Whew!

We've had another busy week. Last Monday Noah was assessed for PPCD (a county-funded preschool for children with special needs.) We are not sure if this would be a good environment for Noah at this point in his development. The positive of this program is continued speech therapy. The negatives include too much time away from me, class size and environment, and new teachers and peers to adjust to. We're just not sure he is ready.

On Wednesday I took both boys to the doctor. Ethan had a raging ear infection and Noah had bronchiolitis. Noah began his first set of breathing treatments which gave me quite a work-out! My left arm held his arms down with my hand tucked under his crotch to keep him from moving. My right hand held the mask in place. And my head was carefully positioned next to his to hold his head still. By the end of each treatment he was teary-eyed, red, and sweaty. I know I was! At least he inhaled most of the medication from all the crying and screaming he did.

On Friday the neurodevelopmental specialist made a home visit to re-assess Noah. She was very pleased with his progress and developed a new therapy program for us to use with him. The new program includes homemade books using couplets (i.e. red car), locating sound to improve auditory processing, pleasant and unpleasant smells to stimulate the amygdala (emotional seat of the brain), regular walking each day to strengthen him and oxygenate his brain, contrasting sensations to help him regulate his sense of touch, bonding touch to promote continued attachment, and reflex re-patterning to heal faulty neurological functioning. I'm exhausted just reading about it! But we are excited about a new phase of treatment and the progress that is sure to come.

The picture below doesn't tie in to my blog topic but it's fun!

Mark riding Ethan's birthday present - "The Green Machine." 

He actually had a terrific wipe-out that, unfortunately, was not caught on camera.