An obsticale course, really?

Now that Luke has mastered the regular walker and we are working on mastering “swivel wheels”, we are trying to teach him how to fine tune his turning skills. So now that he can navigate around his Therapy building pretty well, meaning he goes until he hits a wall….then he pushes through until he goes straight again. (Leaving a mark where he has been, like he wants to make sure someone knows he was there). In order to “fine tune” his skills his PT started setting up an obstacle course for him to try and navigate in the hallway.


He doesn’t really like this, you can imagine why. Before he would get mad when he hit a wall, because he didn’t know what to do. Now there are so many “walls” he starts to get frustrated and upset. The funny part is that his PT uses what they call Bolsters, which are like cushy cylinders. They have various weights and sizes. She staggers them throughout the hallway on their sides so he has to go around them. Yesterday he thought enough was enough, and he tried going over one of the smaller ones. The PT was holding it in place with her foot (because they would just roll away otherwise) and Luke came square into it and tried stepping on top of her foot. It was like he was saying, “get out of my way, I’ll show you how this is done. Why go around when I can just go over it.” He tried this two different times, but neither time did the mean old PT or his mean old mommy let him go over.

At home now instead of going in circles, which wasn’t working great anyway since he was always trying to go down the hill to the neighbor’s house, we are trying an obstacle course as well. Although we don’t have the fancy “Bolsters” like they have at therapy, so mommy uses what she can find. The Last time I set up a course I used our single stroller, double stroller, two garbage cans, and two Mud (plaster) 5 gallon buckets.

Of course I usually have to do this while his baby sister is awake. So I put her in the baby swing in the front yard’s tree, push her off and then focus on Luke and a round of obstacles. Well this day while I was not watching Luke and pushing our baby girl, Luke decided to try to keep going in and around the obstacles on his own. Only he got himself in “a pickle”. He tried to go straight through one of the 5 gallon buckets of Mud. It didn’t work so well (as you can see in the picture on the left).

So we keep working at it, and hopefully one day he will be a pro at getting around all these obstacles.

Kid's Dinner Theater

I’ve always had a hard time doing things without background noise. When I was young I always didn my homework while having the TV on, most of the time I didn’t watch it but it was a constant noise. Then when I was in college I always fell asleep to the TV. Now many times when I am feeding Luke and our baby girl, I feel like I need some kind of background noise as well. Sometimes I find myself having conversations with both of them. After a while I feel like I am going insane, so I put on the radio. Sometimes I tap my foot or hand to the music to help pass the time while feeding my two munchkins.


The other day I took it up a notch. Instead of just tapping along or humming a tune, I put in Go Fish and I sang along with “I’ve got the Joy” and “Snazzy”. I not only sang but helped Luke and our baby girl dance with their hands to the music. Luke found this highly entertaining and laughed every time I made him move to the music or I put my hands up in the air to sing along. I felt like I was on stage.

So when I get tired of the “same old..same old”, I just break out in song and dance. The result being that the kids have a mini-dinner theater. Then I drag my kids into it having them help me dance. It brings smiles to their faces and lifts my spirit.

Needs a cell phone?

When I was teaching I couldn’t believe the number of my students (mainly 6th graders) who had cell phones. I think when Luke can start asking me for things, one of the first things will be a phone of his own. He is obsessed with phones.


About 6 months ago I was getting out of the shower and heard “…beee..beee…beee…sorry your call can not be completed as dialed. Please hang up and try again.”…..I thought I was going nuts..till I checked on Luke who was in the living room. He had the phone in his hand and was getting ready to throw it across the floor. I thought maybe he just grabbed it and somehow started dialing. But, when I looked at the phone..I saw we had a missed call and a message on the machine. It turned out that Grandma had called while I was in the shower and the munchkin probably heard her voice and was trying to answer the phone.

Ever since then he has always gotten excited when the phone rings. He gets animated with his arms and says, “aahhh….aaahhh” and starts crawling towards the phone..or towards the sound of the phone ringing. I should say he doesn’t just crawl…but “turbo” crawls. He actually makes a pretty good phone finder....if I lost the phone all I’d have to do is call it and he would lead me there.

Anyway, last week he decided to “up” his phone skills. He stood up got the phone, brought it down to where he could reach it from the floor, pushed talk, got it on speaker phone, started dialing and pushed send. I heard the numbers being punched in, but figured I’d let him have fun for a little while…but then I heard “bee….beee….beee…sorry your call can not be completed as dialed…..” So I said no…laughed and took it away. I was afraid next time he would call “9-1-1”, then we would be in trouble.

So now not only do I need to keep the remotes of reach…but the phone as well. As my husband says (often) “you just can’t trust 2 year olds”.

Look at Me

In the last few weeks Luke has had a new fascination with putting things around his neck. It reminds me of those pictures you see of guys in the locker room that have a towel hanging around their neck. Although Luke would walk around with a towel around his neck and a hand on each end of it, so that the towel would be pulled tight.


