15 Months (2)

I always forget at least one thing. He did very well with his shots today; he got 3 and as usual by the time we were leaving the office he had forgotten all about it. The Pedi said that Joshua doesn't exhibit enough signs of autism for us to be concerned. He isn't speaking but he is very social (a flirt when he wants to be) and didn't object much to her examining him (he usually doesn't). Also she was very encouraged by the fact that he loves to eat and all kinds of food; children with autism sometimes have issues with textures and Joshua doesn't. She said the people at developmental peds will be encouraged by it too.

Something else I forgot, he has pretty much given up the pacifier in favor of his thumb. It started a few weeks ago when I didn't give him the paci fast enough he would use his thumb and we just gradually stopped offering the paci so now he uses his thumb. It's a lot more convenient and the pedi has said before that she'd rather he used it.

15 Months!

Joshua now only has to be in his stander for 20 minutes per day. He got a walker, a brand new one from the PT./K509.html"> He should be in it for a few minutes at a time and just walk a few steps. The PT really thinks it is a reachable goal for him to be walking a few steps by himself by Easter. She was very happy to hear he’s going to Epworth preschool next week. She knew about it but didn’t know it was still open, I guess she hadn’t been there in a long time.

He had his 15 month well visit today. He’s 23lbs (25th%), 30in. (20th%) and his head circ. Is 48cm (70th%). The Pedi was very pleased that he has an appt. next month at developmental peds, we are all surprised the wait was so short. She said the appt. is usually quite long, it’s a play based evaluation; they want to see what he can do. Overall she was happy that he’s improving, she’d never heard of Epworth preschool but is excited about it for us.

I can’t believe he’s starting preschool on Tuesday, that my Mom is moving to Columbia next weekend and she will be 1 mile from the preschool! It really does feel like it was all meant to be, it fell into place so easily. Thank you, G-d!

Joshua Crawling 2/24/10

Joshua Crawling 2/24/10 (1)

Joshua Crawling 2/23/10

Outfit for Joshua's 1st day of Preschool

Horse shirt w/khaki pants

Flying Ace shirt w/khaki pants

Blue bear outfit

Blue whale overalls

Duck oufit

Monkey outfit

Help me pick an outfit for his first day. The one with the most votes wins. The 2nd runner up will be for his 2nd day.

Preschool!

In my last post I mentioned the possibility of Joshua going to preschool. We went there this past Friday and love it! It is the only place he could go right now. Most preschools don't start until age 2 but this is a very special and unique preschool, in every way. It is through Epworth Early Intervention Center. They have a preschool program for children ages 1-4 who have developmental delays or who are at risk for delays, they also accept typically developing children. Joshua will be attending on Tuesday and Thursdays from 8:30 am to 11:30 am (it only runs in the morning during that time). Children can attend 2, 3, 4 or 5 days a week depending on availability. Right now all we want to do is 2 days. There is a 1:3 teacher to child ratio; 1 head teacher, 2 assistants and an aide. They have less than 20 students and only 10 at a time. It is a very small program and I don't think many people know about it. The schedule is packed the entire time he's there. He gets a snack, they do circle time and work on their individual goals all while playing. We are going to have to try to adjust his schedule as those two days he won't get a morning nap. I am trying to adjust his bedtime so he gets up a little later and then can take his morning nap later, almost becoming an afternoon nap but we'll have to see how it goes. I am so excited about this opportunity for him and so grateful for hearing about it!

Joshua crawls

Joshua Crawling!

News

Some really good news is that he's crawling on all fours now! He did it for the first time on Tuesday and a little more yesterday. I think he would be doing it more but he's not feeling well. Poor little guy is cutting 2 premolars and not sure if it's from that or he just has a little cold but his nose has been running since Monday. It seems a little better today, we've had a humidifier in his room and it seems to be helping. He is really and truly continuously improving and I'm so happy.

Some more news is that our pediatrician referred us to a developmental pediatrician. All the paperwork has been completed and we should be hearing from them soon. There is a pretty long waiting list so it will be months before we go and maybe by then he won't need it, who knows. I think the next thing to work on after PT will be ST & OT. He is very close to pulling up, getting on his knees a lot.

Next week we are going to see a preschool for kids with developmental delays, they take kids ages 1 & up so if there's room he could start going soon. It would only be 1 or 2 mornings a week to start out with. It's the only one like it in the state (SC) and happens to be in my city, downtown. It's through Epworth which does EI in addition to the preschool. I'm very excited about it.

The PT says Joshua only needs to be in his stander for 30 minutes a day now; two times 15 minutes each. She wants us to work with him on using his left side more. He favors his right hand and uses it more. She is pleased with his progress overall.