Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Pics from my New Camera

My darling husband got me a camera for my birthday this year!! Yay!! I'm super excited, I was due for an upgrade. Here are some of my first pics, of the girls of course, with my new toy.







Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Therapy, Therapy, Therapy

So Lauren is in multiple thearpies throughout the week, some public, some private and the take-away "homework" is often overwhelming to say the least. She has a laundry list of goals from every thearapist and we are now trying to incoporate multiple goals into a single activity.

Every activity she does, even the most basic ones, have alot of "hidden" therapy:

Eating:
Say the name clearly (and show her) what the food she is going to eat. Wait for eye contact. Wait for vocalization. Give her the bite. Sign more and ask if she wants more. Wait for vocalization and eye contact. Give another bite. Seems simple, but it tooks us months to get her to this point. 6 months months ago, minimal looking, no vocalizing, minimal interest in interaction.

Reading A Book:
Show her the book, wait for vocalization, have her turn the pages, have her lift the flaps, point all objects in the book to her (say words clearly), tap finger to show her specific objects in books (watch to see if her eyes shift attention). Again, seems easy enough, but 6 months ago, she couldn't turn pages and would be very reluctant to touch the peek-a-boo flaps in the book and just didn't know how to flip the flaps.

So that's what we do. Unfortunately, she doesn't get too many "freebies". Even when she wants her milk, I put it down the hallway from her, so she has to crawl to get it - and cheerios are often hidden under containers - so she has to grab and flip the container to get them.

Lauren's current therapy schedule:
Early Intervention: 1hr. every 2 weeks
CNIB: 1hr. every week
OT: 1hr every 2-3 weeks
PT: 1hr every 2-3 weeks
private PT: 1hr every 3 weeks
ST: 1hr every 8-11 weeks
private ST: 30 min. every 2 weeks

Plus on top of this we have routine check-ups for hearing, vision, development, etc. So as you can see, Lauren is one busy girl - making us super busy parents!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Another Visit to the Dentist

Everytime I go to the dentist, I always think about Lauren. I always think about the inevitable question that is asked "are you flossing? How often?". In a previous post I remarked how this was equivalent to taking Lauren to therapy and having the therapist ask "did you do the exercises? How often?". Both are a dread. Winding string around your fingers till their blue and see sawing it inbetween your teeth is one thing, but to try and get Lauren to stand with her back against a wall, put objects in a container and to use her spoon purposefully is even more dreadful.

The dentist said I have healthy teeth and gums. So even without daily flossing, I am not seeing tooth decay and gum disease. The dentist told me that other folks, who with brushing and flossing 3x a day, still get cavities and gum disease because genetically, they have bad teeth and gums to begin with. Since genetically my teeth and gums are healthy, if I flossed, I'd be able to bring them to their fullest potential. The dentist actually told me this!

I always hate hearing the word "genetics". Because it always reminds me of Lauren and her genes and how they are not "right". Her analogy would therefore lead me to draw the conclusion that even with all the therapy we are doing with Lauren, this may not impact or change the genetically pre-disposition outcome, whatever that may be. That her potential is already set by the genes and try as we may, what may come will come.

Of course being a engineering geek doesn't help either - I'm the typical engineer, rooted in science and hard facts, a belief of nature over nurture.

It be interesting if we had two of Lauren - one engulfed in the world of early intervention and treatment, and another one, just left alone to develop on her own - how differently would they turn out? Well since we only have 1 of Lauren, and even when I try and leave her alone she always comes crawling and clings on to me like no tomorrow, she is doing therapy with my fingers crossed for a better tomorrow.

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Kayla's 4 Year Video

Happy 4th Birthday Kayla!!




Kayla is 4 from Kate Law on Vimeo.

Lauren's First Steps

Lauren's first steps at 18 months...and we couldn't be any more prouder of her! She is slowly gaining confidence in herself and is now even beginning to walk holding onto only one of our hands. With practice, just like her crawl , we are sure it won't be too long before she builds her strength, endurance, tone and balance to walk on her own....I can't wait! Here is the video of the first time she took a few steps on her own:


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