We got Kayden's evaluation notes from physical therapy two weeks ago and were very pleased. He is right on age wise in the two categories (i don't have the evaluation right in front of me now... but when i get it i'll post what they are). He is considered at a 9 month age for his stationary movement so this was all really good news to us. She is not concerned at all with him still not crawling. He finds his own way to get around, scooting on his butt, going backwards, reaching, lunging, if there is something he wants, he finds a way. He is still much more interested in cruising along the coffee table and walking while you hold his hands than crawling. If he is fussing, all you have to do is stand him up and he will get a huge smile on his face.
When we went to therapy last week we saw the owner instead of our regular therapist because she was on vacation. The owner was concerned with the fact that he gets so angry whenever you touch his head. He is really hard to stretch because he will throw a complete temper tantrum if you touch his head, especially if we are in therapy. She is worried about what emotional damage it may be doing now and she said she barely can even tell that he has a tilt. She thinks at this point that we should no longer be going to therapy and should just do the stretches at home rather than him coming there every week.
So here are my issues with this:
- just last week his therapist was still concerned with the tilt, saying he still has a noticable tilt (however he did have tape on all week last week which is something that is suppose to help so maybe it did do quite a bit of help when the owner saw him on tuesday)
- she said we should continue the stretches at home but not come into the therapy place because she is worried about his emotional well being. ok, i get it... but maybe this is selfish of me but I would much rather my child have an adversion to other people touching him rather than his parents. I don't want my child to fear ME when I touch him, but to be honest, i could care less if he fears YOU when YOU touch him. It makes much more sense to me to come and have him stretched once a week by you all, even if he throws a fit, rather than me stretching him at home and him hating when I touch him......
- development- yes he is right on in all of his areas, but his therapist is very good at making sure he stays that way. he didn't roll over consistently until closer to 6 months old... he is still not crawling.... she has been a HUGE help when it comes to showing me ways to encourage him to do things and get him to reach the milestones he needs to reach. she has shown me ways to make him roll over, help him with sitting, and showing me how to help him go from laying down to sitting, along with crawling. She mostly works on developmental stuff when we are there and then throws in the stretching.
She said she was going to talk to his therapist and see what she says... but I think she is with me on this. We haven't talked about what the owner said exactly yet, but I think we both agree that it is better for him to come there for a little while longer. I plan on sitting down and expressing this concerns with her on thursday. The owner did say that she thinks it would be alright if we still brought him in once a week to work on the developmental stuff but that we shouldn't do stretching for a little while so that we can break the association. I'm ok with that, but I am still worried about ME stretching him and what associations he has with that.
We will see. I love the owner of the place but when she said all that I was a little taken aback.
We went from months of nothing to talk about with physical therapy and torticollis...to now having an update every week i feel like. i'll keep ya posted!! :)
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
So... kayden is 8 months old.
And i haven't posted the 6 month, or the 7 month, and now he is 8 months. The 6 month... well that whole month just seemed to pass by really quickly. So, we will have to just deal with a picture that was taken on his 6 month birthday. Trust me, this is driving me nuts that it doesn't match the others but I will just have to get over it.
and then the 7 month photo..
that was the best one I could get, they are getting harder and harder!
and the 8 month.... well I still have 5.5 hours to get that one taken... :)
and then the 7 month photo..
that was the best one I could get, they are getting harder and harder!
and the 8 month.... well I still have 5.5 hours to get that one taken... :)
Monday, May 9, 2011
1st Mother's Day
My first Mother's day!!
Last year, on Mother's day, I was 5 months pregnant and we had just found out we were having a little boy. That mother's day was special, in the fact that I was a mother at that point. But I didn't know how much I would truly appreciate being a mother until I saw my little boy.
This year, Mother's day was much different, and also a lot more different than I expected it to be. Kayden was diagnosed with croup on Thursday. He really wasn't having any problems with it though, until Saturday night. We were up all.night.long. Literally. At 5 in the morning, it was then that I realized that this was what Mother's day was all about. Taking care of your sick little boy all night long. Because you love him. Because you are his mother.
While I greatly miss my sleep. I wouldn't change anything in the world. I love this little boy more than words could explain. Every thought, every decision... all revolves around him. It's all about him.
