The last couple of days have been filled with physical therapy for Sophie, speech therapy for Trent yesterday and Early Intervention therapy for Sophie today. We’ll be rounding out the week with Early Intervention for Trent tomorrow. This is a new schedule- breaking it all up to improve effectiveness and we’ll just have to see how it goes. The previous schedule of over two hours of Early Intervention on one day for both was just too much and they both melted down (as did Aaron and I) at the end of the session. We are fortunate though to have found a new Early Intervention therapist who solicited my feedback on why it didn’t work with the previous therapist (I believe a lack of session plan) and has made a point to come with an objective for every visit. Today Sophie focused on pushing a large toy, scribbling (fine motor skills) and imagination play (cognitive skills). I’m not sure what the plan will be for Trent tomorrow but I’m sure it will be similar.
Our therapist Lisa was so thrilled to see him on Wednesday night. I was concerned he’d be freaked out by the new clinic and while he was a bit shy – holding tight to me when we first got there; he quickly warmed up when he saw Lisa. The surrounding is different but a lot of the toys and gym activities are similar so he seemed to get comfortable very quickly. They played a game in front of a mirror where they point at each other and she say’s their names and yesterday for the first time she got him to play along with her. She was so proud of him (as are we)
Thanks to our friends and a couple calls to their Latin relatives in other countries, we’re on the path to finding a treatment for Sophie’s eczema. We were given a great cleanser for bathing and that seems to be helping. We’re also doing cream from our local health food store. I think it definitely helps make her feel better. She’s even taken to help me apply it to her “itchy” spots when I’m getting her dressed and miss a spot. Tia also has come to rescue with dried chamomile herbs and oil. I put the herbs in their bath tonight and I’m hoping it helps promote healing for her many inflamed patches on her arms and legs. It just breaks my heart when she comes up to Aaron and I and say’s “itchy, itchy, itchy.” She so uncomfortable.
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The quest for the making our little girl more comfortable. After some input from our friend Carol, we’re in search of root-based treatment for Sophie’s eczema. We’ve asked our friends with experience in Latin cultural and so far have just come up with boiled Chamomile. I also tried our local heath food store and “Darling” as Aaron and I call the owner (she’s Russian and calls everybody darling. She looks 40 but we’re pretty sure she’s near 70) recommended a special crème for Sophie. We’re now trying both the Chamomile and the crème. Our plan this weekend is to go to the San Jose flea market and see if we can find some sort of homeopathic treatment for her. She is so uncomfortable. All day long we just hear “mama, papa itchy, itchy, itchy” and she scratches herself until she bleeds. Poor little thing. Her knee and arms are raw.
Our little man is work so hard at his speech. Today he was reciting colors for me with his blocks. He wants to catch up with his sister so badly. He is all boy. The first thing he wants in the morning is his baseball glove and any ball he can find (he also wants his binkie but he is two so..) He is such a funny little man.
Today Sophie has PT. I’ve been calling around for days to find her another therapist and today the problem solved itself. It turns out her current therapist has resigned and her last day is next week. Apparently she’s moving to Napa where it’s cheaper and reminded me today that she and Sophie never really connected anyway so it’s probably ok. Funny how today Sophie had an amazing session (or so I hear since I was once again “excused”). I am now wondering Sophie has got Shauna’s number and probably understood that Shauna is not long for this gig and decided she might as well participate since it’s not a forever thing. Next week we’ll start the transition back to Carol who owns the clinic and saw the babies originally two years ago (and does well with Sophie).
Sleeping continues to be an issue for our little lady but I’m hoping tonight is a sleep thru since we’ve had two nights of restlessness and middle of the night wake ups (and parent dog bed involvement).
What a great weekend we’ve had! Yesterday was filled with the farmers market, a long bike ride, the playground, frozen yogurt and a little dancing and lots of play. Thankfully Sophie was so worn out that she slept until 4:30am. What a blessing. Her eczema is really bad though and we’re at a loss of how to treat. One of my girlfriends suggested we try a homeopathic remedy and I’m just about there. I’m hoping our local health food store is open tomorrow so I can ask the owner for recommendations. On Saturday I bough coband (that very sticky tape they put on your arm after you give blood) hoping that keep her from scratching but she managed to get it off in about 10 minutes. Everyday she scratches herself until she bleeds. We have got to find something to help her.
Today we went to breakfast and I’m afraid our local breakfast joint (The Cardinal) would prefer that we not return. Sophie had a complete and total meltdown in the middle of breakfast and no amount of balloon or other entertainment would sooth her. She and I ended up walking around the building until Aaron and Trent finished eating. However, seeing how much energy they both had we decided we needed a trip to Happy Hallow to burn it off. The rides and the petty soon were just the energy burner we needed. Trent was odd though and the petting zoo and decided he was afraid of the goats and refused to leave Aaron’s arms. I’ll give you the goat are REALLY aggressive (too much feeding from humans I think) but Trent was petrified. Sophie on the other hand didn’t have a care in the world and was more than happy to play among the goats. They are such different children.
It was so fun to watch them on the fire truck/police car ride. Its this ride in which all the little cars are hooked together and the children can ride in a little fire engine with a bell they can pull or a police car. Sophie was in the police car and Trent was in fire engine. One of the other dads kept yelling “Everyone ring your bell” to all the kids in the fire engine but they all just looked at him and played with the little steering wheels in their engines. It wasn’t until we went to get him out that Trent finally rang his bell.
