The music therapist was on the run this morning! She chased Judah from instrument to instrument, trying to keep up. Even in a small studio he seemed to be exhausting her! She would get in maybe 30 seconds of singing & playing on each instrument before he dashed off. There were moments when he danced, moments when he played & moments when he tried to sing along with her (that was very cool). I was in a corner filling out paperwork & trying to stay behind the scenes the entire time. He only came to check on me a few times. He was comfortable with Angie & definitely having fun! That's when we see progress, when he is excited, happy & motivated. That combined with the power that music has on the brain could possibly have an amazing outcome, we'll see.
One of Judah's favorite instruments at the studio is the ocean drum. It fascinates him. She said that most of the kids she works with have no interest in it. She was surprised when I told her that he was talking more than he ever does & that I even caught a few new words (frog & 2more). That was a very productive 30 minutes for sure. Next weekend we go for the free group session followed by his regular session. It will be interesting to see how he does with a group.
Judah was requesting my phone as usual tonight by saying "want phone". After I handed him my phone he would say a 3 word sentence. It was very surprising to me but seemed very natural to him. I wish I could remember the sentence! It was appropriate to the situation.
Judah ripped the phone out of my hand tonight when I was talking to my dad. He chitter chattered for a bit to Pa Rock and ended with a "bye". He's never done that before. He handed the phone back to me & Willow was of course at my knees holding her hands up & crying "want! want!" Sebastian quickly distracted her with the noisy ice machine experiment he was performing on the fridge. Willow did get a chance to use the phone today. She requested to call Papa, as she often does.
The speech therapist intern had an Angry Birds pig yesterday that Judah did NOT want to part with. When Judah was playing with it during the session he would periodically stop to look at me with very sad eyes & say "want, want". I could see in those sad eyes that he wanted so much to take this toy home with him. Much to my surprise, he didn't throw a big fit at the end of the session. He just held onto that little pig tightly & cried. The intern told me that he had found this toy at Bi-Mart, so today we stopped there on the way home. I was hoping they would have one left since it was a clearance item. Judah spotted it as soon as we turned the corner down the toy aisle. "Look!! Look!!" he screamed as he pointed to it. There was exactly one little Angry Birds pig left. It was sitting there as if it was just waiting on Judah to find him. What a perfect reward for his amazing progress today.
Immediately after arriving home from music therapy, I took Sebastian to a pool party at the YMCA. He wasn't too comfortable in the pool since I wasn't in it. He held onto his noodle & floated around, interacting with another kid from time to time. It's hard to watch your kid hanging out on his own when the rest of the party is having an awesome time. However, when we hit the party room he did a 180. He was energized, social & eventually nearly out of control. He was on the run. Scott & I are both unknowing as to how to help him balance out his energy. It has really popped up a lot lately. Today I began to wonder how much his personality expands at school. I'll find out the answer to that when I volunteer in his class, which I hope to do soon.
I also picked up an ant farm (a real one) at Bi-Mart as a gift to the birthday boy. It turned out to be his favorite gift!. I was afraid it would be a dud in the procession of gifts as we watched him open bags & boxes of very cool toys that all matched the Lego/Star Wars theme of the party. After the party Sebastian decided that he too wanted an ant farm. He was in tears when we got home & kept asking me why I had not bought him one too. Because I do not want ants in the house perhaps??! This happens every single time we go to a birthday party.
Judah's potty training is going well today. I laminated a bunch of pictures last night to use for communication. I also laminated a step-by-step potty routine, which is now posted in the boy's bathroom. He is very interested in all of these new pictures & has been progressively doing better at the potty routine today. Scott just took him in & he did all of the steps AND had a dry diaper! That is the best trip yet! I found a free potty app on my phone. It reminds me every 2 or 3 hours to ask him if he needs to potty/take him to the potty. There is a checklist of steps. If he gets most of them he gets a star. When he gets 10 stars he gets a reward, although I try to give him a Cars sticker when I can (he runs out pretty fast sometimes). Everyone is on the run.
One of Judah's favorite instruments at the studio is the ocean drum. It fascinates him. She said that most of the kids she works with have no interest in it. She was surprised when I told her that he was talking more than he ever does & that I even caught a few new words (frog & 2more). That was a very productive 30 minutes for sure. Next weekend we go for the free group session followed by his regular session. It will be interesting to see how he does with a group.
Judah was requesting my phone as usual tonight by saying "want phone". After I handed him my phone he would say a 3 word sentence. It was very surprising to me but seemed very natural to him. I wish I could remember the sentence! It was appropriate to the situation.
Judah ripped the phone out of my hand tonight when I was talking to my dad. He chitter chattered for a bit to Pa Rock and ended with a "bye". He's never done that before. He handed the phone back to me & Willow was of course at my knees holding her hands up & crying "want! want!" Sebastian quickly distracted her with the noisy ice machine experiment he was performing on the fridge. Willow did get a chance to use the phone today. She requested to call Papa, as she often does.
The speech therapist intern had an Angry Birds pig yesterday that Judah did NOT want to part with. When Judah was playing with it during the session he would periodically stop to look at me with very sad eyes & say "want, want". I could see in those sad eyes that he wanted so much to take this toy home with him. Much to my surprise, he didn't throw a big fit at the end of the session. He just held onto that little pig tightly & cried. The intern told me that he had found this toy at Bi-Mart, so today we stopped there on the way home. I was hoping they would have one left since it was a clearance item. Judah spotted it as soon as we turned the corner down the toy aisle. "Look!! Look!!" he screamed as he pointed to it. There was exactly one little Angry Birds pig left. It was sitting there as if it was just waiting on Judah to find him. What a perfect reward for his amazing progress today.
Immediately after arriving home from music therapy, I took Sebastian to a pool party at the YMCA. He wasn't too comfortable in the pool since I wasn't in it. He held onto his noodle & floated around, interacting with another kid from time to time. It's hard to watch your kid hanging out on his own when the rest of the party is having an awesome time. However, when we hit the party room he did a 180. He was energized, social & eventually nearly out of control. He was on the run. Scott & I are both unknowing as to how to help him balance out his energy. It has really popped up a lot lately. Today I began to wonder how much his personality expands at school. I'll find out the answer to that when I volunteer in his class, which I hope to do soon.
I also picked up an ant farm (a real one) at Bi-Mart as a gift to the birthday boy. It turned out to be his favorite gift!. I was afraid it would be a dud in the procession of gifts as we watched him open bags & boxes of very cool toys that all matched the Lego/Star Wars theme of the party. After the party Sebastian decided that he too wanted an ant farm. He was in tears when we got home & kept asking me why I had not bought him one too. Because I do not want ants in the house perhaps??! This happens every single time we go to a birthday party.
Judah's potty training is going well today. I laminated a bunch of pictures last night to use for communication. I also laminated a step-by-step potty routine, which is now posted in the boy's bathroom. He is very interested in all of these new pictures & has been progressively doing better at the potty routine today. Scott just took him in & he did all of the steps AND had a dry diaper! That is the best trip yet! I found a free potty app on my phone. It reminds me every 2 or 3 hours to ask him if he needs to potty/take him to the potty. There is a checklist of steps. If he gets most of them he gets a star. When he gets 10 stars he gets a reward, although I try to give him a Cars sticker when I can (he runs out pretty fast sometimes). Everyone is on the run.
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