Brown Boy Hat Trick

New Year

Behind on blogging as always but here's a quick little update.

I graduated from my massage school program on December 20th. I finished my license application last weekend and am now just waiting for it to be processed and approved. Once I'm licensed, I'll be applying to massage envy and doing in home massages (referral based) for personal clients. I'm also planning on getting a massage chair and traveling around to all the various waiting rooms I've sat in for Alexander's therapies. People in waiting rooms need massages. They just do. If I can get any of the businesses to pay me, great, if not, I'll just set out a tip jar and make sure no one leaves without my business card.

Kevin is still working at Fiserv. He's working on a big project right now that had him working odd hours before the holidays. He was able to take off a couple of days to go for training in Alexander's feeding protocols at Marcus Autism Center and he worked extra hard at home while I was super sick over Christmas and New Years.

Alexander, as noted above, just finished his feeding program (which was 8:30am-3:30pm 5 days a week) at Marcus Autism Center. He's finally getting all the calories and nutrients he needs by eating food instead of just drinking Pediasure all day. His current protocol is for 900 grams of pureed foods and 250 grams of nutrient rich drink but we'll be going back for outpatient visits and trying to work up to table texture on all 16 of his acquired foods. While he was in the feeding program he wasn't attending kindergarten or any other therapies outside of Marcus. We were able to schedule his feeding therapy sessions around the Language and Learning Clinic sessions there so he was able to continue in that and will be finishing up with that program in early February. He's made some progress in verbalizations but we're still working and waiting for him to really start talking. Today was Alexander's first day back at kindergarten and he didn't have any trouble getting back in the groove after his feeding therapy absences.

Jacob was shuffled around quite a bit while Alexander was in the feeding program and I was finishing massage school. He was able to continue in preschool the whole time, though. Today was his first day back after the Christmas break as well and he had a good day. He's picked up quite a few more words, it's just a matter of getting him to use them. I'm really looking forward to being able to work with him more specifically now that I'm done with school myself.

And here is a video of Alexander having a home "Marcus Meal." My mom took the video while she was here before Christmas for my graduation. Like she says, this was taken toward the end of the meal, and he wasn't cooperating as well as he usually does, but it does show him eating, and we're all super happy about that! (And really, I'm kind of dull and not doing the best job at my ABA therapy duties in this clip, but well, this is the video we got.)

Called in a Professional

I just recently realized I was needing some new pictures of the boys, so when my friend Amy Dawkins (professional photographer) offered me a photo shoot, I jumped on it. I wasn't expecting more than one or two half way decent photos (the lighting was bad at the park and the boys never sat still for more than 0.5 seconds at a time). So I was psyched when she sent me a good 30 pics! These are my favs from the bunch. Thanks again Amy (and Lee for watching their three boys while his wife and I chased my two all over Ft. Yargo Park.) 

Kindergarten Day 1

I'm so sorry I didn't get a picture of Alexander in his first day of school outfit. But I wanted to share this email his teacher sent me this afternoon because it made me happy. I'll try to update with pictures again soon...

"We had a fabulous day! This morning seemed a little crazy trying to get everyone organized and make sure everyone had what they needed. Alexander seemed a little nervous at first this morning and had a few moments where he just wanted to be held, which is quite alright. We love him!!! He did really well I think for his first day in a new school and he really took up with Mrs. [parapro] =)

We are looking forward to the school year as well, we love Alexander already and can’t wait for a fun year =) We have a wonderful class and a great group of parents that support us.

Thanks so much! See you soon!

[home room teacher]
Special Education Teacher-MOID"

July "Annual" Update

I started massage school at the beginning of July and I'm sure some of you are wondering how it's going. Well, it's going GREAT! I love the school, I love the teachers, I love the little hand exercise ball they gave us in our supply package. I love the course material, I love the teaching methods, I love the low tables that keep us from hurting our backs. I love the books, and the overhead projections, and the little quizzes every morning that help us prep for the big tests. I love the people, I love the building, I love the short distance it is from my house. I love my mom for coming to watch the boys during July, and I love Kami for coming to be my nanny for the rest of the year. It's all love, baby.

And now for a boys update (I never remember to do this on their birthdays!):

Alexander got an extension on his Marcus Autism Center Language and Learning Clinic services. They gave him another 6 months so he'll be going until February next year. He's also scheduled to start kindergarten on August 5th. (He's turning 5 on Monday can you believe it??) Because of the Marcus extension he'll only be going to a half day at school but I'm looking forward to seeing if it helps with his progress. I really liked his teacher when I met her at our IEP meeting back in April so I'm hopeful things will come together nicely.

Alexander still says "Go" verbally when he wants to play. He also has picked up a few modified signs that he uses consistently when we give him a chance. (Mommy has to be on top of things and not keep reading his mind.)
Sign list:
Candy (index finger tapped at cheek)
Drink (fist to chin)
Movie (hands rubbed together)
Popcorn (like this)


Jacob turned 3 on July first. We had a fun party for both the boys a couple of weeks ago at Lunar Golf at the mall. (This video will be hard to see but it shows Jacob playing golf.)
Jacob finished up with Babies Can't Wait back in June (it only goes til they turn 3) and he's slated to begin preschool in a couple of weeks. He'll be going to the same preschool Alexander was going to because he's way behind on talking (although he does say a few words) and he's a little behind on some social and fine motor skills.

Kami and I are going to do some home "preschool" type activities with both of them, like, we'll be continuing the color of the week and stuff. They've really loved all the color sensory bins and baths so far.

Water Beads - the coolest sensory bin material ever!

With help from my mom, I created a nice big chalk board wall for Alexander's room that we'll be using for "school" activities.

I primed the black side with magnetic paint so it can be like a real chalk board. The other side is just for drawing cuz I ran out of magnetic primer. Both boys really like drawing and playing with the magnets. The first thing Alexander did when we handed him the chalk was start drawing smiley faces.

I'm really looking forward to busting out my massage schooling in the next few months and also getting some good quality time in with my sister, and with Kevin and the boys. Here's to new beginnings.