Texture Uncertainties

Today was OT day (Occupational Therapy). In case you're wondering what the difference is between an Ot and a PT I'll explain. A Physical therapist works with gross motor skills: sitting, crawling, walking. The OT works with the more subtle area of the fine motor skills: grasping properly, eating, being able to put small things together and stacking blocks. I have learned much more about development through Ronan's OT. You always wait for the big milestones of crawling and walking but many parents don't sit and wait for their child to pull things out of containers right or clasp a tiny object perfectly. I truly observed the joy in the small milestones for the first time when Ronan was around four or five months old. His OT had been mentioning the importance of him grabbing his feet. The day he did he reached down and pulled his toes to his mouth his OT was just as thrilled as if he'd gotten up and walked out of the room.

On today's visit she greeted us with her usual smile and then excitedly said "I saw Ronan on the news!" I was happy because I thought the segment had shown him for just enough seconds that I knew it was him because I knew to look for him but apparently it had been longer than I remembered. My mom told me later she had had people coming up to her saying they had seen Ronan on the news as well. She sat down and Ronan grabbed her hands and pulled himself to stand. She looked down and smiled "Ronan you're getting so big and you're a star now! You looked so cute on tv." By this point I was pretty proud that people had recognized my son on tv.

Today his OT brought out different textures for him to play with. Ronan however is a cautious guy when it comes to new things. If he's in a new place he clings to me, if there is a new toy he'll slowly move his hand forward then quickly pull it back as though he's afraid it will bite him then finally he'll warm up and go ahead and play with it. He excitedly grasped and pulled the string of beads she brought because that was something she's always brought for him. Next she got some tissue paper out and he starred at and scooted back a little. Finally he squished it a little in his hands then he signed "all done" and wanted nothing more to do with it. He was a little more open to the pom pom she brought but he refused to remove it from the bowl. He would only play with it if she got it out for him.

Next activity was eating which is always his favorite. She showed me a new technique to make him do more of the work with eating but he wanted nothing to do with it. By the end of the visit he was fed and happy. As his OT went out the door she waved goodbye and said what she always says "You just amaze me, your house is always so nice and how you can manage all those kids." As she left and I shut the door and I smiled a little. If only she'd known I had three baskets full of laundry that I had stuffed into the laundry room closet right before she came or that I had laid a blanket nicely over the stack of paper work piled on top of filing cabinet that I have yet to go through. I guess one of the good things about all the home visits is I have to keep up the house and when I just can't I must be a good pretender.

By the time the visit was over it was time for lunch for everyone else and the naps. During naps I folded the above three baskets of laundry and worked on school. I really don't know where the rest of the day went because it's passed like a whirl wind even though I've been home for all of it. Something else that technically happened last night but after I wrote the blog was Isaac came back from an auction and had one last birthday present for Jadzia. He got her a big toy horse. She's wanted one for awhile. The first picture is her reaction to seeing the horse for the first time. The picture looks sort of funny because she was moving fast.