A quick update: following the OT’s suggestion, I started Jake on his first household chore: put away the utensils in the dish rack each day after he finishes his dinner. The reward is dessert which is always some kind of fruit.
Tonight was night 2 that he did it, still he is not showing too much interest in the activity, but knowing Jake’s personality, once he gets into the routine of doing it, he will like it more and does a better job with it. This weekend I plan to have him help me to load Max’s little clothes in the washer, and maybe have him take them out of the washer once they are done. We will see how it goes.
A quick update on Max: he is now 5 months and 3 weeks old. He has mastered turning from his back to his tommy, but still only on one side, and today he started to be able to turn from his tommy to his back. He loves to eat, so far he has ate butternut squash, banana, apple sauce, carrot, peas, avocado, rice cereal, and sweet potato. He especially likes the squash and the avocado; he also likes the banana and the carrots; he also likes…. What the heck, he likes them all.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Here comes some household chores for Jake
Today I met Jake’s new occupation therapist. I am every excited to have her start working with Jake next week because it seems like she may just be the person who can help us to get Jake to be more independent in term of his daily living skills. I may be overly optimistic since she hasn’t worked with Jake, so exactly how affective will she be is yet to be determined. Nonetheless, I can not stop thinking about some of the things she suggested and I strongly feel if nothing else, she has given me a new sense of direction and the push that I need to help Jake in 2010.
What she said was we need to get Jake out of his therapy room during therapy and start doing things in the kitchen, such as wash plastic cups/plates, put away groceries, sort utensils; he can do things in the bathroom such as wash his hands, brush his teeth; he can spray some windex and clean the windows; he can go to his room and strip off his bed sheets. Then following her lead, I said he can load and upload the washer! How brilliant is that? I know this isn’t the first time a therapist suggested or that I have thought about teaching Jake to do these things, but somehow in the end, learning to do puzzles, arts and crafts, numbers and letter… you get the idea - always came on top of the list of things for him to learn. And let’s be honest, it is much quicker that I put away the utensils, and it is way quicker if I load and unload the washer, heck, it is much quicker and if I did everything for him. But in the process, I am taking away his potential to be independent.
The OT said we should establish household responsibilities for Jake - Yes, that is my goal for Jake in 2010, to be more precise following the style of his IEP goals, Jake needs to master at least three household chore with minimum assistance 85% of the times.
What she said was we need to get Jake out of his therapy room during therapy and start doing things in the kitchen, such as wash plastic cups/plates, put away groceries, sort utensils; he can do things in the bathroom such as wash his hands, brush his teeth; he can spray some windex and clean the windows; he can go to his room and strip off his bed sheets. Then following her lead, I said he can load and upload the washer! How brilliant is that? I know this isn’t the first time a therapist suggested or that I have thought about teaching Jake to do these things, but somehow in the end, learning to do puzzles, arts and crafts, numbers and letter… you get the idea - always came on top of the list of things for him to learn. And let’s be honest, it is much quicker that I put away the utensils, and it is way quicker if I load and unload the washer, heck, it is much quicker and if I did everything for him. But in the process, I am taking away his potential to be independent.
The OT said we should establish household responsibilities for Jake - Yes, that is my goal for Jake in 2010, to be more precise following the style of his IEP goals, Jake needs to master at least three household chore with minimum assistance 85% of the times.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
good bye baby teeth
Today marks the day Jake officially looses his first two baby teeth. He is 7 years and 7 months so let’s see, compare to his peers, somewhat late and again, couldn’t have had happened without manual intervention. Story of Jake’s life, so what should this be any different, right?!
All jokes aside, Jake hates, hates, hates going to the dentist. There were quite a few dental visits that we went in and came out without the doctor even managed to get a toothpick into his mouth, pretty strong for a hypotonic child, wouldn’t you say. The worst dental ordeal we had was when an experienced chief dentist at a well established children's' dental office, that advertised as having experience treating children with special needs, screamed on the top of his lungs because Jake had firmed clammed down on his finger. Everyone in the office rushed in to see what happened, while the dentist and his assistant frantically trying to get Jake to open his tightly closed jaw so he can get his finger back. It was a horrible experience for everyone, especially for Jake.
Therefore, I dread taking Jake to the dentist, but he has two teeth growing behind the baby teeth and the baby teeth are not coming loose at all, so something had to be done. My husband came with me to take Jake to the appointment today, because I refused to go alone, and can you blame me? Thank goodness today’s dental visit went much, much, much better than I had hoped for. The resident doctor who treated Jake at Schneider Children's’ dental clinic rocked; she was warm and caring to Jake, and at the same time she moved in quickly and precisely. Jake still struggled but she took care business and made us felt very confident that Jake was in good hands. Thanks, Dr. Chin.
I wanted to take a picture of Jake’s mouth, but he is not letting anyone go near there, so maybe next time.
