So Much to be Thankful for!!!!

Can't believe Thanksgiving is already over! We have so much to be thankful for this year!!! So thankful for our healthy children, and so thankful for our whole family! Most of all thankful that we live in a time with amazing medical and therapeutic professionals. Jo Jo has made such huge steps lately, the words are starting to flow, tantrums are getting better, and he is such a happy little boy!!!

Jo Jo has become very vocal, he is mimicking almost everything he hears. He almost sounds like a babbling baby at times, it is so cute! He can tell us if he wants a drink or if he is hungry. He has also become a very picky eater lately. He used to eat just about anything you fed him. Typical toddler!

We still have our busy schedule of almost everyday someone at the house or somewhere to go. But he is getting the best treatment! Everyone who has helped from Early Intervention, our doctors, and therapist have just been amazing!!! I am so bummed that we only have two months left of working with Early Intervention. When Jo Jo turns 3 in February he will transition to Rockland Public School's and Jo Jo will start school.

Jo Jo started occupational therapy on Monday, she gave us a temporary weighted blanket. We are testing it out for one week to see how he does with it. If he responds well to the blanket they have someone who will make us a blanket and our insurance will cover the cost. The first night seemed to go well, he stayed in bed all night, he was still in bed when I got up in the morning. Night two I did pick him up off the floor twice. Night's 3 and 4 he stayed in bed!!! I hope it stay's this way because it breaks my heart finding him on the cold hardwood floor. The occupational therapist think's the reason he may be getting up is the hardwood floor must be giving him some sensory input, because when he does get up he doesn't try to wake us up. We don't even hear him. The blanket is small, it just cover's him. It is very soft and has many little pocket's that have little bean bags in them for the weight. His blanket is 4 lbs. The blanket can also be very easily washed as long as you take out all the little bean bags first.

Every time Jo Jo makes the littlest step it is like the hugest accomplishment!!! He does things that make me laugh, love, cry and smile!!!

Yesterday was probably one of his sweetest moments. My Hubby Joe was half asleep on the couch watching movies and Jo Jo with his cup in hand opened his Dada's hand and placed his cup into his hand and said "me cup please" in his sweet little voice. It sounds more like "we up pease" but we knew what he wanted. That for us is such a huge accomplishment!!! He is much happier boy now that he can communicate with us! It is the littlest thing's that we are thankful for!!!

ABA, Eating, and Weighted Blanket's!

I am very excited for ABA to start tomorrow! Both therapist who have been scheduled to start with Jo Jo this week have both called and introduced themselves and confirmed time and place. They both sounded very nice over the phone, and maybe sounded kinda young too, but that's okay. I just can't wait to work on some thing's with Jo Jo that need improvement.

Jo Jo has been regressing with eating which is kinda freaking me out. He suddenly has issues with using a fork and spoon, he is having complete tantrums if you give him any food that will involve using a fork or spoon. The tantrum's are so hard to watch, he throws himself on the floor and kicks, cry's, and screams. He will sometime's start with just pushing the food away, or pushing my hand away while shaking his head no, and then it turns to crying on the floor. Our Developmental specialist at first thought it could be just be his age, first thought maybe he is just getting picky with food as toddler's do get that way. He typically has no problem with finger food's at the moment. He will still eat but only with his finger's. I have been doing mostly finger foods for the past week, I'm hoping tomorrow ABA can help us figure out why he is doing this.

Yesterday our Developmental Specialist Nicole was over for a visit with Jo Jo, He was in a extremely good mood, and had Nicole laughing the whole time. We also had out Speech Therapist Jenn over at the same time and she even said I have never seen him this happy. This is Great!!! He said a lot of words yesterday, and did a lot of great mimicking!

I'm not sure how many people have heard of this, but I was considering buying Jo Jo a weighted blanket. He has had success with a weighted vest in his play group so I really do think a weighted blanket would really help. I asked Nicole about it because I wanted to make sure it would be right for him before we made such a large purchase. Weighted blankets have been known to help calm you down, they help promote more restful sleep, and helps decrease anxiety. Jo Jo has had some issues lately with bed time. He is tired but fighting to stay awake. He won't stay in bed most night's when I put him to bed. He also sometimes wakes up around 4 am and will wake me up, or he will fall asleep on his bedroom floor. I occasionally will wake up in the morning and he is sound asleep on his bedroom floor. He stopped napping a long time ago when we switched to his toddler bed. I am wondering if the weighted blanket will help him sleep better and then maybe he will have less tantrums and hopefully we will have better success at dinner time too!

Nicole told us that she is going to contact our Service Coordinator and refer us to a Occupational Therapist, and the therapist will then come out to our home and evaluate Jo Jo and decide if a weighted blanket will be right for him. She told me if I can wait through this process which does take a little time to set up we can get a weighted blanket for free!!! Nicole told me that BAMSI (Early Intervention) has a lady who hand makes the blankets and that our insurance will pay for the blanket! It is well worth the wait! Weighted Blanket's start at around $75 and up!!!