Sensory Smarts at Home and in the Classroom

Yesterday, James and I attended a Sensory Awareness Seminar.  I had run across the seminar about a month ago while looking for resources for kiddos with Sensory Integration/Processing Disorder and was thrilled to find there was an actual seminar on the topic.  James and I immediately signed up and asked Gramma K if she could watch Ian for us.  She very nicely agreed and Ian was happy to go to "Amana K's".

We attended three of the five workshops at the seminar and definitely felt like we got our money's worth...they certainly developed our sensory smarts!  I want to write about all of my take-away points so I don't forget them!

Workshop #1:

Strategies for Implementing Sensory Integration into the Home and Classroom

Oh my goodness!!  This workshop was presented by Betsy Williams from Top Pediatric Therapy.  One of Betsy's co-workers later told me how gifted she was in the OT world, and I firmly believe that.  Betsy talked about sensory stimulating and calming activities I hadn't even considered.  She also mentioned several tips for helping sensory kiddos be successful in the school environment.  Granted, the OT we work with now only works with kids ages 6 months to 2 years old and my online research has been limited, but I had never heard of several of the strategies Betsy suggested.  After listening to her talk, I really think we can help Ian do really well in the school environment.

One of Betsy's main points was to teach the child (and parent, teachers, etc) to track where the child's "engine" level is throughout the day.  In fact, when kids arrive at her clinic, they have to mark whether their engine is high, just right, or low.  Betsy suggested using a schedule at school and having the teacher track the child's engine level throughout the day to help identify where and when the child deregulates.  The goal is intervene before this happens.

Other helpful tips included: having the kiddo walk to school to get out extra energy (brilliant!), have a job with heavy lifting for the kiddo to do when they get to school, give the child a specific place to sit during circle time and provide a fidget toy if necessary (we might also get Ian a vibrating seat or toy if that helps!), have the child take movement breaks (and ask the teacher to provide movement breaks for the whole classroom so your kiddo isn't singled out...good for everyone), have kiddo leave recess or lunch to go back the classroom alone and do a job so they have time to settle down before everyone gets back, and have the teacher use firm, gentle pressure on both of the child's shoulders if child is getting too rowdy (i.e. teacher walks up behind Ian, places her hands on both of his shoulders, and gently but firmly pushes down to let him know he is being too rowdy...good calming technique).

We have another OT we are going to try in the meantime (more about that in a minute), but in the meantime, we already put some of Miss Betsy's ideas to work!  Ian was having a particularly hard day today, so I rolled him up like a burrito in a blanket, rolled a ball back and forth over him, and then let him move around and unroll.

He had a blast!!  He loved this game.

Then I placed his stuffed animals a few inches apart so he could jump over them.  Nice variation of his usual stack-the-animals-on-Mommy game.

Betsy certainly got my creative wheels spinning again.  We definitely get stuck in a rut with the activities we do with Ian, so it was great to have some fresh input.  Ian absolutely loved his new games.

Prayers & Support

Another thing that made Friday the 13th so hard was finding out about two families that were tragically affected in two completely different ways.

The first family belongs to one Tammy Buck, of the interpret coordinators at a local college in the area. I actually ran into Tammy at a workshop a couple of weeks ago. Her four month old granddaughter has had some food allergy issues, so we were swapping resources. They have been through so much this last year and it was about to get a whole lot harder. This last week, she found out that her son-in-law Travis, who had been stationed in Afghanistan, stepped on an IED (improvised explosive device) and lost parts of all four of his limbs.

Fortunately Travis survived and Tammy's son, Josh, was also stationed in the same area and has been able to be with him on his long journey home (he had to stop in Germany for more medical care). Travis has a wife and four month old daughter and the story is heartbreaking. Here is the link to more info. Please keep them in your prayers.

Another family that is dealing with a tragedy belongs to another interpreter coordinator of one of the major local interpreting agencies. Candice died suddenly of a suspected brain aneurysm. She was a single mom to a ten year old boy and an eighteen year old daughter who is pregnant. My heart breaks for this family too. I can't even imagine how hard this is on all of them! Please say a prayer for this family as well - they could use it!

More Fin

Lissie just posted more pictures of Fin, so I thought I would put them here so Ian can see his new cousin every time we look through blog pictures.

Aunt Lissie made it to her second due date and started labor that night. Fortunately, her Mom flew in that morning!

Fin arrived at 7:34pm Friday the 13th (the only good thing about that day!) weighting 7lb 8oz and measuring 19.5 inches long.

Mr. Grumpy Pants cuddling with Momma. Only a few minutes old.

Sweet family of three!

Proud Daddy with Fin.

Love, love, love this! I had no idea how incredible it would be to see my older brother with his own baby.

Oma and Fin!

Welcome to the family, Fin! We are so glad you are finally here!

Fin!

Fin arrived last night at 7:34pm. He was 7lb 9oz and put his Momma through some HARD labor to get him here! But he is here at least and is cuddled up next to Mommy sleeping soundly.


I think he looks like a perfect blend of his Mommy and Daddy!

Fin, I just found out Uncle Russell is going to call you Finlius! I love it! So I think you are going to be stuck with it whether you like it or not. Sleep well, sweet Finlius. We can't wait to meet you!