All jokes aside, Jake hates, hates, hates going to the dentist. There were quite a few dental visits that we went in and came out without the doctor even managed to get a toothpick into his mouth, pretty strong for a hypotonic child, wouldn’t you say. The worst dental ordeal we had was when an experienced chief dentist at a well established children's' dental office, that advertised as having experience treating children with special needs, screamed on the top of his lungs because Jake had firmed clammed down on his finger. Everyone in the office rushed in to see what happened, while the dentist and his assistant frantically trying to get Jake to open his tightly closed jaw so he can get his finger back. It was a horrible experience for everyone, especially for Jake.
Therefore, I dread taking Jake to the dentist, but he has two teeth growing behind the baby teeth and the baby teeth are not coming loose at all, so something had to be done. My husband came with me to take Jake to the appointment today, because I refused to go alone, and can you blame me? Thank goodness today’s dental visit went much, much, much better than I had hoped for. The resident doctor who treated Jake at Schneider Children's’ dental clinic rocked; she was warm and caring to Jake, and at the same time she moved in quickly and precisely. Jake still struggled but she took care business and made us felt very confident that Jake was in good hands. Thanks, Dr. Chin.
I wanted to take a picture of Jake’s mouth, but he is not letting anyone go near there, so maybe next time.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
I fell off the wagon
Tonight I have a strong urge to blog for a different reason, I have fallen off the “being positive” wagon and I need to pick myself up, dust off, and get back on it.
It all started with an innocent play date for Jake with another special needs child. The mother of that child whom I will call “Tom” has always been great and helpful to Jake, and the two of us can certainly relate on many different levels because of our experiences with our boys. So the kids were “playing”, kind of together but not really, and somehow the conversation went something like this:
Tom’s Mom: “I feel like although Tom is a lot of work, but I think you have a much harder. At least Tom can tell me if he has a tummy ache, or if he is tired or hurt. I don’t think I can deal with it if he can’t communicate, how do you deal with it?”
Me: “…………(speechless for a few seconds), I don’t know how I deal with it, I just deal with it.” More of this topic went on for a while I don’t really recall the details and the play date went on, and as usual, Jake seemed to have had fun.
It wasn’t until we came home and started to eat dinner, I was overcame with a sense of failure, defeat and sadness. I cried out that no matter how hard I try, Jake still can not do anything. What I meant was he still can not tell me if he is hungry, thirsty, tired, hurt, happy, or sad. Yes, I deal with it by anticipating his needs and wants, by guessing, by experience, and sometime things are done according to my schedule and not his, whether he likes it, needs it, wants it or not.
My very logical husband responded to my emotional outburst with two simple sentences : “ This is Jake, this is who he is.” and “You will never be happy if you only look at what he can not do.” Why is he always the logical one??? Even though at this very moment, I still feel like I have a bone to pick with God for making Jake’s life so difficult, I know my husband is right. The very first time I started this blog back in 2006 was to remind myself to look at Jake’s abilities and not his disabilities.
Maybe this was a sign from God but this morning I read the following from another online blog :“I am the impatient woman tapping my foot, angry for sickness and delay. Oh, to instead be the devastated mother who says, "This is the worst day of my life, but still, I am grateful."
Tomorrow is another day, I want to start fresh and be happy for the smiley happy, gentle child that is Jake, and be grateful for what he has accomplished.
It all started with an innocent play date for Jake with another special needs child. The mother of that child whom I will call “Tom” has always been great and helpful to Jake, and the two of us can certainly relate on many different levels because of our experiences with our boys. So the kids were “playing”, kind of together but not really, and somehow the conversation went something like this:
Tom’s Mom: “I feel like although Tom is a lot of work, but I think you have a much harder. At least Tom can tell me if he has a tummy ache, or if he is tired or hurt. I don’t think I can deal with it if he can’t communicate, how do you deal with it?”
Me: “…………(speechless for a few seconds), I don’t know how I deal with it, I just deal with it.” More of this topic went on for a while I don’t really recall the details and the play date went on, and as usual, Jake seemed to have had fun.
It wasn’t until we came home and started to eat dinner, I was overcame with a sense of failure, defeat and sadness. I cried out that no matter how hard I try, Jake still can not do anything. What I meant was he still can not tell me if he is hungry, thirsty, tired, hurt, happy, or sad. Yes, I deal with it by anticipating his needs and wants, by guessing, by experience, and sometime things are done according to my schedule and not his, whether he likes it, needs it, wants it or not.
My very logical husband responded to my emotional outburst with two simple sentences : “ This is Jake, this is who he is.” and “You will never be happy if you only look at what he can not do.” Why is he always the logical one??? Even though at this very moment, I still feel like I have a bone to pick with God for making Jake’s life so difficult, I know my husband is right. The very first time I started this blog back in 2006 was to remind myself to look at Jake’s abilities and not his disabilities.
Maybe this was a sign from God but this morning I read the following from another online blog :“I am the impatient woman tapping my foot, angry for sickness and delay. Oh, to instead be the devastated mother who says, "This is the worst day of my life, but still, I am grateful."
Tomorrow is another day, I want to start fresh and be happy for the smiley happy, gentle child that is Jake, and be grateful for what he has accomplished.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)