Mother's Day also brought on new changes for myself. Since the day he was born I have spent every day with this boy. I have absolutely loved staying at home with him and taking care of him. I love it. I wish I could do it forever. But, the reality is that I can't. Not this time around. I knew this day was coming.... I just didn't realize how quickly the day was approaching. I got my first call for an interview Mother's Day night. I thought that it would be a big change for me to go from school/work to staying at home. But it wasn't. It was normal to me, natural, what I knew I would always do. Going to work from staying at home with this little boy for a year. THAT'S going to be an adjustment. A HARD ONE. One that I really don't want to think about anymore. There are going to be tears. There have already been tears and it's still 3 months away... as long as I get a job. But it's all for him. Even going to work, will be all for him. For him to have a better life. That's what he deserves. That's what mothers are for :)
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Encouraging News
We just got back from Kayden's Re- evaluation appointment and his therapist gave him some encouraging and reassuring news. While he still does have a tilt with the torticollis, she thinks that he is fine developmentally. She hasn't sat down and done all the statistical stuff she needs to do yet, but based on what she saw today and what she could just tell from looking at the paperwork, that he should be fine. We will have a full write up next week and go everything then.
She said that there are several things that he is doing that he "shouldn't" be doing until around 9-10 months and then there are some things that he isn't doing quite yet but is working on it. Those things are more focused because of his neck though and the development in that area. A lot of the more advanced things that he is doing is based on standing and things that don't really involve his neck muscles. She said the fact that he will hold your fingers and take "walking steps", loves standing up and can stand up using a table and kind of creep a long the table, loves to hold your fingers while standing and jump up and down, all of that is stuff that he shouldn't be mastering until 9-10 months but he has already mastered it. Hearing that has made me feel SOOO much better!
With the walking before crawling, she said since he has such an interest in it that it is ok if he does, she just doesn't want him to totally skip crawling. A lot of times if they walk first, they never really develop their crawling skills because they know walking can get them where they want to go faster. She said we just have to make sure that he still crawls and develops those skills too. He is getting a lot better at crawling though. He is finally moving his arms when you move his legs. He can move his legs on his own but won't move his arms and then he eventually either face plants or falls flat. So we have been working on us moving his legs, and him moving his arms so that he gets use to the movement. He did better than he ever has at physical therapy today so I'm excited about that!
On another note, Kayden has croup, and may have the beginning stages of hand, foot, mouth disease. :( He was coughing a HORRIBLE sounding cough last night and this morning so I decided to get it checked out today after his physical therapy appointment. He hasn't really acted like he feels bad or has a fever or anything, just the cough. She gave him a steroid, but when she looked at his throat there was a sore in it. She said that usually there are quite a few and then they develop on their hands and feet, but with him just having the one she couldn't say for sure that he does have it, just not to be concerned if they develop on his hands and feet. So we will see! I hope not, but there really isn't much we can do about it either way.
She said that there are several things that he is doing that he "shouldn't" be doing until around 9-10 months and then there are some things that he isn't doing quite yet but is working on it. Those things are more focused because of his neck though and the development in that area. A lot of the more advanced things that he is doing is based on standing and things that don't really involve his neck muscles. She said the fact that he will hold your fingers and take "walking steps", loves standing up and can stand up using a table and kind of creep a long the table, loves to hold your fingers while standing and jump up and down, all of that is stuff that he shouldn't be mastering until 9-10 months but he has already mastered it. Hearing that has made me feel SOOO much better!
With the walking before crawling, she said since he has such an interest in it that it is ok if he does, she just doesn't want him to totally skip crawling. A lot of times if they walk first, they never really develop their crawling skills because they know walking can get them where they want to go faster. She said we just have to make sure that he still crawls and develops those skills too. He is getting a lot better at crawling though. He is finally moving his arms when you move his legs. He can move his legs on his own but won't move his arms and then he eventually either face plants or falls flat. So we have been working on us moving his legs, and him moving his arms so that he gets use to the movement. He did better than he ever has at physical therapy today so I'm excited about that!
