Updating the blog

Okay, way behind in updating the blog.

Since my last Post, Dominic has:

-Gone to speech and occupational therapy 2x a week each. He now goes back willingly with the therapists while Mom or Dad sit in the waiting room. The speech therapist sends out lists of words that he said independently and words that he repeated. Its growing every week. The Occupational therapist still finds that spinning him around helps him to focus (her word is organize), so that after spinning, he will sit and do a quiet activity at a table like color or play with theraputty.

-Really learned to love swimming. We go to Villa Sport, which has an amazing kids pool (2-3ft deep, big climbing structure with lots of water spraying, a slide, etc) that he just runs right into when we get there. Mom gets to sit in the SHADE (the other big reason we love Villa) and watch. He’s got a swim belt thing on to keep him floating, but he kicks and paddles and rolls, and generally has a fabulous time. He doesn’t like to leave. Even better, an hour of swimming means really good sleep that night. The outdoor pool will be open until September, and after that we’ll switch to the indoor pool which won’t be as much fun.

-Graduated to riding our friends horse with a saddle, instead of bareback. He’s to the point where we don’t need to hold onto him while he’s on the horse – he sits up so tall and has amazing core balance. Carol (my friend who owns the horse, who has taught horseback riding for years) says he does better than most adults. He takes great pleasure in the horse – when we arrive at the barn, he RUNS over to Raven’s stall waving. And Raven comes out to say hello. Its extremely cute. Yesterday we stayed with Carol and brushed Raven, and fed him his special dinner. (Raven is 27 and fairly geriatric, so he gets special food at night). Dominic loves to give Raven Carrots. And kisses. He kisses this horse on the lips. Its very funny.

-Started enjoying coloring. I got him a bunch of cheap art supplies at Target during their back to school sale, and he’s really been having a good time with them. He’s actually sitting down at his little table and coloring. Its very cool.

-Been enrolled in the Colorado preschool program through the Community Partnership for Child development. He starts school Tues-Fri from 1-4pm on Aug 26. WE’re supposed to hear from his teacher this week for a home visit, which is a little odd, but that’s okay. This organization does a lot w/both low income families and special needs kids. With his IEP, he qualifies as a special needs kid.

-Gone to the Zoo several times. They’ve got a new grizzly bear exhibit that’s really neat. There’s a glass wall in the viewing room that buts into a pond with fish where the bears play and swim. Dominic will watch the fish and bears for ages.

-Played very well with his friend Maya who came to visit in late July. They interacted together much better than last May. It was good to see.

We have good days and not so good days. On the good days, he really does do more talking and interacting, and on the not so good ones, its hard to get eye contact. There is seemingly no rhyme or reason to what makes a day good or bad, so we just go with the flow.