More July activities!

Cousin Jason came into town to visit!   We got to spend the day with him.  Above Jason is imitating Grayson sticking out his tongue.  Below is a cute shot of the two of them.  I love how Grayson's hand is over Jason's.

While we were sitting on the couch, Jason asked what that door was used for.   We said it was a doggie door that Layla was too scared to use.  I didn't believe he could fit through it.  He had to prove me wrong.   An action shot of Jason going through the door.

I am back to trying more sensory activities with Grayson.  I had read about boiling and dying spaghetti. I thought it looked interesting.

I don't know if you can see Grayson's face, but he was not very into this activity.  He picked up one red strand and......

went to hide behind the window shade.     He stayed there until the pasta was out of sight.

He doesn't like to get his hands dirty, so his OT told me to try paint in a bag.   That way he could run his hands over it, but not get anything on them.

"Oy vey, Mom!  Stop making me do these dumb things!"   (This is what he would say if he could talk.)

But after a bunch of pushing, I actually got him to run his pointer finger over the paint a few times. Hopefully we will be able to work up to more interaction with the paint in a bag.

We are trying to do more things that involve pretend play.  Here he is pushing his shopping cart.  Before, he insisted on it being turned on its side.  Now he sees it, pushes it, and "parks it" i.e. slams it into one of the dining room chairs.

G has had a bit of a runny nose which turned into a cough.  I took him to the doctor today because it started to sound really yucky.  Sure enough, when she listened to his chest, she said she couldn't hear anything due to the amount of gunk in there.   Enter Grayson's first nebulizer treatment.  I also earned my alligator wrestling degree while we were there.  Holy cow, that kid has some superhuman strength when he doesn't want to be doing something.  Long story short, he has bronchitis.  No school, errands, or play dates for us this week.   Overall, he has been in good spirits, just with a nasty cough.  We were cooped up inside all day, so I decided to bring out an old favorite, bubbles.   This little face just gets so overjoyed when we play with bubbles.   He has gotten really good at using his pointer to pop them and point to things. For right now, he points but he has to actually touch the item.  He hasn't yet picked up on the concept of pointing to something out of reach.  We will get there.  He kept poking me in the face when he wanted more bubbles.  Like I said, he may not talk yet, but he certainly gets his point across.

July

So something is funky with the layout of the blog and I was getting frustrated with trying to fix it. So this time, all of my text will be at the top and pictures will be at the bottom. Please forgive me! Grayson and I made our first trip down south alone. Just the two of us. Daddy got to stay home and relax for the first time in a long time. Grayson was a great passenger, for the most part, and was a perfect guest. We got to stay in an ocean front condo which he absolutely loved! Aside from a minor three hour stomach bug puke-fest one night, the visit was a success! It was great to see everyone. Grammie, Gramps, Aunt Jennie, Uncle Bill, James, Uncle Andy, Chelsea, Jason, and Kira. There is a picture of Grayson watching his new girlfriend Dora. He loves her. Grayson finally found the "Grayson bear" that Grammie bought for him before he was born. He walks around holding it. He kisses it and pets it. Super cute. I found these great PJs at the consignment shop. Our little super-hero. I couldnt resist. $4.50. Can't beat it! Being that G is a little "vertically challenged" he hasnt been able to get on any of our furniture. He has finally figured out that he can climb onto his little brown chair. Got a great picture of him with Teddy, just chilling. This week was a great week at school. He had his first real deal interaction with another kid. I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, but our special little boy has really had no extended interest in other kids his age. Gotta love the webcam at the school so we can see! He sought out this little boy, who I found out later is named Noah, and was basically petting him. They did this for a few minutes back and forth and then found each other later. They were sitting on the floor facing each other and one would do a movement and the other person would reciprocate. When I picked him up, I asked the teacher about it and she said it was awesome. She wished that the webcam had volume because she said that they were babbling back and forth to each other. Most of the kids in the class have an enormous vocabulary, but Noah, just like Grayson, doesnt really talk even though he does have a few words. We thought it was interesting that this was the child he decided to interact with. We also FINALLY had our appointment with the people at Developmental Pediatrics. We had some sessions with clinicians who played with Grayson. He did great with them and definitely showed them a great representation of how he is on a normal day. Pointing has been a skill we have been working on forever, and he hasnt picked it up. Well that is a lie. Miss Elise showed him how to point to request potato chips, of course it was food, maybe 3 times before he just sporadically did it on his own. She got so excited and he saw this, so he did it again and again, just to get the reaction out of her. As soon as she would show excitement, he would smile and shrug his shoulders. It was adorable! I am convinced that he knows how to do so much more than he is letting on. Later in the afternoon we met with the doctor. He asked us a billion questions and then had G do some tasks. We have our parent meeting on August 14th to discuss their findings and a diagnosis if they have come up with one.