Instead of bath towels Luke does it with whatever he can find. I first saw him do this with a dish towel…which was funny but it wasn’t too far off of what “normal” guys might do. Then a week or so ago we were at therapy and we had to take off his shoes, braces, and socks. So what does he do? He grabs a sock and instead of throwing it or chewing on it (like he usually does), he grabs both ends of the sock and then drapes it behind his neck while pulling on the ends. Then he just looked at me and smiled! So funny!!

He doesn’t stop at socks..no…that would be too boring. He has to switch it up…so a few days ago I caught him doing the same thing with one of his diapers. Here he was looking at me saying “aaahhh…ahhhh” and holding on to either end of the diaper with it draped around his neck. I asked what he was doing and he just smiled and laughed.

Where do they pick up these things? My husband never does this…and I sure don’t. I wonder if one of his “buddies” at church is showing him these new tricks. I’d better start watching out who I let me “hang” with.

A foot needs a stool

Lately Luke has been fascinated with his feet. He hasn’t been that interested in his feet since he was a baby. I wonder if his baby sister playing with her feet has started it? Anyway, the other day we were eating breakfast and he kept playing with his feet. All of a sudden he grabbed his foot and pulled it up where it touched the kitchen table. Of course, he laughed and he kept doing it. I couldn’t help but laugh and what he was trying to do.


After several tries he finally got his foot to lay completely on top of the table. I couldn’t believe how flexible he was in order to do this. I hurt just looking at him. But he was perfectly content to leave his foot on the table like it belonged there while he ate.

If he was back a little further from the table he would of looked like one of those old western sheriffs, from the movies, that leaned back in their chairs, had their hands behind their heads and both feet crossed on top of the desk. Like they had nothing better to do with their time, like catch the bad guys at “miss kitty’s Saloon”.

Luke hasn’t tried to do this again( knock on wood). (Picture on the left)

Assume the "position"

The other day a friend was helping me out when taking Luke to therapy, so we could also take his sister too . After therapy we went to eat at Culver’s and when I got Luke out I helped him walk to the trunk that was open so I could get his walker out. I helped Luke hold on to the back of the car, and then worked on getting his walker out and unfolded. My friend came over to the car and stayed near Luke while I was doing this, and all of a sudden she started laughing. You see Luke was holding on, but his legs were spread apart and it looked like he was ready for a “pat down” by some cop or something.


Later that same day after we got done eating Luke was holding on to the table while I was “loading” up and again he looked like was “assuming the position”. It was a pretty funny site. I’ve never realized it before, but he does do that a lot. When he stands to play at the couch or at his Little Tykes kitchen, he’ll often stand with a wide stance with his legs. The funny things our kids do. (picture on the left)

The Dance of the Romote

Sometimes we have mixed blessings. Every time Luke gets to a point where he is confident in a new skill, he often finds more trouble to get into. The latest example is his standing or pulling up. He has been able to do this for a few months now, although he hasn’t been consistent. He would usually pull himself up all on his own one time and then go several weeks before doing it again. For some reason I think he finally has the confidence to continually do this. Five days ago he pulled himself up two times that I know of, without anyone around and no screaming…like he usually does when he wants to pull up and can’t. Every day since he has pulled up at least five times on and off throughout the day.


I am so excited that we seemed to have reached this step in his development. I’ve mentioned before how we would soon have to put things away out of reach and remove things from our end tables. Well I think we are there. I’m so glad he is pulling up, but in the process he keeps going after the remotes.

I don’t know what it is about remotes that attracts kids. Is it the colorful buttons? The curiosity of how something changes, like the volume or channel, when you touch a button? But, remotes are right up there with doors, balls and the phone as far as Luke goes.

So, he kept pulling up and getting the remotes from the end table by the recliner. In fact, one day I heard the radio come on instead of hearing “Dora the Explorer” and when I went to check. Somehow Luke had gotten his Vegi Tales DVD going and changed the stereo from DVD mode to the radio/tuner mode. I wanted to tell him “no”, but he was so cute and was so smart…how could I? So…like an “intelligent” mommy I put the remotes on the other end table by the couch…where he had never pulled up before by the way. That worked for five days, until today. I heard a noise while I was in the kitchen, so I went to investigate….and low and behold Luke had two of the three remotes we use. I was so happy for him standing, I couldn’t get mad at him…so I gave him a hug and kiss and told him “good job”, then I took the remotes and said “no”. What kind of mixed signal is that?

I’ll have to find a new location for those remotes. I think I’ll try the window sill for now, which is also by the recliner. We’ll see how long that will last.

Freedom!

When we first took Luke outside for our daily “walk” with his new “wheels”, Luke took off. He was all over the place. Normally, with his old walker, we made Luke go in a big rectangle. I tried to get him to do his “normal” routine of a rectangle, but he wanted nothing to do with it.


We started off on our “normal” route but I soon found that Luke wanted his freedom and he was off!! Every chance he got he started going down and to the right, which I finally figured out would lead him towards our neighbor’s house. They have three kids and a puppy who often comes by on his “walk” and keeps Luke company while we work on Luke’s “walking”. Anyway, after trying to point him a different direction a few different times….I gave up and let him have his freedom.

