A Little Bit of Warmth

Phenomenally blustery day but finally dry and warm-ish enough to do some playing outside. Rudy and Margot enjoyed a good bit of roughhousing.

A joke

What is red and hairy with three legs and eats rocks?

A hairy, red, three-legged rock eater.

--Rudy

Legos rule!

Margot loves Lego. It is not unusual to hear her whispering to herself about what she is making "now a red one here and some wheels for a car" whisper whisper and the next thing you know she's making loud car noises driving an awesome creation through the loose Lego bricks. She loves making "light savers" (aka light sabers) too - see one in the pic below.

Picasso would dig this

Saturday morning projects

Sooooo cold

Another Child That Loves Arrangement

Margot surveys and orders her new underwear and socks. Rudy observed, "She's obsessed!"

Wildflowers Jr.

Rudy may have inherited some of Jane's gifts for arrangement. He thought we needed a centerpiece for the table at lunch today. He put this together.

Rudy in OT since last summer - what progress!

As many of you know, Rudy has been in Occupational Therapy since last summer. I shared with you his struggles with crowds, noises, textures, fabrics, focusing on tasks, fine motor skills, balance, and fear of activities that challenge these things, like riding a bike, climbing a ladder, going on a big kid swing, drawing, cutting with scissors, and putting on clothes (among many other things). From a practical stand point he was evaluated as having Sensory Processing Disorder. You can find a complete description of it here.

He is intensely creative, has a vocabulary and imagination to rival any teenager. He is sensitive, kind, aware of his emotions and able to speak about them. He is curious and full of love. It has brought us such intense joy and pride to see him flourishing with the help of his therapist, and many hours of follow-up at home.

The video above is of Rudy on a swing that he fell off many times the first time he tried it. He didn't have the core strength, balance and awareness of himself in space or in relation to his own body to be able to do it. Here he is swinging! The head phones he has on are part of the auditory therapy he does every day. It is extraordinary, consisting of listening to music that you and I know, like simple children's songs all the way up to complex Baroque chamber music.

However, the music has been altered to take out and add high and low modulations. This change to the music actually acts on the brain to help it regulate all the other senses that the body is having to take in and process. He listens to it for an hour a day and it has been the last piece of the puzzle that has taken the OT to another level. Since starting therapy his fine motor skills have improved dramatically, but not until he started the music did they take an enormous leap. Here are a couple of examples.

This drawing was made in the autumn when Rudy drew for the sensory input it gave his body. He would scribble furiously and hum and growl, gripping the crayon or pen like it was going to fly away.

Rudy drew this (below) about a month ago holding the pen as you or I would, talking me through each part of the drawing, able to stop and look at what he was doing, evaluating where he wanted to draw next and what it would be. Amazing. It makes me cry looking at these drawings together. (the drawing is of a character called the Bakson from the Winnie the Pooh movie. There is an earlier post of a similar drawing on a chalk board).

a few to catch up on but first the glamor shot

It's rare that John and I get in the same photo these days. Here's one I love from Christmas in Brooklyn. I'm making it a plan to get caught up on the blog over the next few weeks. Check back soon.