1st Day of School

Mr. Boo started his first "big school" yesterday. He was anxious to get his day started. He felt like a big guy with his backpack on his shoulders as we waited for the time to pass before loading up to make our way to school.

He tried the door for himself but soon found he might need a little help.

Kaiden immediately made friends with the kids that were playing on the carpet waiting for the rest of their friends to show up. Ms. Stacie, as the kids call her, is the teacher for the 3k "Angels" class. Yes, his room is called the "Angels."

Kaiden has his own little cubby space for his backpack and nap blanket! It was too cute to see his name all over the place!

This is the gate where are to pick up and drop off the kids in the mornings and afternoons. He was so good about waiting for me to walk up from the truck.

He could not wait to tell us all about his friends, playing basketball in the gym, and having a great day! I'm so happy he enjoyed his first day.

The school year comes soon!

Tomorrow, Monday, we will be taking Mr. Kaiden to his school to go through orientation. While we are there, he will meet his teacher, see his classroom, and meet some of the friends he will be going to school with.

Oh, the time is flying ever so quickly.

Kaiden's Art Work

While he attends his awesome day school, my pooh bear is able to do some really neat crafts.

For instance, one day he talked about the color purple and made a sugary, grape-smelling picture.



When he attends speech therapy, he normally colors papers and glues different objects on the papers. He had a great time learning prepositions and pasting fish to his paper!



He partially helped me make some of the Easter cards, but I cannot post those yet...You will have to wait to receive them. I have another little helper who will be home this afternoon that I will need to get in on the action!

Valentine 2009 from Kaiden to you!

As many of you know, Kaiden attends Parents' Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays. This little bit of time has given him many opportunities to create wonderful pieces of art that he loves to share with everyone.

I wanted to send out a Valentine's posting sharing his latest creation. He also helped me to mix the cake that he will be taking to school for his Valentine's Day party taking place tomorrow.

I hope you all enjoy the beautiful heart!!!

One of the final visits

Last week, we had our final physical therapy appointment with Roxanne. She watched Kaiden play and jump, run and fall, and just be a regular kid. I was told that he was a great joy to work with and that visits him him were a treat.

That was such an awesome feeling!!!

Well, we are stil waiting to hear from the speech therapist at the elementary school as to what their thoughts are for his treatment. We're not sure if Kaiden will be going once a week or every other week. We shall see. I've called to double check, but I had to leave a message being that the therapist was not there at the time.

Kaiden Pictures

Photobucket Album

This just in...

Kaiden ended up having two different therapy appointments on Thursday. We thought it was pretty funny. I had received a call Wednesday afternoon that the therapist would be available to meet with us at 2:00 pm. Well, for some unknown reason, I was waiting and ready at 11:30 am to see the therapist. I knew, with all conviction I possess, that we had an appointment at 11:30 am and there was not a second for the day.

So, we had the physical therapy appointment and I wrote about it. Then, 2:00 pm rolls around, and I received a phone call stating that "I am at the door." I had been in the computer room at that time posting about the appointment that had taken place earlier and had no recollection that there was another one about to happen.

We had a speech therapy session, and I learned some really eye opening things:
***NO MORE SIPPY CUPS ANYWHERE!!!***

Come to find out, the sippy cup does not allow the tongue, the lower jaw or the other muscles responsible for making certain sounds to mature and strengthen. Well, this means that drinks need to be taken from a regular cup, through a straw or out of a bottle such as a water bottle.

I was told to put things like honey, peanut butter and chocolate syrup around his mouth so that he could practice licking them off. We should really focus on the area underneath his mouth since those muscles need the most help. Also, allow him to drink thick shakes through a straw, blow bubbles outside and in the bathtub (with a straw), and we will be receiving a set of horns that will allow him to practice making an "O" shape with his mouth.

After our session was over, we walked outside to blow some bubbles. I started by showing Kaiden how he needed to shape his mouth to create the right airflow setup. Then, I put the bubble wand close to his face, and you would have thought Kaiden was trying to help Pawpaw blow out the numerous candles that are going to be on Pawpaw's cake this year! (CALL THE FIRE DEPARTMENT!!! :)) I tried blowing in his hand to show him that he needed to blow softer. I brought the bubble wand back to his mouth and was greeted with a shower from my darling son...He then wanted to do this by his self, so I told him that I would hold the bubble mixture and he could dip the wand and work on blowing the bubbles. This lasted all of five minutes.

There are many more upcoming appointments that have already been scheduled. I keep a calendar on the desktop of the computer to keep track of everything. I'm hyper organized these days.

Until the next time, happy reading!

To therapy or not to therapy? That is the question!

Kaiden's physical therapy appointment started at 11:30 AM. I was updated with the ideas that were brought forth last session: walk in grass, walk in sand, etc.