So off we went going off the pavement, into the grass, down the ditch, on the road and down the small hill to the neighbor’s house. Of course once we got there we should turn around and come back right? Wrong…at least Luke thought he should keep heading down the hill, past the road and down the hill through the neighbor’s yard to their door. Before he could do that I turned him around and back up the hill we just went down. Each time I took my hand off his back he started to turn his walker back the way we came, down the hill.

I felt like I was pushing him all the way up the hill. I think I definitely got my exercise that day. Now when we walk outside I can only allow so much “freedom” before steering him back on the pavement of the driveway. Most of the time when I turn him back towards our house he simply decides he’ll keep turning and just make a 360, which brings him right back to where he was….aiming to go through the yard and down the hill.

When I know I have the energy to push Luke back up our hill, I let him have his freedom…at least once. I figure it’s good to let him have some freedom, and probably good for mommy to get some exercise.

The right swivel walker!

We finally found and made adjustments to a walker with swivel wheels that works well for Luke. He did so well when we tried it, I was so proud of him. After trying swivel wheels that caused him to go in a 180 and one that was completely locked on one side and not the other…it was great to see him in some wheels that worked as they should. By the time we finished our lap around the therapy place he was veering the walker away from door jams and walls. I was so happy!!


Then we traded this new walker for the one we had been using. So after having lunch my husband (who happened to be off that day), and I went to the store to get a couple groceries. We parked in handicapped parking and my husband took the baby to get what we needed while Luke and I walked inside and up and down a few aisles. He did so great!!

A few times he got distracted…this never happens ….and he started going towards what he was looking at…or he would start to go backwards because he was looking at something behind him and was leaning so hard on the back of his walker. But overall he did wonderful!!

The Lord even brought a woman there to cross our paths who lifted my spirits. You see, we just found out that a whole batch of tests we had done at Johns Hopkins came back normal. I had such hope that we would find something and we would finally know what we are fighting. Anyway, this woman stopped when she saw Luke walking and told me her son used a walker at his age. She told me he was in Kindergarten before he no longer needed an assisted device, and to have patience. She told me he is now 25 years old and drives on his own. I’m not sure what her son has, or how similar he really is to Luke…but it lifted my spirits. I felt God was still listening to my prayers and that he knows the struggle we are feeling. It was a good reminder for me to keep my trust where it belongs, in Him.

The "monster"

After Luke was born I knew we needed to vacuum more often. I don’t know if it was a “nesting” thing or more of a mommy thing, knowing that your little one is going to be on the floor and all. I just knew that vacuuming once a week would not be enough to make sure the floor was clean enough for my little guy. So not long after Luke was born my husband broke out the vacuum. At first Luke would cry when he heard it but then he would settle down and just look around like he was saying “what was that”. Of course at this age I held him while daddy vacuumed.


It wasn’t too long though before daddy had to go back to work and grandma was no longer able to stay and help out. That meant mommy had to learn to multi-task with vacuuming. I figured Luke had to be used to the noise, so I would put him in his bouncy seat and then got out the vacuum. Luke would do fine, until I fired up the vacuum. Once that noise started he would scream and stay screaming until I was done. At first I felt horrible and even tried to use one of those carriers so that I could “hold” him and vacuum at the same time. Unfortunately he didn’t go for that either. He was too smart, he knew mommy wasn’t really “holding” him and he was too scared of the vacuum to fall for it.

It eventually became a joke between Luke and I….more for my benefit than his. Every time I got ready to vacuum I would look at him, place him somewhere like his bouncy seat, and say “mommy is going to go get the monster, prepare yourself”. Each time I fired up the “monster” you would think I was torturing my son or something. When I turned off the “monster” he would suddenly stop screaming, take a deep breath and look at me like “are you done now?”. Then I would tell him “I’m putting the monster back in the closet, say bye-bye”. Until recently I didn’t realize I better not say that last statement much longer, he might start taking it literally.

The amazing thing about all of this is that once Luke started crawling, around 16 months old, he stopped screaming when I ran the vacuum and instead started following it all over the house. Eventually he started smacking it and laughing. Now, every time we vacuum we have a tradition. Mommy says, “let’s go get the monster” and Luke follows me into the baby’s room to get the vacuum out of the closet. Then he says, “aaahhh…aaaahhhh”…like he is all excited. Then we plug in the vacuum and Luke follows it all over the house, sometimes laughing and sometimes slapping the side like it is a horse that needs to “getty-up”. Then when we’re done he sits in fascination while the cord sucks itself back inside and then I say “let’s put the monster up” and he follows me to the closet and says “aahhh….aaahhh” and sometimes he even waves like he is saying “bye, see ya later”.

It is amazing how fast our kids can change when they can conquer one little thing that changes their perspective.

Don't look for any blogs this next week, we are overhauling our bathroom and I'm not so sure I'll have the time.