Yesterday Greyson was officially discharged for the Early Intervention program. He's been getting therapy from the state since he was just a few months old. We started out with Occupation Therapy for motor skills and then after he mastered sitting, crawling, climbing, standing and walking we moved on to Speech Therapy since he was such a silent little guy. Over the past year and a half Greyson went from barely making any sounds to speaking at 3+ year-old level!
When we had our big meeting in December - just 6 months ago - he was still barely talking and we were considering making the move from every-other week therapy to weekly because he was so far behind. Then just a few weeks later his speech took off and we moved down to just once a month therapy. And now were are finished! The big meeting planned for this week was going to be about getting him into special needs preschool and writing and IEP, but he doesn't need it. In fact our service coordinator said Greyson is only the SECOND child she's worked with that has graduated from EI at this point, usually if you are still getting services at 2+ then your transfer over to preschool at 3, and in December we thought that would be the case for Greyson too, but he had other plans!
Our therapist said she would love to keep Greyson in the program just so she can still come over, but as he is now talking well ABOVE his age level she just can't. I'm going to miss her! She has been a great source of information and just a lovely person to have in our lives. She's given me so much great advice and wonderful ideas over the past 18 months. Greyson loves her and she's just been such a constant in our lives that I'm really sad we won't be seeing her again.
I honestly can't say that ST was really the catalyst for the massive improvements in Greyson's speech, or if he would have come to this point on his own given the time, but whatever the case I'm just so happy that he is speaking well now.
We are officially kicked out of EI!! I really felt this was the last hold out from his "preemie experience" and now we've moved past that too! Way to go Greyson - anyone who meets you now would NEVER guess how you started out.
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning. Show all posts
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Trying to realize that it's just part of childhood and parenthood.
Kids getting hurt.
It happens.
It's a learning experience.
Right?
Today I took Greyson out for a Mommy/Son day since I've started feeling bad that very soon he will lose his only child status. After a trip to the library that ended in a melt-down I tried to save the afternoon by taking him to the park near our house. Ah, the best laid plans.
At the park there is a slide that he loves. It's a BIG twisty slide and the path up to it is covered and easy for him to climb. There is also a ladder that goes from the level the slide is on, down about 5 feet to the next level which is about 3 feet off the ground. We've done this slide countless times before. On this day he had already gone down it about 5 times.
So I'm standing at the bottom of the slide waiting for him to go down and I can see that he's wandering over to where the ladder is. I tell him not to go over there and to just go down the slide. But he doesn't listen. I start yelling at him to move back. Instead he starts to try to climb down the ladder. I'm telling him no and trying to climb up on to the bottom platform to get to him, but it doesn't have a normal ladder, it's some kind of "fun to climb" thing for kids. And me and my big pregnant belly couldn't get up there fast enough. There is a dad there with his kid and he sees what is going on and rushes over. At the same moment that he reaches the platform Greyson loses his grip and falls like a rag doll the full 5 feet on to the metal platform below.
The dad hands Greyson around to corner to me as soon as I was able to get up there. Greyson is screaming, but mainly seemed scared. I just held him and asked him to move his arms and legs, which he did. I was holding his head, just as a way to hold him closer to me. I was looking him over and nothing seemed to be cut or broken and just as I was breathing a sigh of relief I moved me hand - which was now covered in blood. I look and he has about a 1 - 2 inch gash on the left side of his scalp. With him still in my arms I scoot us off the platform and down a little slide. Then we head to the car. At this point he's already stopped crying, but keeps saying "Mommy" over and over. I hated putting him in the car seat, I just wanted to put him in the front so I could keep my hands on him while driving to the doctor's office. But that would have been horribly unsafe, so into the car seat he went. He wasn't happy to get out of my arms, but he didn't fight it. He actually pushed the gash part of his head into the seat and rode the whole way like that.
During the drive he was so calm. No more tears at all. Instead I just kept asking him questions, having him count with me and going over the alphabet. He was such a champ. Once we got to the doctor's office he wanted me to carry him - which I happily did, down a flight of stairs since we couldn't get parking on the main level. Once we were in the doctors office he just wanted to sit on my lap and press the gash into my shoulder. He instinctually kept pressure on the wound.
The nurse came in and cleaned out the wound, which was not fun. This is the same nurse who gave him the MMR shot on Thursday, and she mentioned that it made her sad that Greyson is going to relate her to pain. Awhile later the doctor came in, looked and Greyson's head and told me he's like to just glue it shut since it is in his hair. He said I could pick between stitches, which would make a tighter close, but take longer and would be more traumatic, staples that would be quick, but would require a follow up to have them removed, or the glue that will just fall out later. I opted for the glue, since that was the doctor's initial recommendation.
We had to lay Greyson on his tummy and Dr. H had to practically lay on him to keep him still and put glue in. But after much fighting and Greyson yelling "Get Off" and "All Done!" over and over, we were finally done. Greyson sat in my lap and calmed down. Dr. H said that with that much fight in him, he's clearly okay other than the gash which will heal. He then told me this is just one of those things that happen and something similar happened to his daughter. That's one of the reasons I love our doctor, nothing flusters him, and he recognizes that kids will be kids and get hurt. In fact early on when I was still a freaking out new mom he told me that "you can't keep your kid in a bubble. You both have to live even if that means some sniffles and scraped knees." or in this case gaping head wounds.
