Thank-You Note Therapy

As you may recall from our previous posts about Cookie Therapy and Hair Therapy, we are always looking for ways to make therapy a little more fun around here. Ethan and Owen were blessed with so many gifts from friends and family during the holidays, so we decided to take the opportunity to do a little "therapy" while making thank-you cards. For a long time we tried to MAKE Ethan like coloring, but it was always a battle. I finally decided to take a break from working on this skill and lo and behold...Ethan started saying, "want to color." Now, I will say that during this "break from coloring," his OT at Touchstone and at school were still working with him on making lines and circles and they still had arts and crafts time in his class. So, I think they finally convinced him that coloring can be fun, even though it is hard work for him.

It may sound weird, but when we would go out to eat I would always get a little jealous of other parents who's kids were sitting at the table coloring with the little crayons & coloring paper they give you when you arrive. I finally got to the point where I would sadly say, "no thank-you" when they asked if we needed some crayons because Ethan would immediately throw them on the floor when we got to our seat. However, the last few times we've gone out I've taken the crayons and he's actually colored while waiting for our food! I think it's the little milestones that seem to thrill me the most.

Here is Ethan working on putting the cap back on the marker - at times he gets stuck on this part and just wants to pull the cap off and put it back on, which is a great exercise in strength and coordination. Oh, and thanks to Bettie (Jessie's Journey) and Aunt Karen for the little art smocks!

Very serious and concentrating on his circles. When making the cards he kept saying, "Wanna make face," so he would draw the "circle" and I would hold his hand to help him make the marks for the eyes, nose and mouth.

And just to prove we're not always making him work, here is Ethan playing one of his favorite Nana games...putting Owen's socks on his ears. We put the socks on and he looks in the mirror and laughs at how funny he looks. No therapy involved whatsoever - just plain old fun.

Happy Saturday!

New Stuff + New Skills = A Very Happy New Year

Over the past few months the Veeck household has been bombarded with lots of new stuff...therapy stuff to be exact. With lots of therapy needs comes lots of therapy equipment. This is always a good thing because much of the equipment really does help Ethan continue to improve. However, the equipment is always expensive and takes up LOTS of space. We are adjusting to this new stuff and thankful for the variety of ways in which we received it.

Here is Ethan with a little walker/wagon that is borrowed from his friend Jessie over at Jessie's Journey. Ethan loves putting his stuffed animals in the wagon and walking them around the house. This walker is different than his rear walker, makes him use different muscles and challenges his balance - which is a good thing!

As you may remember in a previous post about our therapy/playroom we talked about a glider swing we hoped to purchase. Well, some amazing friends of ours read that post and decided to help make that possible sooner rather than later. We got the swing a few weeks before Christmas and we LOVE it! It allows us to focus on balance and coordination - the two things Ethan struggles with the most. And the best part about it is that he is having so much fun he doesn't even realize he's WORKING!

I have to admit, I thought it would be quite a while before we would be purchasing a regular "big boy bed" for Ethan. I thought his next step would just be a mattress on the floor since he couldn't safely transition out of a typical bed. Then, a few months ago my dad and sister saw a bed at IKEA that seemed to be a great fit for Ethan. It's a bunk bed, but the bottom bunk is on the floor, so Ethan can safely get into and out of the bed all on his own! The week after Christmas Ethan started standing up in his crib (which is a safety issue for a 3 1/2 year old), so my dad went out that week and bought this bed for Ethan. It is SO AMAZING to watch the freedom he has and the joy this bed brings him!

Ethan's new aqua therapist recently asked me what I thought about Ethan using a stander. My first thought was that Ethan didn't really need one since he was mobile through crawling. She explained, though, that future problems can occur when a 3 1/2 year old isn't putting regular pressure on his legs and feet. Even thought Ethan is able to walk in a walker with assistance, he isn't spending very much time in a correct standing position. So, she just so happened to come across a parent who wanted to donate a top-of-the-line stander to a child who needed it! We've been using it for about a week now and Ethan is doing better than I thought he would. He stands for about 30 minutes a day while we play games or watch Elmo! Oh, and right before Christmas Ethan started standing with very minimal assistance in the middle of the floor! This is a HUGE step toward independent standing and we hope this stander will assist him in achieving that goal even sooner.

Back in April Ethan's OT suggested we order a good seat with a tray for Ethan to work on a variety of OT activities like coloring, puzzles, etc. The seat was ordered in May and it took until September for us to find out that Medicaid was denying all seating and would not pay for the chair. Thankfully, we had already met our deductible through our private insurance, so we ordered it through them and finally received the chair in December. Ethan is really starting to enjoy coloring (he can now make horizontal & vertical lines as well as something that looks like a circle) and has done a few art projects in the chair already!

Well, all this talk about Ethan's progress and we haven't even mentioned his cute little brother. Owen continues to bring so much joy to our family.

He started smiling in November

Holding his head up in December

Putting his fingers in his mouth...well he's always been doing that.

The week before Christmas Owen started sleeping through the night. Like 8pm-6am sleeping through the night! I am still so shocked and scared to type it for fear it will stop. We've had some rough nights here and there, but I am happy to say that I get 8 hours of sleep most nights!

We are so thankful for this happy baby boy and his amazing big brother!

Christmas Part 2

The day after Christmas our friends Mike and Leesa came for a visit. Mike, Tim and my dad went to the Belk Bowl (UofL vs. NC State) and we all had a great time together! Ethan LOVES Leesa. He thinks she came just to play with him (which really, she did!).

A few days later, Allison, Cephas and Cara returned from Ghana and were ready to celebrate Christmas! Here are a few pictures from our "Christmas morning" with them.

Cara got a stroller for her baby doll, but after all the excitement she was too tired to push and needed to sit for a while.

Our cousin, Kaye, sent Cara a baby doll and Ethan a race track with cars. Ethan loves that baby doll and Cara loves the race track!

We didn't make gingerbread houses this year - just a little too much going on. But we did get gingerbread men from Trader Joes and they had fun decorating and EATING them.

Mom made the kids new matching pajamas. Here they are with Nana...