Such a happy boy!
Goofball.
Practicing for his glasses.
Picking out glasses. They should be ready this week.
Not happy about the glasses.
Dinner turned into food play!
Playing with food is fun!
We actually haven't had any doctor appointments since my last post. Nicholas does have an appointment with the allergy doctor today. They asked us to bring in a peach so they can test him for that. We are also bringing mangoes because he got red after he ate those too. It seems like all pitted fruits cause a skin reaction. Very strange and it will be nice to see what the doctor has to say about that.
He has had three weeks of feeding therapy and his therapist thinks he is doing well. We are doing food play with him but it is hard to find things to play with that don't have milk. I found soy whip last weekend and he actually touched it on his own. He wasn't thrilled to have it on his hand and shook it off but he touched it. He tasted it too and seemed to like the flavor. In therapy we are working on conditioning with puffs right now. We break up a little puff into six pieces and mix it in with his food. Yesterday, after about 20 pieces he got to the point where he didn't gag on it. It seems like a lot of pieces to go through but it is progress. He will get to the point where there won't be any gagging at all and we can move to regular food. It it really nice that his therapist wants to feed him and since the puffs are dissolvable she wants us to feed them to him. He can't choke on them since they dissolve. Before, we were told not to give him anything if he gags. She said she has seen kids that won't even let anything touch their mouths so there is hope for him. Since I'm talking about eating, I want to add that he has learned how to drink from the sippy cup on his own. After showing him once or twice we leave the cup on his tray and he can pick it up whenever he wants a drink. He actually brings it to his mouth and knows to lift it up to let the juice out. He will hold it up there a little too long sometimes so we have to take it away so he doesn't choke. I'm very proud of him!
PT, OT, and AVT have all been the same. He is making little improvements each week. He is trying so hard to sit up on his own but can't quite get there. He does well in AVT each week but he still doesn't like his implant. We went to the monthly meeting at USC Speech and Hearing, where he has his AVT, and met other families with kids with CI's. None of their kids disliked the implant so we didn't get any suggestions on things to do to help. They have a different speaker each month. They had a lady from the School for the Deaf and Blind talking about the program the state has for phones and alarm clocks for the deaf. They are free of charge to people with hearing loss but you have to be 5 to get them. The fire department also provide smoke detectors for the deaf. The speaker had a cochlear implant so it was nice to talk to an adult about it who could answer questions about learning to hear. Next month they are having someone from the schools system. We are going to try to go each month.
Nicholas learned how to do high five. It is so cute. If you put your hand up he will touch his to yours. Next we are going to work on waving.
Well it is that time of year again. We are walking in the March for Babies again this year. It is April 30 at the state fairgrounds. Research by the March of Dimes found artificial Surfactant. Nicholas received that right after he was born to develop his lungs. His body hadn't produced it yet since he was born so early. Without the artificial Surfactant his lungs wouldn't have developed and he wouldn't be here today. We are very grateful to the March of Dimes and their research for saving his life. Please sign up to walk with us or sponsor us by making a donation to the March of Dimes. There is a link on the top right of the page, the purple rectangle with Nick's picture, or you can click the link here. www.marchforbabies.com/teamnicholas. Thank you to everyone that has donated already!
He has had three weeks of feeding therapy and his therapist thinks he is doing well. We are doing food play with him but it is hard to find things to play with that don't have milk. I found soy whip last weekend and he actually touched it on his own. He wasn't thrilled to have it on his hand and shook it off but he touched it. He tasted it too and seemed to like the flavor. In therapy we are working on conditioning with puffs right now. We break up a little puff into six pieces and mix it in with his food. Yesterday, after about 20 pieces he got to the point where he didn't gag on it. It seems like a lot of pieces to go through but it is progress. He will get to the point where there won't be any gagging at all and we can move to regular food. It it really nice that his therapist wants to feed him and since the puffs are dissolvable she wants us to feed them to him. He can't choke on them since they dissolve. Before, we were told not to give him anything if he gags. She said she has seen kids that won't even let anything touch their mouths so there is hope for him. Since I'm talking about eating, I want to add that he has learned how to drink from the sippy cup on his own. After showing him once or twice we leave the cup on his tray and he can pick it up whenever he wants a drink. He actually brings it to his mouth and knows to lift it up to let the juice out. He will hold it up there a little too long sometimes so we have to take it away so he doesn't choke. I'm very proud of him!
PT, OT, and AVT have all been the same. He is making little improvements each week. He is trying so hard to sit up on his own but can't quite get there. He does well in AVT each week but he still doesn't like his implant. We went to the monthly meeting at USC Speech and Hearing, where he has his AVT, and met other families with kids with CI's. None of their kids disliked the implant so we didn't get any suggestions on things to do to help. They have a different speaker each month. They had a lady from the School for the Deaf and Blind talking about the program the state has for phones and alarm clocks for the deaf. They are free of charge to people with hearing loss but you have to be 5 to get them. The fire department also provide smoke detectors for the deaf. The speaker had a cochlear implant so it was nice to talk to an adult about it who could answer questions about learning to hear. Next month they are having someone from the schools system. We are going to try to go each month.
Nicholas learned how to do high five. It is so cute. If you put your hand up he will touch his to yours. Next we are going to work on waving.
Well it is that time of year again. We are walking in the March for Babies again this year. It is April 30 at the state fairgrounds. Research by the March of Dimes found artificial Surfactant. Nicholas received that right after he was born to develop his lungs. His body hadn't produced it yet since he was born so early. Without the artificial Surfactant his lungs wouldn't have developed and he wouldn't be here today. We are very grateful to the March of Dimes and their research for saving his life. Please sign up to walk with us or sponsor us by making a donation to the March of Dimes. There is a link on the top right of the page, the purple rectangle with Nick's picture, or you can click the link here. www.marchforbabies.com/teamnicholas. Thank you to everyone that has donated already!
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