On another note, Kayden has croup, and may have the beginning stages of hand, foot, mouth disease. :( He was coughing a HORRIBLE sounding cough last night and this morning so I decided to get it checked out today after his physical therapy appointment. He hasn't really acted like he feels bad or has a fever or anything, just the cough. She gave him a steroid, but when she looked at his throat there was a sore in it. She said that usually there are quite a few and then they develop on their hands and feet, but with him just having the one she couldn't say for sure that he does have it, just not to be concerned if they develop on his hands and feet. So we will see! I hope not, but there really isn't much we can do about it either way.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
oh torticollis!
I haven't talked much about it lately, mainly because there really hasn't been much to talk about. He still goes to physical therapy every week and we work on just about everything. Last week, his therapist decided that this coming week (this thurday) she was going to re-evaluate him. I was really hesitant about this because I don't want her to "discharge" him, but I also wanted her to do it so that I would have a full report about how far he has come, what all he still needs to do, and just her over all thoughts. She asked me if I had any concerns about his head. My only major concern was that you can tell that one side is just a little flatter than the other. This is normal for most children with torticollis, but is usually fixed. She told me that she didn't think it was really bad but told me about a helmet that we could have him wear. She seemed to not really think that was what we needed to do but she wanted me to do my research on it and form my own opinions about the helmet before she tells me hers.
With the helmet, he would have to wear it 23 hours a day. It's better for them to have it before 9 months. They use a little tool to measure how round the head is on each side and his is only a 4 mm difference. Severe is 16. His is considered very mild. Since his head is a little larger than normal, it would put a bit of pressure on his head. This was everything the physical therapist told me. The way she talked about it, even though she wanted me to form my own opinion, made me feel like she really didn't think that we should do it. I think we have decided to not do it. With it only being 4 mm, it's not a developmental concern, and is more for cosmetics. I don't care about cosmetic. The therapist even said, now that he is sitting up, moving, will be crawling and walking soon, all those things will help and, while she can't promise that it will get better, she said a lot of times it does. Also, once he starts growing hair she said she doesn't think it would be noticeable at all.
My other concern was development. In his first evaluation, there were several indications that he may be a little behind with reflexes and some other developmental things. Knowing that, I knew that it may take him a little longer to reach milestones than other kids his age. It has taken me a very long time to accept that and understand that every baby is different. Just because he doesn't roll over at the same time other kids do, sit up and crawl at the same time, does not mean that he is going to be slow the rest of his life. I guess that was the teacher part of me. It has worried me that he would have a hard time learning things and wouldn't be "as smart" as the other kids. Stupid, I know but it has been a real fear of mine. I think I have finally realized that it is OK! Just because another kid starts rolling over, sitting up, crawling before him does not mean that there is something wrong with him. Some babies just don't do things at the same time. That DOES NOT mean that they are not as smart and will have issues for the rest of their life.
Sorry for the rant, Back to development- the therapist said she thinks he may be a little behind. We didn't talk much about it, I think we will discuss that more in detail after his re-evaluation. She said her main concern was that he was not able to go from laying down to sitting up. We have been working on it a lot, but he just doesn't seem to want to do it. I feel like that is something that will come a long once he starts crawling. I'm not too worried about it, but it's still something that is in the back of my head.
As for crawling, he still rocks, but doesn't take off. He scoots himself backwards, and then gets frustrated because instead of getting closer to the object he wants, he gets further away. He has more interest in pulling up on things and taking steps and standing rather than crawling. I think we may have an issue with wanting to do some things before the other. He wanted to sit up before he rolled, now he wants to walk before he crawls. People say this is normal, many kids do this, however his physical therapist DOES NOT want him to walk before he crawls. She said that it is not good for them to walk before they crawl. Crawling develops a lot of muscles and coordination. The side to side motion of throwing and catching, along with many other things. We talked about this a lot in detail and she even said that there are studies that have showed the correlation of crawling/walking first with reading and learning development. She was VERY passionate about not letting him walk before he crawls so we work on crawling a lot, and then we work on the correct way of pulling up (crawling over to an object, hands up and sitting on your knees, and then one leg up then the other- rather than pulling straight up with both legs). She also said that when people "bear crawl" like kayden attemps to do (with his legs straight and butt up in the air) that they tend to walk on their toes which is also a big no-no but she said when he pulls up and walks with you holding his hands, that he shows no signs of wanting to walk on his toes (thank goodness!)
so that's where we are at. We still do neck stretches because he still has a little bit of a tilt but his range of motion is fabulous. She said she the tilt can either get better or worse when he starts walking so we will have to see. With her saying that, I think we will be going to physical therapy at least until he starts walking, which is fine by me. The tilt is also worse when he is tired so we are having to work on that also.
