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.

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.