Friday the 13th

Now, I have to say I am not a very superstitious person. But this Friday the 13th has been horrible!

We've had a hard week with Ian and this morning was no exception. He's going through a growth spurt and it seems to really be bothering him. Perhaps all the sensory sensitivities are kicking in and it is making him feel weird? Who knows? Anyways, I have lost major sleep over it this week when he has been up and fussing. This morning, I couldn't get him to get dressed. So I let him play while I got stuff ready to go (I had a meeting at school). Several attempts and one spanking later, I finally had a dressed toddler. Out the door we went.

I was running late for my meeting and driving a long stretch of highway to school. I was thinking about everything else going on and not even purposely trying to speed. But all of the sudden I looked down and realized I was going too fast. No biggie. Let my foot off the accelerator. Rounded the top of the hill and saw a cop sitting at the bottom. Biggie. Put on the brakes. Long story short...still got a ticket. Major bummer.

Called the mortgage company. We are actually thinking we might buy a house this summer and move closer to James' work. Have been checking into the details to see if we can even qualify for a mortgage since we are both technically part time. (Mortgage companies don't like part time work even if you get paid more than full time work.) Had finally accepted that we would indeed be approved for a mortgage (well within our price range) when we ran into a snafoo with potential student loan payments. Called student loan company. Straightened it out. Still have to call mortgage company to make sure it will work. Not a good day think all the work and research I have done was for nothing.

Poor James - his car wouldn't start after he picked up Ian from daycare and went to the store. My very sweet hubby didn't want to spend money on a taxi so he WALKED home with Ian! It is about a four minute drive, but that translates into a long walk with a two year old! The grass had just been cut along the route so he had major allergy problems as he was walking home. I admire him so much for doing this, although I definitely want him to call a taxi (or my Mom!) if this ever happens again.

My sweet, precious, much awaited baby nephew was born this evening!! So that's a good thing. But I have been so bummed I can't go see him. I got to see all my other nieces and nephews within a day of their arrival. It is absolutely killing me that I can't hop on a plane tomorrow and go meet him. I've been in tears about this more than once today and can't seem to get over it. I haven't even seen a picture of him yet! It's like Mike and Lissie are trying to take care of a newborn and haven't gotten around to sending pix yet! Geez!

Sigh. That's my rant for today. Here's hoping tomorrow is better. Hopefully I will have some sweet newborn pictures to post that will make it all better.

Fashion Statement

I love toddler dress codes. Anything goes!

Like wearing Mommy's shoes...

Or having Mommy wear her black and silver sparkly flats with khakis...

Fireman boots and garden gloves are just part of the daily routine.

Of course, everyone knows that bubbles make great accessories!

Cheese!

It's very important that Froggie wear his shoes too.

Walk, walk, walk Froggie.

I guess Froggie can wear a shoe backwards. He is a Frog after all.

Bubble goatee and toupee!

Love this happy little face!

Ian is doing really well potty training now. The other day, he decided his animals all needed t-shirts and underwear too.

The doggie on the far right is wearing a Batman shirt. Unfortunately, it's hard to see. But he's still a pretty stylin' pup!

After I left for work on the same day, Ian decided to accessorize a bit more. Daddy took these pictures.





So cute! I love seeing what Ian wants to wear!

Hoppy Easter!

It's hard to believe it is Easter already! In our typical late fashion, James and I got Ian's Easter eggs ready and the baskets ready about 2am this morning.

Daddy and Ian's Easter baskets.

I was so tired I couldn't remember where I put the rest of the Easter stuff. I have a tub in the garage with non-perishable goodies I've collected over the years and I finally found it!

Ian was thrilled with his Easter basket! He was especially interested in the egg shaped chalk.

Of course, he was thrilled with the gummy worms too!

Here's the video of Ian going through his Easter basket. It's about 3:30...I put the whole thing on here because Ian LOVES to watch his own videos now. :-)



Breakfast was a little idea borrowed from Pinterest: donuts (gluten free here) and cookies (also gluten free) to show the tomb with the stone rolled away.

Ian also loved his "bird" that he found in his Easter basket. This duck is pretty amiable and didn't mind being called a bird. It even tweeted a few times. :-)

We went over to Nana and Pop-Pop's for the big Easter egg hunt. They have nice landscaping in their backyard and we knew it would be a much better place for Ian to go egg hunting. Fortunately, they also have a covered patio, which we ended up using for the egg hunt since it was raining. Daddy went out and hid the eggs for Ian. Ian was so excited to walk outside and see more eggs!

I could do this everyday, Dad! This is fun!

I mean, I really, really, really love this egg hunting business!

Daddy hid 29 eggs! It took a while to find all of them.

Sweet boy holding his treasure.

Daddy even hid the eggs in Nana and Pop-Pop's flower pots.

Getting close to done.

Getting a little help from Pop-Pop.

Right down there...

Yay! Found them all!

Looking at the puddles the rain was making.

Time to check out what is inside those eggs.

Nana got a carrot in her Easter bag.

Silly Pop-Pop! It's a carrot, not a Q-tip!

Hmm... What's inside?

Ha! Gotcha! (Followed by massive amounts of giggles, of course.)

Yummy! More gummies!

Back outside to watch the rain some more.

It's really coming down!

Hoppy Easter, Everybunny! Hope you had a wonderful day!