part-time therapist as well to cover Miss A and because the schedule is picking up.  But Miss A had to go elsewhere because there weren't any full-time spots.  Why the heck not give Miss A the full-time spot and keep her?  She is fantastic, they all admitted she was fantastic, my kids have made more progress with her than the other OTs they've worked with, and many many other families have had such good progress with her.  So I'm grumpy not only that they "lost" her but also that the two of my kids who saw her keep getting cancelled on :(

B did have a dentist appointment later that afternoon so that somewhat made up for missing OT.  What a difference a good dentist makes!  When B was younger, he was "fired" by so many dentists because of behavior (fidgety, scared, anxious, crying, refusing to open his mouth, etc).  We found a pediatric dentist who was very patient with him and worked with him to help him get more comfortable but he still had a very hard time.  When we moved to our new state, we hit the jackpot with our first dentist choice--all of my kids love Dr. D and look forward to seeing him.  They are so cooperative and do fantastic :)

Poor B--he had two new therapists yesterday!  Luckily his OT is someone he knows and has worked with before so he had no problem working hard for her.  He loves her and so when she fills in for Miss A, he is happy to go with her.  It would be awesome if she gets to be Miss A's replacement once the dust settles down and they have all of Miss A's clients assigned out to other therapists.  He was so happy with OT that when a new speech therapist came to work with him, he was comfortable and chatty :)

Miss Iz also had OT and they did some feeding therapy and she was not only willing to try everything presented to her but she actually ate it as well :p

The Busy Little B had his very last social skills group--he's so sad their meetings are over :(  The last class was at the bowling alley so they could practice their skills in a real world setting.  I rented the lane next to the group so the other kids could bowl.  I haven't been bowling in an incredibly long time and discovered my wrists can handle my old weight (thanks EDS!) so I had to use a ball that was way too light and my first time six year old bowler had a better score than I LOL

Stop it Spring!

A couple days after the Spring Blizzard, we got six inches of heavy wet snow.  Under that heavy wet snow is a layer of gooey mud from the melted blizzard snow so my main vehicle is now stuck in the mud :|  Fun times during Mud Season!

Miss Iz has been working on some new sensory strategies with her OT and has been doing a great job.  She keeps Miss J on her toes as things will work great for a while and then Iz gets desensitized to them and they have to start over to find something else.  But she is enjoying the new activities, especially the kids yoga, and shows off the new things she is learning at home :)

The Busy Little B is making tons of progress with his OT but we expect to see some regression soon because Miss A is leaving :(  She is wonderful and he has made so much progress with her but she was only part time and she found a full time position.  As much as I want to keep her, she can't pass up full time :p  I wish the rehab center had a full time spot for her so she could stay :(  B doesn't always do well with change so it might be a hard transition for him.  We had to switch speech therapists recently and he won't say a word to the new therapist.  He will nod or shake his head and smile at her but that's it.  Hopefully he adjusts soon and starts talking to her :p  So it will not surprise anyone if he does the bare minimum at OT with a new therapist until he adjusts.

The Super Kid is also making good progress on his goals in OT but he's been recertified for another session because he's not met the goals and they adjusted a few.  One of the main things we started for was handwriting and it has improved so much!  He's a leftie with hand strength issues plus learning disabilities that effect handwriting so the fact that his print is so clear now is fantastic.  He's still struggling with some reversals and spacing issues and the quality of his writing is still going downhill after some time writing but its progress!  He's quite proud of how nice he can make it look when he first starts writing :)  Those hand strengthening exercises will help with how long he can write, too.

Little W will be doing some testing soon as he ages out of the Birth to Three program to see if the school system will pick up his services.  OT is so hard to get through the school i doubt they will continue that but maybe speech.  He's improved so much but he's still hard to understand--his articulation isn't the best :p  I may need to get him evaluated at the rehab center to continue his services privately if he doesn't qualify to transition to the school system's services.

We survived the Spring Blizzard!  A bit over fourteen and a half inches of snow fell and before the snow started we had multiple instances of hail and severe thunderstorms.  Fun times, y'all, fun times ;)

Picked up the Busy Little B from school and had a nice long talk with his teacher about his progress and behavior. He's come a long way from the beginning of the year!  Now that they've identified the learning disabilities, working with him is more targeted and those concepts he really struggled to learn are coming easier. He's coping well :)  The twice a week OT is really helping his ability to multi-task and coordinate his thoughts.  And the social skills group is working!  He's interacting more with his peers and able to participate better in group work.  He starts speech again next week :)

He had OT and another good report from Miss A.  She's so pleased with his hard work, even when he's frustrated and struggling.  They have a LOT of goals for him so she rotates through what they work on and try to address the things that will help the most if we are having any current problems.  He has really connected with her :)

We can't get away from The Sick!