I took Greyson home and gave him a slice of cake for being so brave. He went on to play all afternoon like nothing happened at all. He's resilient!
After everything was said and done, I'm just glad he is okay. And hopefully next time we are at the park he'll listen to me. I hate that my kid git hurt, but this is also how kids learn. My mom says that some kids learn the easy way (being told "no you could get hurt" and accepting that) and some learn the hard way. Greyson learned the hard way today. I hope he doesn't make a habit out of it.
But even after this we have still made it to 2.5 years without stitches or a broken bone and I'm claiming that as a victory.
It happens.
It's a learning experience.
Right?
Today I took Greyson out for a Mommy/Son day since I've started feeling bad that very soon he will lose his only child status. After a trip to the library that ended in a melt-down I tried to save the afternoon by taking him to the park near our house. Ah, the best laid plans.
At the park there is a slide that he loves. It's a BIG twisty slide and the path up to it is covered and easy for him to climb. There is also a ladder that goes from the level the slide is on, down about 5 feet to the next level which is about 3 feet off the ground. We've done this slide countless times before. On this day he had already gone down it about 5 times.
So I'm standing at the bottom of the slide waiting for him to go down and I can see that he's wandering over to where the ladder is. I tell him not to go over there and to just go down the slide. But he doesn't listen. I start yelling at him to move back. Instead he starts to try to climb down the ladder. I'm telling him no and trying to climb up on to the bottom platform to get to him, but it doesn't have a normal ladder, it's some kind of "fun to climb" thing for kids. And me and my big pregnant belly couldn't get up there fast enough. There is a dad there with his kid and he sees what is going on and rushes over. At the same moment that he reaches the platform Greyson loses his grip and falls like a rag doll the full 5 feet on to the metal platform below.
The dad hands Greyson around to corner to me as soon as I was able to get up there. Greyson is screaming, but mainly seemed scared. I just held him and asked him to move his arms and legs, which he did. I was holding his head, just as a way to hold him closer to me. I was looking him over and nothing seemed to be cut or broken and just as I was breathing a sigh of relief I moved me hand - which was now covered in blood. I look and he has about a 1 - 2 inch gash on the left side of his scalp. With him still in my arms I scoot us off the platform and down a little slide. Then we head to the car. At this point he's already stopped crying, but keeps saying "Mommy" over and over. I hated putting him in the car seat, I just wanted to put him in the front so I could keep my hands on him while driving to the doctor's office. But that would have been horribly unsafe, so into the car seat he went. He wasn't happy to get out of my arms, but he didn't fight it. He actually pushed the gash part of his head into the seat and rode the whole way like that.
During the drive he was so calm. No more tears at all. Instead I just kept asking him questions, having him count with me and going over the alphabet. He was such a champ. Once we got to the doctor's office he wanted me to carry him - which I happily did, down a flight of stairs since we couldn't get parking on the main level. Once we were in the doctors office he just wanted to sit on my lap and press the gash into my shoulder. He instinctually kept pressure on the wound.
The nurse came in and cleaned out the wound, which was not fun. This is the same nurse who gave him the MMR shot on Thursday, and she mentioned that it made her sad that Greyson is going to relate her to pain. Awhile later the doctor came in, looked and Greyson's head and told me he's like to just glue it shut since it is in his hair. He said I could pick between stitches, which would make a tighter close, but take longer and would be more traumatic, staples that would be quick, but would require a follow up to have them removed, or the glue that will just fall out later. I opted for the glue, since that was the doctor's initial recommendation.
We had to lay Greyson on his tummy and Dr. H had to practically lay on him to keep him still and put glue in. But after much fighting and Greyson yelling "Get Off" and "All Done!" over and over, we were finally done. Greyson sat in my lap and calmed down. Dr. H said that with that much fight in him, he's clearly okay other than the gash which will heal. He then told me this is just one of those things that happen and something similar happened to his daughter. That's one of the reasons I love our doctor, nothing flusters him, and he recognizes that kids will be kids and get hurt. In fact early on when I was still a freaking out new mom he told me that "you can't keep your kid in a bubble. You both have to live even if that means some sniffles and scraped knees." or in this case gaping head wounds.
I took Greyson home and gave him a slice of cake for being so brave. He went on to play all afternoon like nothing happened at all. He's resilient!
After everything was said and done, I'm just glad he is okay. And hopefully next time we are at the park he'll listen to me. I hate that my kid git hurt, but this is also how kids learn. My mom says that some kids learn the easy way (being told "no you could get hurt" and accepting that) and some learn the hard way. Greyson learned the hard way today. I hope he doesn't make a habit out of it.
But even after this we have still made it to 2.5 years without stitches or a broken bone and I'm claiming that as a victory.
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