Lewis has enjoyed these foam letters at bathtime since last fall, but it had been a while since we'd gotten them out. Tonight I threw A-G into the water, and he immediately put them up in order on the side of the tub. He's known his letters for a while, but this is the first time he's arranged them like this.
I was trying to get a picture of Owen's tooth, but it's kind of blurry. The white part of the blur is his tooth!
Last week I took Lewis and Owen to a new playground in the area that has some cool new equipment. We are loving the warmer weather and getting out more consistently to play.
Owen enjoyed the playground in a different way.
ABA Update: Lewis has been working on jumping and has just about got it! He clears just a tiny bit of space between his feet and the ground. He's also working on mouth exercises, pointing (has a way to go with both of these), but is making headway in imitating sticking out his tongue and is starting to 'get' blowing by using a plastic recorder. The other positive is some emerging pretend play. We've caught him putting a monkey to bed in our room several times, among other things.
Owen headed to the doctor yesterday for his well baby visit. It's hard to believe he's already 9 months old. Here's the current standings:
Ht.: 29" Wt.: 20 lbs., 9.5 oz. Head: 46.5 cm
They checked his iron and he was in the normal range. He got one Hib vaccine, but took the teaser bracelet the nurse gave him and was over it in a second. Next stop: one year!
The weeks have been flying by! The longer days are making life a bit more fun and enjoyable. This time last week it was snowing, and we are so grateful to be embarking into the spring. But it seems like some random funny things have been going on at our house.
The boys got dressed in green for St. Patrick's Day, which is not so unusual.
But then, Lewis has been trying to wear our shoes. I found him like this, and thought it was funny since the shoes really go well with his outfit, if only his feet were bigger.
Lewis has been encouraged by our OT to do heavy pushing to give his arms a workout. Our friend and volunteer therapist, Mandy Guss, found this 80's shopping cart in her mom's attic and Lewis has enjoyed pushing it around with a haul of beans and Vienna sausages. Notice how he's pushing with one hand, and carrying his beverage in the other, also just like his dad. Thanks Mandy!
Now for the videos. Justin and Lewis play all kinds of funny games together. Honestly, I don't get many of them, or why they're so funny, but Lewis LOVES it when daddy comes home and is ready to play. This video involves a game with a monkey.
This one is Owen showing his own unique sense of humor, and love for the camera.
This last one is Lewis taking a short video. Live a moment from Lewis' perspective..sort of!
Many of you may be wondering about all this therapy we're doing. My dad and Martha were visiting this week and I realized from their questions that it is hard to describe on a blog just how it works. Right now Lewis is getting 12-15 hours per week of ABA therapy, an hour with an OT, and 2 hours at WKU's speech clinic. Tonight, due to snow and an overworked volunteer, I got to work with Lewis some myself and took a couple videos to show more what a session looks like.
We have about 16-18 tasks per session, and each task is done 5 times. If Lewis completes the task on his own, he gets a +, and if not he gets a -. If Lewis has trouble completing the tasks, the therapists manipulate his hands so that he knows what is expected, but he does not get credit for it. Of course, on vocal imitation that is impossible, but as Lewis learns to imitate nonverbal things, the verbal imitation should also improve. Anyway, the data shows when Lewis has mastered a skill (80% or more correct over 3 sessions) and then it moves into 'maintenance.'
The tasks range in time length from seconds to minutes (puzzles and fine motor skills take longer), and he is rewarded with reinforcers (toys he likes) in between tasks. The reinforcers are key, because if he doesn't have something motivating to work for, he will typically run off or just not cooperate. The real goal is for Lewis to use the skills learned in therapy in real life.
Tonight we were working on a 12 piece puzzle (which Lewis hates!). He whines and sometimes screams when he sees a puzzle. This puzzle he has been working on for a week, and it takes him a little while, but he can do it all by himself! If you had seen him last week, or even Tuesday when the puzzle caused several breakdowns, you'd be amazed that he has caught on so quickly.
The next video shows him touching a baby's hand, opening a ziploc bag on his own (which also gave him some trouble early on), and nodding by imitation (you hear me say "do this" and he responds with an awkward nod).
While all of that was going on, Owen was jumping in the doorway. He's gotten into, running and jumping and flying around.
My other victory tonight was getting Owen to roll from his back to his belly all by himself! He has not figured it out on his own, so our DI, Krista, started working with Owen this week too and putting a towel behind him so that he could practice rolling from his side. We worked on it some this afternoon, and then tonight I left him on his back (not propped at all) with some paper strategically placed to entice him to roll. For some reason, Owen loves paper! I walked into the other room and peeked back a minute later and there he was on his belly! He took the bait.
These boys are a lot of work sometimes, but it is so fulfilling when we see some progress. We should all sleep good tonight!
We rooted the WKU hilltoppers to victory last night in the Sunbelt Conference Tournament. The boys got to wear their new Western attire for the event. They look great in red!
We've been having a lot of therapy still. Lewis has learned to string beads by himself and is working on a 12 piece jigsaw puzzle. He really despises working puzzles, but seems to have a knack for them. He's also imitating nodding 'yes' and shaking his head 'no' which is a welcome skill!
He's become quite fond of the laundry basket and is even willing to push his brother around the house for a few laps. Owen is up to over 20 lbs., so it's quite a workout for a little guy! But oddly, he has enjoyed sitting in the basket for his evening video. It keeps his dinner crumbs from getting in the carpet which is an added bonus.
Owen is working on his first tooth. It is just past the gums and should be emerging anytime for a better view.
Here are some sweet pictures of Owen in a diaper. I have a friend who always says there's nothing sweeter than a baby in a diaper......so in her honor, I captured Owen at 8 months.
And here's Lewis at Walmart the other night. Justin found this cowboy hat and it was cracking us up! We were strong and managed to leave it at the store.
Lewis has been learning to imitate. After months of watching his signing videos, he's finally trying to do what the people on the screen are doing. It makes for some great entertainment! His current favorite has a song about all the things people can do ("I'm really good at walking...running, etc.)." Lewis does babyrobics to this song, and in this particular video, after he gets into it, he seems to be dancing much like our friend, Derek Holt. Give it a minute for him to get going and you'll see what I mean! Happy viewing.
I was trying to get a picture of Owen's tooth, but it's kind of blurry. The white part of the blur is his tooth!
