Occupational Therapy

I had to take Lucy to see an occupational therapist yesterday as part of her assessment. I took her out of school just before lunch and just the two of us went to the clinic. It was really nice to spend some time alone with her, I should make an effort to do it more often, and to spend more time alone with Leila too.
The assessment went quite well. Lucy does not have a lot of physical problems, it's just when she doesn't want to do something you can't make her no matter what. She has trouble getting dressed/undressed by herself but I've perservered and so has the school and now she can do most things herself, she's just  a little slow.
Her main problem at the moment is the way she holds things, like pencils and cutlery. She needs to be taught how to hold them properly and then her writing and eating will be less messier. There was also some concerns about her posture and that she doesn't cross over. I was a bit confused here and I'd never noticed it myself but if you put something to the side of her she doesn't cross over to reach it.
Again it was noticed that she has weak core muscles, so we must continue working on those. She is getting a little better at balancing though.
The outcome is that the therapist will see Lucy in school for a few sessions to help her and show her teachers how to help her.

Things we say in our house! For Special Saturday

Me:


Lucy do you need the toilet?


don't forget to wipe and flush


I'll get you some clean pants


stop sucking your hands


stop sucking your jumper


stop sucking the remote


hands out please (of knickers)


Craige is in bed


you can't bother Craige


Craige is sleeping


Craige is at college


Craige needs some peace and quiet now


do your coat back up it's cold


put your coat back on it's cold


please stop copying everything I say


you have to go to school


you have to go out


you can't stay in all the time


no, Craige can't look after you, you have to go out


please stop making that silly noise


please stop saying the same thing over and over






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Lucy:


mummy (me 'yes')


mummy (me 'yes Lucy')


mummy (me, 'what do you want Lucy?')


Can I get Craige


Can Craige help me


I want to call Craige


will you call Craige


I'm not going out


I don't want to go to school


nobody likes me


nobody plays with me


I'm not Lucy I'm Fox


I'm not Lucy I'm Sonic


(me 'what would you like for dinner?) chicken dippers, pizza, sausages and beans


I'm not using that toothpaste it's not got stripes






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Leila:






Mummy, Lucy won't let me play


Mummy, Lucy hit me


Mummy, Lucy won't talk to me


Mummy, Lucy kicked me


Mummy, Lucy said a naughty word

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Losing my Baby!

Because he won't be a baby anymore he'll be a toddler! The walking is coming along, he's still really unsteady but getting braver by the minute, he can do about 10 steps now. He's got a funny walk at the moment, he's kind of dragging one foot slightly sidewards which makes him really unsteady. I'm not worried though, I'm sure it's just him getting used to it, I don't remember him dragging his foot when walking with his walker. He does still keep trying to walk on tip toes though. A couple more weeks and I bet he'll be running around the house.

Well He Did It!

Joseph took his first steps today, first it was 5, then he did 10, then he started trying to walk on his tip-toes (This didn't please me) So we will practice, practice practise over the next few days and I'm sure I'll have a walker at last :-)
To celebrate a pic of him from my mobile (he's broken my camera)

Still Waiting...

Joseph is still not walking yet but he can stand alone for a few seconds. We've managed to get him to take one or two stumbling steps but he doesn't seem keen on letting go. He has his push along walker which he takes all around the house.....he can walk, so why doesn't he? I had some reservations to begin with but he's coming along in leaps and bounds now, he's trying to talk with new words appearing every day, they dissapear just as quickly but I'm sure they'll stick around soon. He can build with his bricks and his mega bloks, he can feed himself with a spoon, he can climb upon the settee so many new things he's learnt in such a short time. Even his sleeping pattern is improving, he's waking only 3 times now instead of 4, hopefully it will soon be even less, I've given up on him sleeping through just yet. I'm thinking of getting him a bed instead of a cot to sleep in, that seemed to help with the girls. We've yet to work out where we will fit another bed though.

Leila came home from school unwell yesterday and was sick early this morning and throughout the day. No doubt it will pass around the family. She's feeling quite chirpy now though and asking for yoghurt and chocolate cake!

Christmas 2011 photo's

I've just realised that I haven't posted any Christmas photo's, so here we go;

Lucy and Craige

Lucy got upset this evening because she wanted to put her wii on. We have set times when she is allowed to play and Saturday evening isn't one of them. I offered her the chance to play it earlier and she declined deciding to watch recorded Pokemon programs instead. She like to watch her big brother Craige play his games and this week has given up her wii time to watch him instead, but he wasn't playing it today. So Lucy got really upset and no matter what we did we couldn't calm her. I had to make her sit on the stairs for a few minutes to calm down. This is where Craige found her and within a couple of minutes he'd managed to calm her down and she was fine for the rest of the evening. I'm thinking that because they are so similar and both have ASDs they have a connection in some way. Craige can calm Lucy when everyone else fails, but he wouldn't know where to start with Leila or Joseph.

Cruising!

Joseph is cruising all around the house now, he just needs to get a little steadier and he'll let go and walk. Not long now I'm sure.
He picked up a new word today from Peppa Pig, he now says Cuckoo! Not sure how useful that's going to be but it's a new word :-)