Jayden is pointing at things a lot and can communicate with pointing quite a bit. He points where he wants to go, or if he wants to show you something. He points to his crib when he wants to go to sleep. He will point at pictures in his picture book - he knows airplane and baby and will point when asked. He has quite a few words - some of which I can recognize and he is showing much more understanding. He is beginning to respond to commands such as give it to me. Today I pointed at a bubble wand and asked him to give it to me: he leaned over, picked it up and handed it right to me!!
In PT we continue to work on balance and core strength. Jayden has a noticeably weak core so the therapist has him sitting on a exercise ball to throw balls as well as do a few sit ups on. He is still working on stepping up and down and balancing on one leg. He is getting much better at maneuvering up and down steps but down is still pretty shaky. He loves to kick over towers but hasn't quite caught on to stacking the blocks himself yet! He has figured out slides and can go down most slides now on his own - he knows how to sit down then push off and has the core strength to hold himself up while sliding.
Yesterday we went to the zoo. Jayden loves looking at everything there. He refuses, however, to hold your hand. If you try to take his hand, he will pull away, and fold his arms across his chest to protect them from you. If you insist on holding his hand, he will sit down and start to tantrum. I'm not sure if this is just him being independent or if he is showing tactile defensiveness again. I am going to try massaging his arms frequently and see if that helps.
Mealtimes and snacks are very routine for us. Jayden only eats in his chair (or in the car when necessary! but that doesn't happen often). He always eats around the same time. He is always ready for his meal or snack. If you say its time for snack, for example, he will run over to his chair and demand help to be put in. This is pretty routine for all meals. He is always ready to eat. He usually only asks to eat around his meal times. He seems to be content with however much food I give him - although he would always like more fruit. He loves all fruit and will eat as much as I allow. I think at this point he gets about 4 servings a day. Since he doesn't eat many veggies, I feel fruit is still important in his diet. My hopes are as he gets older he will eat more veggies and I can reduce fruit. Lately, I have found a sneaky way to get him eating more veggies. I have started using apple sauce to hide his supplements - just a tablespoon or two at breakfast and dinner. Then I add a couple of finely grated baby carrots and today I added zucchini. He loves it!
Here is a short video of Jayden riding his big wheel - he loves this thing!!
(below) Riding his big wheel down the neighborhood - if I could just get him to ride it back home too!
(below) Don't touch my arms/hands!!
(below) Hippotherapy: putting rings on the post.
(below) Feeding his pony, Kvika, after his ride.
"Milestones"
- Eats with a spoon independently (I think this could have happened long ago if I had given him more opportunities)
- Will find and point at the airplane in his picture book
- A thousand other little things I can't pinpoint right now!!
Current measurements: not available
Therapies:
- Weekly Occupational therapy
- Weekly Physical therapy
- Weekly Speech
- Weekly Therapeutic Riding
Supplements:
I feel we are back on track with supplements. I have started adding them to a tablespoon of applesauce with a little bit of grated carrot (or zucchini today) and Jayden loves it! I doubled our carnitine-fumarate dose and while I cannot be sure that is the reason behind his excellent energy levels the past few days, I can guarantee it is the cause of his loose and over the top smelly stools. I decided to cut back the carnitine from 1000 mg to 750 to see if that will help.
0.6 mg Genotropin (HGH)
750 mg carnitine fumarate (split into 2 doses)
1.5 tsp creatine monohydrate (split into 2 doses)
100 mg CoQ10 (split into 2 doses)
Methylcobalamin B12 injections every 3 days
1/2 tsp Childrens DHA fish oil
1 TBS Animal Parade Multivitamin
He looks Great! And so Happy! As for the hand holding, it is still a point of contention with AJ. Let me know if you figure out a solution.
ReplyDeleteDean won't hold my hands either!
ReplyDeleteLove the Jayden updates!!