My Journal - Week 110 (03Oct11)
My Son is GROWING....
It's been precisely six weeks since I last blogged. My Son is growing taller and my Daughter is getting heavier. Either, time is running away with my children or I haven't got any time to stop and smell the roses.... I think both are true at the moment. For me - things have been complicated and busy. But, progress with Hunter has been phenomenal. Swimming is about the same, small progressions each week. Hunter's Early Intervention happens about each month, or two with the status as usual (Hunter is meeting his goals). We had requested our family physician to refer Hunter to Grandview for Speech Therapy, just to ensure we covered all our bases ahead of time. Though Hunter's cognitive and receptive language skills are at the typical mark, his expressive language seems to have fallen a bit behind. But, what we have noticed is that Hunter is more than capable of "expressing" his desires and wants but often resorts to grunting to express his frustrations. Our problems lie with the fact that we know very well what Hunter means and wants, thus allowing him to continue to "grunt". I have been attending a workshop held by Grandview which teaches the principles of the Hannen Program - (a program designed to facilitate speech in children who seem to be delayed for one reason or another). I have learned quite a few tricks to encourage Hunter to verbally express himself but I find our only challenge is not Hunter! It's getting four adults to co-operate and properly facilitate these lessons with consistency! I am pleased to say (despite the inconsistencies) that Hunter has learned to do a whole "whack" of new things just from this program alone. All due to the adults in this household being reprogrammed....
For instance, Hunter now self feeds (a trick he knew how to do long before recently). Hunter no longer has any need for a baby bottle. He now drinks his milk and juice from his sippy cups and can drink from a regular cup with help. He pleasantly says "Hi!" to everyone in the home as well as first thing in the morning to ensure his Mommy and Daddy get up out of bed. Hunter now indicates when he is hungry by pointing to his belly or to his mouth (we are still working on words instead of signs though). Hunter has discovered the world of song. He sings in tune most nursery rhymes albeit the words are indistingishable. He rambles on a mile a minute, sentences that only Hayleigh at the moment understands. If ever you saw two little ones talking to one another, don't assume they don't understand one another. Hunter and Hayleigh have daily conversations! On the topic of brother and sisterhood, my two little children are getting along much more famously now.
Hunter is now over 32". Somehow (it seems almost overnight) my son has grown so much that we seem to have to move everything out of his reach. He now is able to open doors inside the house. Just today, Hunter nearly escaped the bathroom after discovering that he could open the door, all on his own. Imagine that.
Since I opened the Dragon Ink Tattoos and Piercings Studio, Hunter himself decided to "get ink". Take a look at a photo taken on our Grand Opening day... (the tattoo isn't real - even though it looks authentic).
Today even Miss Hayleigh has been deemed "ahead" for her age. Jenn had been reviewing Hayleigh due to our concerns about possible Fetal Abstinence Syndrome, which to date has proven to be non existent. Hayleigh had been drooling (what we believed to be the start of teething) only to discover that she indeed has a bottom tooth! Imagine, at only 3 1/2 months old... a tooth. Wow.
So, enjoy a few photos that had been taken over the last 6 weeks!
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| The Wolverine - aka Hunter needing a hair cut.... |
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| Miss Hayleigh engrossed with Mr. Froggy |
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| Miss Hayleigh with Uncle Ollie |
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| Hunter with his new "Tattoo".... |
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| Hunter "getting" his new "fake" Tattoo!!! (It's our real artist but not a real session). |
To enable Hunter to get the lyrics of the songs down pat put a cd of his favourite ones in his bedroom and play them each time he's being put down to sleep. The repetition helps greatly. Our son did not have much speech till the age of 4 but then it developed rapidly and to date he has an huge vocab and great comprehension. He went to vote this week.
ReplyDeleteHe did attend speech therapy and preschool programs that were just emerging back in the mid 70's.
PS He loves all the MJ music and knows all the lyrics to all the songs. He thinks MJ was very special and is saddened by his death but says MJ was wrong to abuse his body with drugs, a conclusion he came to by watching the news.