Happy Hallow is such an amazing place. They love it and it’s a great place to allow them to play. They never get tired of it. Our membership was such a wise investment.
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The babies had a busy but good day and tonight we kicked off the spring/summer season with our neighbors outside with pizza and wine. It was so nice just to watch all the children play. With our babies, there are 10 children (our are the youngest) and they all love to play together. We are so lucky to have such great neighbors.
Unfortunately Sophie’s two nights of total sleep ended last night. She was wide awake (requiring a evening walk around the block and a long stop to play with our neighbors) I ended up spending most of the night on the dog bed next to her crib. I’ve just got my fingers crossed that they’re both so tired tonight from playing with everyone (and staying up way past their bed time) that they sleep all night.
Yesterday we also had a two-hour session with our new early intervention therapist. Aaron had an appointment so we split it. I took the first hour and he took the second (so I could go back to work). They’re still getting into a routine with Gayle but I really like her. She asks a lot of questions about their routine and allows them to take the lead but still has plan she’s working towards. We’re still in the learning phase but I really appreciate how she responds to the cues and accommodates.
Last night Sophie girl slept through the entire night. What a fabulous evening for the entire Keene household. We’re so hoping somehow we’ve crossed through whatever is making her wake up at 3:30am.
They are so busy. Tonight we were watching them both run through the house and were so impressed with their speed and her balance. She’s so much for stable and determined to keep up with her big brother. Trent on the other hand is determined to catch up with Sophie’s speech success and to top her by being able to speak in Spanish (which he did for me this morning).
Tomorrow we have our second visit with our new early intervention therapist. She’s schedule to come for 2 hours but I called her today to let her know Aaron and I were concerned about that length of a visit. 2 hours is such a long time for them to be focused and much of visit will be focused on fine motor skills. We’ve agreed though to let the babies be in charge (in terms of queue at least) to determine how long the session should go to ensure we are still making progress.
Today Sophie girl had therapy. I feel like we’re finally to the decision point. She seemed fine all morning but then had a major meltdown right before we were suppose to leave. It’s hard to tell what caused the meltdown. Trent woke her from her nap and that seemed to upset her but it seemed like more. She cried about halfway to therapy and it was only when I put on some disco that she settled down in the car. Therapy though was a mixed bag. I started out in the PT room with her and then was “excused” to the lobby. It was hard though because I could still hear Sophie crying and the therapist telling her what to do and Sophie screaming “No, No, No.” They ended about 10 minutes early and the therapist told me it was improved from pervious sessions in which Tia or I participated. Today though was sort of my tipping point and I decided that we need to look for another therapist. This just isn’t coming together and I’m not sure it’s ever going to. I left a message today for our Early Start social worker to see if there are other clinic nearby we can look at.
Sleeping continues to be a challenge for Sophie girl but I have vowed that I won’t cave and get her out of her crib. Last night she woke up at 3:30 am screaming and I just curled up on the dog bed and got her to go back to sleep. Tonight though I will bring a blanket.
Our big boy had a cranky day. Everybody has them its just hard when you’re two and can’t say what it is. Did you just not sleep well? Do you hate what you’re wearing? Or do you just want to be in a bad mood? / Whatever it is – he was ONE cranky dude today and it make it just hard day overall at the Keene household.
What a nice weekend we had! On Saturday we went to the farmers maker and just ran errand. Sophie and Trent were so thrilled by the folk group at the farmers market and both were dancing in the wagon as they listened to the must. The folks musicians were so nice though, there started to play a children’s song as soon as they saw the babies wagon dance.
We also got some new shoes. Taking off the shoes continues to be a HUGE issue so we’ve now moved to “crocs” clocks. Trent’s are blue and Sophie’s are purple. It feels a bit trendy but least they’ll stay on.
Today we went to see Sesame Street live in downtown San Jose. I think today was the best day of Sophie’s life. It’s funny how different they both reacted. Typically Aaron and I kind of both take charge of one baby (went were our at a restaurant or someplace public) Today he took Trent and I had Sophie. He so had the easier day ( and he and the other dads were so happy that you could buy beer) . I thought it was important we dress them up since when one goes to the theater typically they dress up – so we had them in their special Easter outfits. Now I feel kind of silly though since most kids were ultra casual. Trent seemed a bit scared at first though as soon as the lights went down. He was wide eyed but held tight through the entire performance to Aaron. Sophie on the other hand wanted to get on stage. She screamed, she danced (for almost 2/1/2 hours) and sang. She kept me very busy! Aaron and I feel like we’ve hit a whole new place in our lives. It was funny today. The babies watch their Elmo DVDs all the time the character “Mr. Noodle” in their DVDs is this very skinny Caucasian guy. Today in the live edition though, Mr. Noodle was a buff African American man with an Afro. The babies were clearly perplexed. What an amazing experience though. They had such a great time. We’ve never seen them so tired though.
Clearly this was one of those days that we just dreamed about when they were just our little pounds of butter two years ago. [[Image:the_kids/WOF520.JPG]] [[Image:the_kids/S520.JPG]]