Cute daycare report…

Melissa

Monkey went to daycare yesterday so Duhdee and I could do a classroom visit and this is the little blurb his daycare teachers wrote:

Monkey explored with the alphabet magnets, sticking them to different surfaces like the wall, the fridge and even his own belly to see where they’d stay. He’s really communicating with the teachers – signing “please,” “help,” “cracker” and waving to the children. He’s been so helpful by rocking the babies, helping to feed them and making them smile. What a great day!

I know we’ve been short on updates…

Melissa

but Monkey has been sick and we’ve been really, really busy and really, really tired.  Monkey was diagnosed with croup last Thursday.  He had a prescription for 4 days for that which worked great but he then came down with a killer stomach bug AND a cold.  He had nastiness coming out everywhere.  He’s finally feeling pretty close to normal.  He still has a cold but otherwise he’s doing much better.  Last night he slept through the night without coughing himself awake for the first time in ages.  Poor kid.

We’re pretty much all done with the school evaluations.  It’s been 3 weeks of overscheduling so we’re grateful for that.  Duhdee and I are going to visit two Cambridge Public School classrooms next week and we’re also having our first meeting to plan Monkey’s IEP.  Oh and let’s toss in 2 meetings with our advocate on top of that.  So we’re still overscheduled but at least now it’s just US and not our poor boy (who was getting all bent out of shape with all the strangers trying to play with him.)  It’s all going to be worth it though if we can manage to get all the services Monkey needs to succeed at school.

This weekend we’re going away with some friends and their little boy.  That will be really nice.

Amazing what a pillow can do…

Melissa

A few weeks ago we tried to give Monkey a pillow in his crib.  He’d never had one before and he didn’t seem to want one.  He would try to throw it out of the crib or sleep on the opposite end of the crib from it. 

Then we went to stay with Grammy and Auntie.  Monkey was using the pillows there, he even tried to steal MINE.  A couple nights ago I decided to try again with the pillow in the crib and wouldn’t you know it, he LOVES it.  Instead of scooting and rolling all over the crib all night he stays put sleeping with his head on that pillow.  It’s amazing.  It gives me hope that he’ll be able to sleep in a big boy bed soon.

I wonder how long before he’ll sleep with sheets and a blanket other than his favorite blanky?

Pardon me while I vent my frustration.

Melissa

We’re getting jerked around by Cambridge Public Schools. They’ve only set up 2 of the 6 evaluations we need to have done by mid-March, NONE are completed. They’re not returning my calls. I’m unimpressed with their process. I’m unimpressed by the fact that we’ve had to hire an advocate (which is NOT cheap) because it was pretty clear they were not going to play nice.

Everyone says we need to try to get along but they’re not trying to get along with us. They told us how they’re going to proceed and it doesn’t seem to matter that their process is illegal and it doesn’t seem to matter what we think. Bah. They suck.

BOOM!

Melissa

So said Monkey boy tonight as we were reading a story. I read the line “with a mighty BOOM and a billow of smoke…” and he jumped right in with a “BOOM!” of his own. He and I played a silly game of saying BOOM! to each other and giggling. He’s too much fun!

Oh, and he and I played in his little play tent/hut thing tonight. He’s never been a big fan of it but he started playing in a tunnel with one of his therapists recently so I brought it out to see if he’d enjoy it. We had a really good time peeking at each other through the windows. At one point he went walking toward it signing “house.” I certainly hadn’t called it that but he was right.

Time flies when you’re trying to get some sleep!

Melissa

We’ve decided to tackle Monkey’s sleep issues. For the last few months we’ve been really struggling here. He will go to bed and then sit in his crib (sometimes crying, sometimes not) for HOURS each night. He just cannot fall asleep. Some nights he’ll be in there wide awake for 3 or 4 hours. It’s so sad. We kept doing what we’d always done, hoping it was a phase but it wasn’t. Read more →