Friday, August 14th, 37 Weeks
Pregnancy: I had my Dr appointment on Tuesday, I'm now seeing the doctor every week. I've gained LOTS of weight in the past 2 weeks Ugh.. I weighed in at 160, that's 11 lbs in TWO weeks - WHAT.. I think I definitely gained more weight this time around. I'm trying not to refer too much to my pregnancy with Dante because I want this one to
be special and unique and have it's own life and not be compared to anything else. I've been instructed to stick to a healthy diet, no sugar, low fat and try not to gain any more - ugh!
Dante: we got back from Texas and immediately had house guests. Deb, John and Newton flew in from California (they've been traveling through Canada, Seattle, Portland and San Francisco ever since we left Guatemala in May) They are finally returning to London and stopped through for a week to visit friends. Dante totally remembers Newton
and was super excited for them to come. They look so much a like but are two totally different boys. Newton is more eloquent and developed in his speech but still has little interest in sports which Dante thrives in.
Another difference, which really disturbed Deb and made me proud is how well Dante knows his numbers and letters. Newton couldn't recognize a single number and Dante would rattle of 8. 2. 4 and pick them up accordingly. Same with letters. Funny how kids develop at different levels yet they will all sort it out eventually. Having
Newton over made me realize just how active Dante is. Newton could sit in la la land and pick things apart and lounge and Dante was on the go to play, run, hide and be constantly active. After a while it was a lot to have two 2 year olds and four adults in the house. I was ready for peace on Sunday! the weather got quite hot and humid and WOW my energy was instantly zapped from my body!
CPSE evaluations.
We decided to continue Dante's services (if needed) and had all his evaluations done BAM BAM BAM when we got back from Texas (Somehow I like to pack everything into ONE/TWO weeks - what's up with that!) He has to be re-evaluated for everything before being put into the next therapy level. Neither Rahav nor I think there's any longer a real problem, his language is flourishing and he's adorable, sweet and well adapted but - hey it's free so why not milk it and get extra special treatment for as long as possible. We have a bit of concern over his difficulty with transition, paying attention and following commands and instruction on demand. We're not sure how much of that is HE'S TWO and how much is his needing more structure and discipline.
But all this therapy gives us an idea of his skill level and as he's not in daycare it's kind of like a personalized daycare that focuses only on his needs and growth.
The Friday we got back from Texas Rahav and I met with CPSE for two hours to talk about all things Dante and review all this past therapy etc etc. It's very thorough and they really listen to your needs and write EVERYTHING down.
Later that afternoon, we met with the OT evaluator, an older hippy-ish guy who had Dante play with blocks, draw, answer simple questions, string beads and do much of what he does in his OT sessions. He was fidgety and would quickly loose interest, put everything in his mouth. The OT definitely sighted an oral sensory issue but nothing too alarming. Check on the OT continuing for sensory issues :-)
The following Tuesday was the bi-lingual psych evaluation which I feel was a disaster. We met with the psych an it took over 2 hours and Dante was all over the place, refusing to sit down, concentrate or follow any kind of directions. We're not sure if that's what she wanted as early on she was asking him tough questions and was expecting him to solve hard problems (I feel for a 2 year old) we think maybe she wanted to push his buttons early and see how he reacts and where he breaks down. it was tough to get him to do anything, he refused to sit and wanted to jump and crawl
on the floor. She did a lot of blocks where she wanted him to copy her patters, put together puzzles, and answer questions (point to objects and understand concepts) in both hebrew and english.
The speech evaluator that Thursday as well took 2 hours. I felt that went much better though and Dante would concentrate for a good 20 minutes before trailing off. She was more engaging and would work with him while letting him play with cars, buses and animals. She'd use those as ways to get him to answer the questions. It became tough as
he wanted to race cars and crawl under the chairs but bribery worked too. I'd give him gum and let him eat it so long as he answered questions - he must've eaten 20 or so pieces. it was tough near the end, he had to get 5 wrong in a row before the evaluator could stop or move onto a new section. Out of the blue, Dante would bust out the correct answer on the last question and she'd have to start over gain. By the end, he was answering questions on a level of a 5 year old. She didn't even get to the Hebrew because it took so long to figure out where he was skill wise in English. She's not going to recommend speech for development but more for pronunciation and mouthing (more oral sensory issues). He's got the words and concepts way beyond his years - little smarty!
The outcome of all those evaluations is more for sensory and getting him to stop putting things in his mouth and helping him improve skills on concentration, focus and oral sensory stuff that is preventing him from thriving in a school environment and help his intelligence grow. Like we said before, it's more about tweaking than anything else - so we'll see what happens!
