November Update

Therapy Updates:

Speech

Cayden is making some great progress in speech.  He can say “daddy”, “mama”, “mommy”, “hot”, “puppy”, “yum yum yum”, “hi”, “bye”, “bye bye”. He uses these pretty regularly, some more than others though. He mainly uses “hi” and “bye”. Many times he gets words mixed up and I end up being called “bobby” instead of “mommy”. He does a LOT better when it just slips out and he isn’t thinking about it.  “Hot” is typically “hhhhhhhhhh”. He frequently has to be reminded to use his words and repeats them when we say them more than using them by himself.

Cayden can identify multiple animals by their signs only, not using words. He continues to modify his signs. He can stick out his tongue on command, and move it side to side on command. He can now blow, not strongly, but he is making progress. He blows bubbles through a straw and in the bathtub. He tries really hard to imitate people more and we discovered that he can now wiggle most his fingers!!!

He knows about 30+ signs and is working hard to communicate with us. He is even using more of the signs unprompted. Here are the signs Cayden can use: more, please, thank you, up, down, shoes, wash, brush teeth, freeze, listen, bear, cheese, bread, banana, love you, little, big, gym, try, ball, roll, drive, swim, want, cat, help, blue, red, on, off, drink, eat, milk, open, book, sorry, play, all done/finished, hurt, sleepy, jump, bread, music, cracker, go, stop, wheels, where, wait, yes….he recognizes many of the animal signs, but doesn’t necessarily use them. He can imitate most of them though. There are only a few listed above that he doesn’t use on a regular basis, if prompted; many without being prompted now.

It’s super excited to see him progress. I know I cried when he purposely said “mama” for the first time!

Occupational Therapy

Oh boy, Cayden is working hard in OT. They continue to work on fine motor skills and are working on sensory integration, balance, coordination, etc. His OT is planning on creating a sensory diet to help Cayden as he transitions into school. Cayden is pretending more and trying new textures. It’s amazing.

Developmental Therapy

Miss Paula left to be an occupational therapist in the program, so Cayden now has Miss Danielle. She is so sweet and loving. She works with Cayden on a little of everything, including his gross motor and cognitive skills. Cayden now recognizes all his colors and is even recognizing some of the lower case letters of the alphabet.

Health Updates:

Cayden has seen his pediatrician, audiologist, and dentist since late summer.

Pediatrician – Cayden’s weight had stalled again, so we needed to work on getting more calories into him. He was supposed to get another weight check in a month, but that had to be cancelled. Lucky Cayden, he got Hand Foot Mouth Disease AGAIN and got to visit shortly after that. This time he actually broke out in the blisters on his hands and feet. Emily got it right about the same time, so we aren’t sure if they were exposed together or one gave it to the other. Apparently, they can get this up to five times. Ugh.

Audiology – Cayden had to follow up with audiology earlier than planned because he had little speech progression from the start of speech (six months prior). He was so NOT cooperative.  Dr. Cleary was great…Cayden just wasn’t having it. Nothing could distract him to get him to cooperate and listen. However, based on what we did get, he has enough hearing for speech. We go back in December to do his annual hearing test where he can do a play based test instead of the scary sound booth. Maybe that will go better.

Dentist – Daddy got to take Cayden to the dentist this time on Halloween! Of course, Cayden was fine until he had to get his exam. Dr. Carter told Nate that Cayden’s teeth and gums are healthy. He doesn’t have all of his teeth yet and his teeth are very yellow from prematurity related issues, but that’s nothing to worry about. Dr. C expressed that Cayden would probably need oral surgery and some serious work on his teeth when he gets MUCH older from what he can see at this point. He told Nate not to worry about it now, he was just letting him know what he saw. I say, good to know so we can start the savings for that fun.  Cayden got a new tooth brush and tooth paste.

GI – Cayden was supposed to go see Dr. K in October, but conveniently contracted HFM Disease again. We’ll see him in December to discuss the long term plan for Cayden’s reflux and possible endoscopy, as well as, his weight.

Nutrition – Cayden has been gaining bit by bit according to the records for his nutritionist. When he got on the scale at our house the other day, he was right at 22 pounds. It seems that each time he gains, he grows taller. I’m curious to see what his weight looks like at his next doctor appointment.

Tami

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