We moved on to talk about how Kaiden's feet were doing since he had his casts removed. The therapist took Kaiden's feet and massaged on them, looked at them, and tickled them. He started out not wanting to have any stimulation applied to them. After a short bit of time, and both myself and the therapist coaxing, Kaiden started running around the living room and our bedroom barefooted. He stopped on the rug that lies just under the bed in the master bedroom and stared out at us. He then ran back towards us, yes, I said ran, and stopped on the carpet under the table in the living room.

There were many ideas shared about gaining movement in his feet:
*Fill a small plastic tub with either uncooked rice, beans or sand. Bury toys inside the material and have him dig around with his feet to pull out the toys.
*Have him pick up the washcloth with his toes
*Have him pick up anything with his toes
*Start allowing him to use a loofah and different materials with varied textures to stimulate his feet.
*Rub lotion on his feet and give him a washcloth to rub it in and off
*Have him kick a ball with grooves or a texture
*Take him outside to walk in the sand, grass, dirt or pool

Now, we have been told to give him a little while before he starts with a loofah or lotion. So, look at his feet before you make a move on doing any kind of therapy with the above mentioned options.

We went on to talk about the areas that I thought needed to improve out of him. The only obstacle I see him having is stairs. So, we were given more suggestions:
*Place a 2X4 under a blanket but on top of carpet or a rug. Have him step over it.
*Make Kaiden step over your legs.
*When walking on the sidewalk and stepping off the curb or walking up and down stairs, hold Kaiden's hands at his waist. This will make his hips work harder and strengthen them.
*Work on transitions between sidewalk and grass. Go back and forth to help with understanding transitional changes.
***MAKE SURE HE SEES WHAT HE IS DOING, AND REMIND HIM TO FOCUS!!!***

One of the therapist's observations was that she thought he probably did not need therapy more than once a month. She found that for only being out of his casts for two days that Kaiden was doing very well. A couple of the things she expected to see from him were bent knees and still walking on his tip toes. She was afraid his knees would still be bent from having been in the casts and not understanding the full weight of his own body. She was excited that he was not experiencing muscle tension in his hamstring. She was also excited to know that Kaiden had walked that out over a two week period of going into the second set of casts.

Now, he does not actually get stretched and pulled on, but we do receive helpful insight on how to retain stimulation and how to strengthen certain skills (ie: hip control and movement). I was told to start massinging the scar on the inside of his foot to help move around some of the scar tissue. It needs to be stretched so that it does not cause the tendon to be held taught. I was also told that we needed to keep up with gently massaging the toes and allowing Kaiden to use his motorized toothbrush twice a day.

Splish, splash, I have naked feet!

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I found some really Cute Blogger Layouts at Doobix.com

When: Around 9:30 AM

Where: Shriner's Hospital

What: Taking off the "boots"

How: With the help of a skilled man by the name of Angel and his trusty cast removal machine

Today, Kaiden met with the people at Shriner's to remove his second set of casts since surgery. The process started with a short visit to the cast removal room and a quick cleaning of the feet.

Kaiden introduced himself to his new shoes while waiting on the removal of his casts.Here, Kaiden's casts were being opened to allow Angel to cut the cotton and sock that lay underneath. We tried to distract and appease the wee man as best as possible, but nothing matched the sound of the machine buzzing!

Look! Naked feet!!! Don't get too close...

After the cleaning and drying of Boo's feet, we were able to make our way to the prosthetics area of the hospital. Kaiden had been fitted for his braces during the last visit, so the AFO pieces were able to be put on, adjusted, and fit into his new shoes. Here, the technician was sliding the Velcro through the loop and then would bring it back across to strap the prosthetic down. Kaiden immediately took to his accessories.

The Boo Bear walks!!!

We ended the day with a lot of playing outside. Michael told Kaiden, "Go play in the dirt. Go get dirty!" Kaiden listened very well!

***We celebrated the first day of school***

Today found Kaiden watching Claire get ready for her first day of school. The excitement grew as they made their way through breakfast and onto brushing their teeth. Finally, the moment arrived when it was time to make our way to the truck. Kaiden was excited to be a part of the first day of school for Claire.

Claire and Kaiden in the living room!

The big schoolgirl giving Daddy a Claire Bear hug.

Claire was standing on the front walk waiting for all of us to go. She was ready to make it happen!

Claire quickly found her seat and was all smiles.

While Claire was at school, Kaiden and I took some time to run to the library and take some pictures along the way. We worked on sharing toys with another little guy we met at the library, sounding out words, and walking up and down several steps at the gazebo and the train caboose.

Kaiden was happy to walk.

Kaiden decided that the frog needed to hang out a while.

And so he did.

That's all for now folks! See you on the next ride!