Justin Update

This is some of what Justin has been doing lately:

• Randy taught him how to "bonk" his head and "thump" his belly. He does this very well, and not always at the best times! Sometimes he bonks his head while he is holding a toy, and when we try to stop him from hitting himself, he starts to belly laugh. He thinks it is so funny when we tell him not to hit himself!
• Now that he has mastered "bonking" and "thumping" his own body parts, he are trying to get him to bonk and thump us, so that he learn more about body parts. We are also trying to work on "honking" his nose. This has the double advantage of working on finger isolation for poking things, which we are working on in OT. (We try to pop bubbles with one finger.) This weekend he seems to be understanding a little more. And Travis is being such a good teacher!
• Justin has starting trying to pull himself up on the edge of tables, and particularly the edge of the bathtub (we have a shower door on the bathtub- that's actually the first place Travis pulled himself up too!) He started by sitting with one leg tucked in and pulling himself up that way, but now he is able to move his legs around and almost get himself onto his knees (in tall kneeling, our PT calls it).
• Justin is able to eat just about whatever we eat, but he won't pick pieces up off his tray. I have stopped fixing him his own plate at mealtime. I just add more to my plate and we share, since he wants whatever I have anyway. He ate 2 pieces of pizza the other night at a birthday party. And then he wanted cake too! He even likes drinking from my glass, and you know how kids like to leave floaties! I just started buying limes to squeeze into my water and then I don't notice quite as much...
• Nap time is a big struggle. He needs 2 naps, but the timing is really messed up. I am considering moving therapy times, but the times we have work really well. Napping has always been one of our kids' biggest struggles. We do like snuggling with them to get them to sleep though! We are big snugglers!
• Our speech therapist told us to start listening for Justin to name things, even if it's not the right name. Just to see if he is intentional with his babbling. That got me so excited to think that we might be at that point! He is definitely asking for things, especially while we eat. (I KNOW when he wants my drink!)
• And speaking of speech therapists, our usual therapist has another job that takes her out of town one week out of the month during the school year. So we have a "temp" once a month. She is the therapist who did Justin's evaluation. I was feeling a little disappointed at having the break in continuity, but I really like Miss Yvonne, and she happened to mention this last month that maybe I was noticing a little different focus between her and Miss Char. Miss Yvonne emphasizes more communication (she does more signing and interaction) and Miss Char works more on sounds and articulation (she does more imitation and exaggerated mouth sounds). So then I realized how blessed we are to be getting some of both!