Friday, April 25, 2014

Belated Easter

Peter and I are refreshed from our first big vacation away from James - Colorado was gorgeous and we had great weather for hiking and exploring outdoors. James stayed with Grandma and Grandpa in Delaware, and apparently he had a wonderful time. And got into no trouble, and went to sleep on time every day, and such things that he doesn't do for us at home :/ We are thrilled that he adapted so well to not having us around, which means his separation anxiety is fading. He loved having all the space to play in and the constant attention of multiple people around at all times.

For Easter, we placed eggs around the yard and he reluctantly found them. He wasn't too interested and had to be prompted, but he did enjoy opening the plastic eggs. Open/shut... that's more fun than candy for him right now.

Now that the weather is warmer, he's been going to the playground a lot and we've noticed a few things: 1) he's afraid to walk on cracks and 2) a slight incline is like a mountain to him. The playground we prefer has an inclined ramp, and he edges up that inch by inch with hands tightly clenched onto the railing, like he could fall off at any time. The swings are still a hit, but playing with other kids is still not something he's interested in.

Therapies are going well. PT and OT are doing great: working on balance in PT and finger isolation/fine motor skills in OT. ST is a bit slower; still no talking, and his silence sometimes a bit disquieting... but for the most part, it's not worrisome because he is progressing. He learned several hand signals and uses a picture exchange system (PECS) to communicate. He brings us the picture of what he wants and we give it. He finally has started to imitate gestures that I do with songs.

We have doctor visits in a few weeks, but we think that the high-calorie diet is working so we anticipate that this will be his last nutritionist consultation. Did we mention that as of last month he finally reached 20 pounds? At last!!




Easter Egg Hunt





Playground Outing