Potato Therapy

Some of you who've been reading the blog for a while 

might remember my previous posts about

hair therapy, cookie therapy, and thank-you note therapy.

Well, last week we tried out something I call potato therapy.

We were playing at Pop and Nana's house 

and Pop decided it would be a good time for the kids to harvest his potatoes.

Ethan did a wonderful job holding the gardening tools with one hand

and holding onto his walker with the other.

It was great way for him to work on balance and motor planning.

Obviously, none of these things are actually therapy.

And I don't talk about them to Ethan as if they are therapy.

I just think it's amazing to see how much better Ethan does 

with specific skills when we're "working" on them in a fun, new way.

the harvest

And this one I call "Splash Park Therapy"

I was SO PROUD of Ethan the other day at the splash park

for so many reasons --

FIRST, after running around in the water for a few minutes

he noticed many of the other kids playing with cups in the water.

They were filling them up and throwing the water at each other.

In the past, Ethan would have watched them intently,

probably wanting a cup of his own but never saying so.

But this day Ethan came over to me and said,

"Mommy, I want a cup too!"

I was so excited to hear those 6 words - 

not only because he had a desire to play like the other kids,

but because he verbalized that desire to me.

NOW, after I gave him the cup, he walked straight over to the water...

and since the cup was in one hand, he walked throughout the entire 

splash park while only holding onto his walker with one hand!  

He then held the cup under the water (which was coming down hard)

and filled it up a number of times without dropping it!

What a huge improvement in his hand and finger

strength and fine motor coordination!

THEN, when he did drop the cup (this happened 4-5 times),

he balanced himself in his walker with only one hand

and bent down to pick up the cup all by himself.

I think all of these things independently would have been wonderful,

but the fact that he did all of this in the matter of a few minutes 

opened my eyes to how far he's come in the past few months.

I think it's easy for me to overlook these (what seem to be little) 

improvements because I see him every day and it happens so slowly.

But thankfully I allowed myself to be more aware 

of his amazingness on this day.

And, of course, we had some fun in the midst of all that "hard work"

getting some sustenance after all that "work"