Busy Week!

From Father's Day to 3 appointments for Kevin, we've had a busy week!

Father's Day
On Father's Day, we went to Gram and Papa's for a nice brunch. We were also celebrating Uncle Tony's birthday, which was the next day. Andrea and Izzy put the candles on the cake (some were upside down) and blew out the candles before we could finish singing Happy Birthday!

The girls also helped Papa open his Father's Day presents.

Papa wanted a picture with all his grandkids. This is truly a candid photo! Kevin looks bored, Andrea is grinning at nothing, Hannah is spaced-out, and Izzy looks like she's being squished--but they all love their Papa. :))

Oh, just line them up on the couch and put on an episode of "Dora." It's all good.

Since it was such a nice day outside, Gram and Papa set up some water toys for the kids to play with, after brunch. First, there was bubbles for everyone!

Then, they made their way into the pool. Andrea liked doing the splits on the slippery pool liner!

Kevin found the pool a bit cold, so they gave him a separate bucket of water to play in. It was just his size! He also figured out how to fire the squirt guns. He was having a riot squirting the water into his mouth . . .

. . . and his eye!

Andrea wanted to try out the bucket, too. Ta-da!

Gram and Papa also have this palm tree inflatable that fills with water. It's perfect for the kids to stand in, and get a shower!

Our fun at Gram and Papa's tired us out, so we all went home for a nap. After a lazy afternoon, Daddy took us to Twistee Cone for some ice cream. When it was time to leave there, Kevin kept looking back, so I said, "Bye-bye, ice cream!" and he repeated, "Bye-bye, icee!" Then, all the way home in the car, he'd randomly pipe up with, "Bye-bye, icee. Bye-bye, icee."

Monday

On Monday afternoon, Kevin and I went for our first videotaping/critiquing session for the It Takes Two to Talk program. Our speech therapist was thrilled with Kevin's progress--and mine, too! He is initiating a lot more interaction, and using some small words to communicate, to make his needs and interests clearer to us. He repeats many small two or three word phrases with good clarity now. My progress was in having less of a "watcher" role, and more direct joining in the play with Kevin.

While we were doing that, Andrea spent the afternoon/evening with Gram and Papa, since Izzy and Hannah were there, too. As it was another nice day, they spent more time in the pool. When Andrea came home, it was bath time, but she told me she's already had a bath, in the pool. I didn't believe her, so I asked Papa if it was true. He said yes, that he gave them some soap in the pool, and they loved it! Leave it to a grandparent to bath the kids in the pool. :)) Here's some pictures that Gram sent me of their in-pool bath. The flamingo got a bath, too.

Tuesday: Kevin's MRI

Early Tuesday morning, we took Kevin into Met hospital for the MRI the neurologist had scheduled for him, to take a look at his brain structures. She did this just to rule out anything that might be causing Kevin's motor and speech delays. She said nothing is found in most cases; it's just a precaution. We're not sure when we'll get the results.

Kevin handled the whole thing really well. They had to put a monitor on his toe to check his vital signs. Then, they gave him two syringes full of yucky medicine to make him sleep, so he wouldn't move during the MRI. It took about 25 minutes before Kevin fell asleep, although you could tell he was feeling the meds almost right away--he was drowsy, giggling, and kept randomly waving his arms around and patting his head; you could tell he felt weird. After he fell asleep, they put the monitor on him again for a few minutes, then took him over for the MRI. Daddy and I were in the waiting room for about 40 minutes. Then, the nurse came out carrying Kevin, and saying he did great! He was asleep just long enough, and woke up well.

Since he couldn't eat or drink before the test, the nurse brought him some juice and cookies. Well, the effects of those meds took a while to wear off. He could barely keep a straw in his mouth, and kept missing his mouth when he tried to take a bite of cookie! Also, the poor little guy was so dizzy, that he was like a Kevin bobble-head; his head kept leaning and flopping all over the place! On top of that, he was babbling and singing like crazy. It was funny until we got home, and he wanted to play. He could barely crawl, and fell down every time he tried to walk! He wanted to play so much, and was getting so upset, that I finally put him in his crib with the mobile on, and he watched that for about 45 minutes. Then, he fell asleep for about 3 hours. Finally, he woke up refreshed, and was back to normal Kevin. :))

Wednesday: The Heat!

Although the whole week has been hot and humid, Wednesday was definitely the worst day. It was about 96 degrees, with a humidex of at least 100. I dressed the kids coolly for daycare, but they still came home hot, because both of them have their outside playtime in the afternoon right before we pick them up. Kevin was especially miserable, so when I changed his diaper, I took the rest of his clothes off. We were relaxing, watching TV, when I noticed he had disappeared. I found him in Andrea's room, curled up in dim coolness of her bed (the back rooms of our house tend to be much cooler).

Andrea thought he looked pretty comfortable, so she decided to join him.

Kevin and I started to play a little game, where he would hide under the blankets, and I would ask, "Where's Kevin?" He would pull the blanket away, and I would say, "There he is!" and he would repeat, "There he is!" However, his response was a bit muffled because he had his thumb in his mouth. :))

That night, I let Andrea stay up to watch the fireworks on TV. She was excited by them for about 5 minutes, then wanted to watch her own shows. I think she was a bit let down because she thought we were actually going in person to see them outside. She kept asking, "How can we go there?" I think we'll have to work out a plan to take her to see them downtown next year. We can't take Kevin though--loud noises always scare him. I think he would have a massive panic attack!

Today: Daycare Meeting

Today we had a big meeting at Kevin's daycare with all of his Children First service providers/therapists and his daycare teacher. They do this every six months to pull everyone together and discuss how we are doing in achieving the goals we set out for Kevin's progress. Overall, everyone is extremely pleased with Kevin's progress. He has blossomed over the past few months that he's been in the Toddler Room. He is walking fairly well, and communicating much better. The teacher said he is less timid about trying new activities, and really seems to enjoy doing crafts and circle time.

Our new goals for his motor skills are that he will gain more stability in his walking and balance, and refine his safety reflexes (such as regaining his balance after being bumped, and putting his hands in front of him for protection during a fall). For speech, we are hopig to increase his word usage and clarity. We are also adding an Occupational Therapy referral. We have noticed that some of Kevin's fine motor skills are a bit clumsy, such as when he's feeding himself (he can do it, but makes a huge mess), holding a crayon, or manipulating some small craft pieces. The PT also discussed the possibility of putting Kevin in a vest that would give more support to his trunk area, but I'm not keen on that. I talked them into putting that off until the fall, and seeing how Kevin's posture is then.

Kevin needs new shoes, too. His feet are growing! The teachers and PT noticed that his toes are hanging over the edge of his sandals. Oops! :))