Tag: Kids

Shoo Flu, Don’t Bother Me!

On By justmymomsenseIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

It’s March and we’re about to encounter our third Nor’Easter in 10 days. After an overall mild winter, I don’t think we were expecting this. Another thing we weren’t expecting this late in the game was two cases of the flu!

This weekend my husband and I both got hit with it. We’ve never both been sick at the same time. I’m not sure how we’ve been able to avoid it but normally we cycle and take turns. After ‘J’ started with a cold early last week, my husband started with a similar cough and by Friday was feeling worse. I on the other hand was feeling great! Until 3PM on Friday when I felt like I was hit by a bus. After alternating trips to the Doctor we were both prescribed Tamiflu. Twice a day for 5 days and began the nap trade game.

It’s no fun being sick. BUT, it’s a lot easier being sick when your spouse is not. You know you can get some good rest and someone has the kids and house under control. When you’re both out for the count, it’s really not fun.

We did ok, trading sleeping, making sure we were eating soup, staying on top of Advil and Tylenol for fevers, washing hands and spraying Lysol. The kids were getting more screen time than usual, less mommy and daddy time then they’d like and quiet activities in between.

When I was pregnant with my second child, I felt horrible my first trimester. On top of it, I had incredible Mom guilt. I hated the days I wasn’t as with it, felt sick or so tired I couldn’t even keep my eyes open. My husband would always reassure me that ‘J’ was ok and I was still doing more than I gave myself credit for.

This mom guilt tends to creep up anytime I’m not feeling well. Of course I know I need to rest and do what I need to do in order to feel better and back to normal as soon as possible, but I feel so bad not being around as much in the meantime. Plus I had to reschedule OT and Speech for ‘J’ for today and I believe he’ll have yet another snow day tomorrow. There have been a lot of curveballs to his routine in the last couple of weeks. Hopefully things can return back to normal sooner rather than later.

We’re working on getting better and trying our best to keep them out of the line of fire. In the meantime, I hope Spring gets here ASAP!

Stand-up Comedian in the Making

On By justmymomsenseIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Having a child with an expressive speech delay taught me to appreciate vocal milestones so much more!

A little over a year ago, ‘J’ had no words. Now he’s turning into a stand up comedian!

If your kids are fans of PBS like mine are, than you’ve probably seen Sid the Science Kid. A segment of that show is called “Good Laughternoon,” which seems to have been inspired by Laugh-In’s Joke Wall. Sid and his friends tell jokes on the playground through shape windows on the jungle gym. ‘J’ has put his own spin on this by using the window of his playhouse to do the same.

It’s so fun to watch him come up with jokes and crack up while doing so. I’m loving the creativity.

It still amazes me to see how far he’s come and all that he has accomplished.

The Letter of the Day is C!

On By justmymomsenseIn Uncategorized1 Comment

Chicago. Croup. Cancellations.Cisforcookie

Back in the Fall, we went through a two month sick cycle in the house. Mot households have been through this. Everyone taking turns passing around different illnesses. This also resulted in cancelling various weekend plans. One of those activities was taking a trip to Chicago to see friends we haven’t seen in a long time.

Last week I saw a great deal on flights to Chicago for this weekend and we decided to book a 48 hour trip. We were supposed to leave Saturday morning and we were coming back Monday afternoon.

J’s baby sister’s name also starts with a J so throughout the blog, we can refer to her as ‘Baby J.’ 

Baby J wasn’t sleeping great all week. By Wednesday she started coughing and had a runny nose. I chalked it up to a cold but was watching to make sure it wasn’t getting worse. It wasn’t and on Friday we were packing for our weekend excursion. After they both woke up from naps, I realized Baby J was not acting like herself. She was crying randomly, laying on the floor out of no where, etc. That gut feeling said to take her to the doctor to make sure this was just a cold before getting on a plane in less than 24 hours.

Good thing I did!

It turns out that cough that had kept her up some nights and bothered her during the day was croup. And it’s contagious. I had a feeling it was since that same day J started with congestion.

Needless to say we cancelled our trip to Chicago and have been hunkered down with sick kiddos all weekend. It’s sad to see them feeling so bad. Baby J has also developed a fever since getting back from the doctor and has not been herself. She’s taking extra naps and I’m hoping she’ll feel better tomorrow. If not, the doctor may get another call from me! Especially with all these stories going around regarding the flu.

I’m trying to keep J calm and rest. Which is so easy for a 3 year old boy, right?! Quiet games, activities and some extra shows/movies have been on the agenda all weekend.