I definitely thought torticollis would be easier than this, but i'm thankful it's nothing more serious.
With the helmet, he would have to wear it 23 hours a day. It's better for them to have it before 9 months. They use a little tool to measure how round the head is on each side and his is only a 4 mm difference. Severe is 16. His is considered very mild. Since his head is a little larger than normal, it would put a bit of pressure on his head. This was everything the physical therapist told me. The way she talked about it, even though she wanted me to form my own opinion, made me feel like she really didn't think that we should do it. I think we have decided to not do it. With it only being 4 mm, it's not a developmental concern, and is more for cosmetics. I don't care about cosmetic. The therapist even said, now that he is sitting up, moving, will be crawling and walking soon, all those things will help and, while she can't promise that it will get better, she said a lot of times it does. Also, once he starts growing hair she said she doesn't think it would be noticeable at all.
My other concern was development. In his first evaluation, there were several indications that he may be a little behind with reflexes and some other developmental things. Knowing that, I knew that it may take him a little longer to reach milestones than other kids his age. It has taken me a very long time to accept that and understand that every baby is different. Just because he doesn't roll over at the same time other kids do, sit up and crawl at the same time, does not mean that he is going to be slow the rest of his life. I guess that was the teacher part of me. It has worried me that he would have a hard time learning things and wouldn't be "as smart" as the other kids. Stupid, I know but it has been a real fear of mine. I think I have finally realized that it is OK! Just because another kid starts rolling over, sitting up, crawling before him does not mean that there is something wrong with him. Some babies just don't do things at the same time. That DOES NOT mean that they are not as smart and will have issues for the rest of their life.
Sorry for the rant, Back to development- the therapist said she thinks he may be a little behind. We didn't talk much about it, I think we will discuss that more in detail after his re-evaluation. She said her main concern was that he was not able to go from laying down to sitting up. We have been working on it a lot, but he just doesn't seem to want to do it. I feel like that is something that will come a long once he starts crawling. I'm not too worried about it, but it's still something that is in the back of my head.
As for crawling, he still rocks, but doesn't take off. He scoots himself backwards, and then gets frustrated because instead of getting closer to the object he wants, he gets further away. He has more interest in pulling up on things and taking steps and standing rather than crawling. I think we may have an issue with wanting to do some things before the other. He wanted to sit up before he rolled, now he wants to walk before he crawls. People say this is normal, many kids do this, however his physical therapist DOES NOT want him to walk before he crawls. She said that it is not good for them to walk before they crawl. Crawling develops a lot of muscles and coordination. The side to side motion of throwing and catching, along with many other things. We talked about this a lot in detail and she even said that there are studies that have showed the correlation of crawling/walking first with reading and learning development. She was VERY passionate about not letting him walk before he crawls so we work on crawling a lot, and then we work on the correct way of pulling up (crawling over to an object, hands up and sitting on your knees, and then one leg up then the other- rather than pulling straight up with both legs). She also said that when people "bear crawl" like kayden attemps to do (with his legs straight and butt up in the air) that they tend to walk on their toes which is also a big no-no but she said when he pulls up and walks with you holding his hands, that he shows no signs of wanting to walk on his toes (thank goodness!)
so that's where we are at. We still do neck stretches because he still has a little bit of a tilt but his range of motion is fabulous. She said she the tilt can either get better or worse when he starts walking so we will have to see. With her saying that, I think we will be going to physical therapy at least until he starts walking, which is fine by me. The tilt is also worse when he is tired so we are having to work on that also.
I definitely thought torticollis would be easier than this, but i'm thankful it's nothing more serious.
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