Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

It was 70 degrees today with not one cloud in the sky. The pumpkins were blooming so we decided to go to our favorite farm. It has tree climbing pygmy goats(okay, ramp climbing, but still, they go 20 feet up), pigs, bunnies, and a nut house full of filberts (not hazelnuts - true Oregonians call them filberts). Plus, for those two year old boys among us, it has tractors. Life is good.

Frustrations

Charlie:
I've never seen a child have a pretty-much continuous temper tantrum for almost an hour. This was the second session with the OT at Shriners for Charlie. Everything she tried was met with not only resistance, but resistance with an added dash of red face, shaking arms, quivering chin, screaming, and stomping. I was torn between laughing, anger, and the extreme desire to insist that I'd never seen him before.

It was tough because there could be so many reasons for his reaction. Ride on cars and push toys have always been challenging for Charlie and he may have been trying to tell us that they were just too much. With his postural insecurity, it is natural that these types of activies be hard. (I guess on the brighter side of things I never have to worry about his wanting a motorcycle.)

On the other hand, Charlie is two. Towards the end of the session, even things that he might have normally been interested in, were horrible. The boy wanted to be left ALONE. It's amazing how well that comes across despite not having many words. Notwithstanding this (or maybe because of it), she wants to see him once a week for a while. I think that's good. Unfortunately, I have to go too.

Jack:
Jack's first school presentation is almost upon us and I'm already tired. He picked a research question "How do knights stop dragons" and it was approved by his teacher. The process is supposed to be fairly straight forward. At the age of 5, he is expected (with help) to come up with an idea, research the answer, and make a presentation to his class. He is also supposed to make a product. I was fairly suprised by his topic. He has been so passionately consumed with dinosaurs that I was sure that he would decide to learn about them. Much to my shock, his favorite dino (the T-rex), didn't even make his short list. I asked him about it, and he looked at me, smiled kindly, and explained like you would to a two-year old, that he already knew about t-rex's. Well, excuse me.

Any-ho, we have now reached the research phase of his work and he is supremely uninterested. Plus, I'm a little stymied. You see, dragons aren't real. I guess that means that whatever answer we come up with has to be right but I'm a bit more concrete than that. And, it's hard to find a book on the matter. We got books on knights and books on dragons. We've talked about making his presentation about how a knight could stop a dragon if they were real. We've talked about making a cardboard shield and sword. Now we just need to link his topic to the school-wide theme of "adaptation." Martini's anyone?

Gym Class with Charlie

Charlie isn't sure if he's enjoying himself or not.

Jack entertains himself since it is school holiday.

Brandon's Birthday at Bullwinkle's

Charlie's Cognitive Skills

When Charlie was first diagnosed with developmental dyspraxia or cerebral palsy or motor planning problems, (pick which flavor you like best), most of our experts thought that there may be a cognition problem as well. It was hard to tell, because despite what the experts say, the tests for determining cognitive ability rely largely on motor and speech skills- which he is very behind in.

Now at 2 1/2, the jury is in. Despite having probably 20 words or less, the boy can identify colors and shapes. He can count to three and tell us how many of a particular item we have (up to three - you gotta start somewhere...). He also can sing in tune (without the right words) the song "Twinkle twinkle Little Star." He also beats to the tempo- even if you change the tempo.

I've decided I get to brag about this because it makes me feel a lot better about the times we are around "normal" kids his age and they talk so much more and move their bodies so much better. The boy won't go near a sit and push with your legs scooter. Meanwhile other kids are riding tricycles. Even the ones with the crack-addicted mothers, who live on soda pop and white bread.

Goal Setting

Jack was asked to make a goal for the upcoming year. Much to my surprise, he had no problem picking something. He wanted to learn about soccer. His teacher asked him where he would go to learn about soccer. He said "the internet." I pointed out that there was also this building with books that might be useful. The teacher asked him if there was anything he could practice. He said that he could practice kicking the ball and that we could do this at home on Saturdays. Later on when we were alone, he said that he picked Saturday "because there's not a whole lot else going on." What five year old talks like that and why did my mom laugh when I asked that question?