Merry Christmas & Blessings for the New Year

In 20-ELEVEN

KEVIN turned SEVEN and was a little slice of HEAVEN

Kevin has delighted us with his charm, toothless smiles, and chuckles this year.  We each found a way to have a little playtime this year.  Jon played in a golf league, Karen discovered a passion for yoga, and Kevin loves anything Thomas the Train.  We also took advantage of the extra freedom this year and did some traveling, while Kevin got to spend extra special time with both Grandparents this year.  In May, Jon and Karen went to Las Vegas.  In July, we all met the Golembiewski's for a family vacation at Salt Fork State Park.  We cheered the Steelers on in their first home game this season.  In October, Jon and Karen spent a weekend in Hocking Hills to celebrate meeting each other 20 years ago as freshman, Homecoming Weekend at Ohio University.  And I guess you could count our six trips to Philly/NJ this year as well.

We hope this year has been good to you too!

All I want is my two front teeth

All Aboard the Polar Express Train

Left Foot Cast #3

Another trip to Philly.  We arrived in time for dinner and ate at one of our favorite restaurants in the area.  The watiress remembered us from when we used to stay in that area for our visits at IAHP, she even asked us where the grandparents were.  After breakfast the next morning, we removed Kevin's cast in the hotel room and went swimming in the hotel pool.  And then Kevin had a nice long soak in an epsom salt bath before we saw Dr. Joe for the third and final cast. We've got one more trip for Dr. Joe to check it out sometime before Christmas.

The art work here features a "hand-turkey" GOBBLE GOBBLE!  We removed the third and final cast on Thanksgiving Day.

Left Foot Cast #2

We returned to Philadelphia a week later to have Dr. Joe put the second cast on Kevin's foot.  He wanted to see us at about 3 pm so we decided to do it in one day.  We drove to Philly, walked around the mall for about an hour to stretch our legs, met with Dr. Joe for about 20 minutes, and then got back in the car to drive home.  We knew the carseat was the best place for Kevin to be while the cast was drying.

Oh yeah, and in case you were wondering...Kevin has no limits with the cast on.  He can even bring the big green ball up the basement steps with a cast on his foot!

Kevin's babysitter decorated this one up for him.  I especially like the matching Nike symbol on the side.

Left Foot Cast #1

When Kevin received his first cast, we immediately put him in the car and started on our seven hour drive home.  We were supposed to keep him off of the casted foot for 24 hours.  After we arrived home, Jon carried him inside the house and put him on the floor with some of his favorite toys and books while we unpacked the car.  At one point I was doing something in another room and I heard a strange sound...it was Kevin walking around on his cast.  I thought it was going to be a big deal for him to get up and move around in the cast, but that was not the case.  He acted like it was no big deal!

Valley Forge & Philadelphia

Kevin's New Program (Fall 2011/Winter 2012)

Nutrition Program
I kept up weekly contact with the Nutritionist during the last six months.   She said I win the prize on the most emails.  I even began signing off as “Your faithful BM logger”.  As I said we did make some progress because back in the spring and early summer I could give Kevin an enema or suppository and nothing would happen.  Now I can give him a suppository and a little time alone and it works.  We have even gotten to the point where he sometimes will have a BM without a suppository.  We also made some changes to his supplement program. Now that we succeeded in getting him to have daily BM’s we want to try to eliminate the use of the suppositories.  We are going to try a new diet called GAPS.  The Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet was created by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride and has its foundation on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD).  The diet provides a protocol for healing digestive disorders.

 Physiological Program

·         Passive Deep Breathing Program/Reflex Bags – The purpose of this program is to increase blood flow to the brain thereby enriching the brain with nutrients and oxygen.
·         The Oxygen Enhancement Program/Carbogen Therapy (95% Oxygen and 5% Carbon Dioxide) – The purpose of this program is to increase blood flow to the brain thereby enriching the brain with nutrients and oxygen.
·         The Mild Hyperbaric Therapy Program – To increase partial pressure which increases oxygen uptake in the brain and body, improving overall brain and body function.
o   Kevin continues to look forward to his time in the “spaceship” every day after lunch for a couple hours.  He passes the time with his books and a good nap.  Once a week Grandma goes in with him and brings new books for him.

 Sensory Program

·         Sensation Level 3 – create the ability to feel pleasurable and un-pleasurable sensations in the appropriate length of time consistently on Kevin’s left hand & arm.
·         Oral Stimulation – presenting different textures in mouth
·         Olfactory & Gustatory Integration Program – presenting smells & tastes
·         Auditory Training with EASE CD’s – to be comfortable in noisy situations, to not be upset by sounds and to not be easily distracted; to hear sounds at the appropriate volume; to hear all sounds well in daily life and speech.
o   This continues to be another one of Kevin’s favorite programs.  He loves snuggling with Mom (or Grandma) on the couch and putting on his headphones while Mom reads a book.  He is very quick to let me know if it accidentally turned off and to turn it back on.  I know that this is helping because last year when family called to sing “Happy Birthday” to Kevin he cried and got very upset.  This year he did not cry or get upset…he still wasn’t real sure about the whole thing but he did listen.  By the way this happened four different times in one day. 

 Intellectual Program

Kevin continues to enjoy being at the learning table.  His favorite activities are building block towers and playing with trains.  In fact, trains have become very popular in our house.  We play with Thomas the Train, read train books, and even play train while doing laps.  He recently had a birthday and it was all about trains…did I mention that this was Kevin’s “best birthday ever”???!!! (don’t forget to check the blog for pictures from this fun day).  He is initiating play with others by rolling a car or tossing a ball.  We have also noticed that he will stay engaged in this activity much longer than before.

 Our goal is to continue to increase Kevin’s understanding of and participation in everyday activities.  Part of the new program will include teaching Kevin sign language.  This has been part of our program in the past but never very well implemented.  I think we are both ready to try again!

 Physical Program

·         Crawling:  We are currently doing 200 meters and our goal is to increase to 400 meters a day
·         Creeping – We are currently doing 400 meters and our goal is to increase to 800 meters a day or 1,000 meters is ideal
·         Walking – only as a way of life for transportation and not as part of a program
o   It is a little disappointing to take a step back like this after we have worked so hard but of course we would rather improve Kevin’s walking quality and we don’t want him walking on it the incorrect way like he has been.  One of the positives is that now I don’t have to worry about taking the time to get us dressed to go outside and drive to an indoor place to walk this winter.
·         Reflex Integration Program – to support the organization of the Medulla Oblongata and to pattern and integrate pathological and dysfunctional reflexes into higher level brain stages

 Helpers

I have added helpers back into our day.  Over the summer, I asked a couple of the neighborhood kids to come over and “play” with Kevin as we did our daily laps.  This worked out really well.  After the school year began, we joined a local Catholic Homeschooler Group and asked for kids to help us out.  I currently have someone coming over to help every day.  This is a big motivator for Kevin to look forward to playing with someone different every day of the week.