This is a miserable cold.  I am a walking Nyquil ad, Baby W has the runny nose and sneezes, Iz woke this morning with the sore throat and runny nose, and now we are just waiting to see if the Busy Little B and the Super Kid get it.  Everyone who is ill is grumpy.

Yesterday we took it easy, only one appointment for the Super Kid to do OT.  We were supposed to have speech this morning for W but I let the SLP know about the Nyquil Ad our house has become and she decided to stay away.  Can't blame her!  I was hoping we'd be up to a makeup swim lesson after missing Tuesday but that's not happening.

Return to appointments. Mostly

I am still sick and Baby W is a little, too, so we skipped his swim lesson on Tuesday.  His teacher has several classes for his age group throughout the week and is fine if we show up for any of them so hopefully we will be well enough for one later this week!

Our day wasn't too restful, though, as all those errands we've been putting off since last week got done :p  Post office, oil change place, Costco, Aldi, etc.  Picked the Busy Little B up from school so he and Miss Iz could go to occupational therapy.  Then B has social skills group.  And then off to home for chores and dinner (thanks, crock pot!).

Hello, flu, you are not my old friend

We've been battling the flu or something.  It has been miserable!  I got the worst of it (because OF COURSE) and days later I'm still running on low.  Recovering and all but I'm so tired from the simplest of things. The Super Kid has been awesome, though--he cooked a hot meal for the kids all by himself (usually I'm at least supervising and helping a little during cooking lessons or when he attempts something on his own) instead of taking the easy way out and serving sandwiches or oatmeal or something.  So very proud of him :)

I had to cancel a bunch of appointments last week (a few were already skipping a week because of spring break) but the new week is starting soon so we'll be back at it :p

Psychiatrist day

The kids see their psychiatrist every couple of months to check in on how they are doing.  He manages all the ADHD meds and the anxiety meds and I love that he is so involved in their care.  Back in our last state, meds were only checked up on every 6-12 months unless I requested a review.  While doses rarely change, I like that Dr. C spends an hour or two with all of them every few months so he's gotten to know them and he talks things over with them, even if its yet another monologue on the joys of video games ( ;) ) so when issues do arise, he can actually  help us with it because he knows our family dynamic and what types of suggestions may work with us.

We talked a lot about the Busy Little B's OCD tendencies.  I don't say that lightly--when he was younger and going through testing for autism, OCD came up a lot.  They said he was too young for a diagnosis but that it was definitely something we'd need to watch and it would not be surprising if he got the diagnosis later on.  Some of his rigidity/obsessions is starting to interfere with daily life, especially at school, but it isn't causing things to come to a full stop.  At the moment we can work around these things and Dr C says some of the medications that help with OCD have side effects that we don't want to mess with unless we have to so we keep watching, keep doing therapy, keep working with the school to find ways to get his work done without disturbing his set-in-stone points.  At home I work with him on calm ways to work with his "rules" so he can solve the problem but if they try to challenge him on them at school, its a bit of a disaster.  I think they've decided to leave the working on those to me and his therapist because last conversation we had about it, they were just working his "rules" into their day so he would continue to work on his schoolwork instead of obsessing :p

We have a Level Two Swimmer!

We had a busy day on Thursday!

W had speech first thing and boy, was he excited!  He chattered to Miss H from the moment she arrived and couldn't wait to "pay!" with her.  She brought a doll house and he really loved it.  

It was late start day for the Super Kid so he got to hang around during speech and then got ready to school while Iz and W and I got ready to go to open swim.

The Busy Little B had early dismissal so we picked him up early and had some time to relax before heading off to OT.  

And it was the big kids very last swim lesson for this session (the next one starts after school is out).  At the end, they get their completion certificates and a prize (candy usually).  We had a graduate!  And it wasn't the kid we thought.  The Super Kid got his level one certification card and will be in Level 2 next time.  He's so proud of himself.  Iz was so close but she didn't quite nail swimming on her back.  She's slightly disappointed but more excited than anything because Miss M wrote "you are so close!" on her certificate LOL

Now it is Spring Break and everyone is off school for a few days (they go back Wednesday)