Hopefully Monday will kick off the return of my healthy babies!

 

TGIF! Two Step Party Time!

On By justmymomsenseIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

“Dance…even if you have no where to do it but in your own Living Room.”

This is a lyric from Baz Lurhman’s Wear Sunscreen – a favorite speech/song of mine.

Do your kids like to dance? Both of mine do! And since they come form Dave Matthews Band Fan Parents, it’s often played in the background. Sometimes the DMB Pandora Station is on as we play LEGOs. Other times we’re using the DMB Lullabies to get them to sleep.

One day in an effort to change things up, I asked ‘J’ if he wanted to have a Two Step Dance Party. He got really excited and said YES!

So now this is an almost daily occurrence in the Living Room of our house. He’s so happy in his run/spin/dance moves and it’s a great way to get out some energy! Also a good workout for me and a way for the baby to practice her moves!

Take the advice from ‘Wear Sunscreen’ and dance-even if it’s in your own Living Room!

From Grunts To Words: Our 1st Year With Speech Therapy

On By justmymomsenseIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I wrote this back in September. Although a little outdated, it explains how this journey began.

September 2017

10 months ago our 2 year and 3 month old son grunted instead of talked. His birthday is in June and we knew at that point since he wasn’t talking, he either needed a little more time or we may need to have him evaluated. We decided to go through the summer, give him some time and see what September brought. 

Where It Started

At about 4 months old, he started sleeping with a Mickey stuffed animal and at 14 months he was saying “Mickey.” This was also the time he started walking so we thought he was right on track with developmental milestones. After a few months, we noticed new words were not being introduced. Sometimes he babbled mama and dada but never in context. Every once in awhile we thought we would hear a “hi” but it was a stretch. About a month before his 2nd birthday, we realized we hadn’t heard “Mickey” in awhile. We kept an ear out for awhile and realized he wasn’t saying it, whether prompted or not. This was our first red flag. Not only had no new words been introduced, but now the 1 word he did have was gone. He spoke in grunts, pointed to things he needed and wanted and we understood it all. He turned 2, we gave him the summer and by September nothing had changed. We were afraid of pushing him if he wasn’t ready but more afraid of holding him back from being the best he can be if he needed help. 

We started looking on our county’s website for the details regarding Early Intervention Services and getting him evaluated. We kept going back and forth as to whether or not we should move forward. Were we too worried? Maybe he just needs more time. Maybe we need to be doing more. Ultimately, we decided to move forward in the process, which we heard could take some time.

He was evaluated on his gross motor skills and his speech. The evaluator for his motor skills knew quickly he was right where he needed to be in that area. The evaluator for speech could tell he understood everything she said, but wouldn’t use words to communicate back. She had a toy that popped. She played with it over and over saying “pop” until he did.  After a few tries, he said it and we were amazed! A few weeks and many signed forms later, we began speech therapy twice a week for 45 minutes each. Luckily, the therapists we were working with also conducted a mommy and me class twice a week and we took the opportunity to attend those as well. All of this was covered by the county and we paid nothing for our son to begin his journey towards speech. 

Once he was approaching his 3rd birthday, about 7 months in, he had to be re-evaluated since the services would fall under the school district once he turned 3. There was a debate as to whether or not we would be able to continue because of how much he knew and understood. Luckily, they could see that he still needed work on sentence structure and pronunciation. We were approved to continue services twice a week for 30 minutes each until his 4th birthday. 

Where We Are

One year later from starting the process, we’re about 10 months into services and have a chatterbox that just started Nursery School. I’m not crying, you are…

Looking back at these 10 months, we think about all the little milestones. Saying “boo” for blue-amazing! Using words in context-wow! Putting 2 and 3 words together and now using sentences, asking questions and singing the Frozen and Moana soundtrack – verbally he’s a completely different child. 

To say I’m grateful for the service coordinators and speech therapists we’ve worked with, would be an understatement. They offered support and care for our son and our family that we could never begin to repay. The work they do, the patience they have and the guidance they offer is above and beyond any expectations I had. I’m happy we will continue to work with our same speech therapist. Our son is so excited when she’s coming over and to us she will always be family. 

My advice to other parents would be to trust your gut. If you feel there may be a physical or speech delay, have them evaluated. The evaluators will let you know if your child needs more time or if they could use some help. It’s worth it for them to have the best opportunity to grow!

Now that we’re in January I can say that he absolutely loves school! His teachers and friends are great and he’s learning so much. His speech continues to improve and I’m so excited by all the progress he’s made!