Pedalling

OT report from school: Good session. Did trampoline, big ball activities & wheelbarrow walk. Then at table, played with putty, finding hidden objects, built towers with blocks & colored bus page.

I think Nikko was happy to be back in school. He didn't seem very emotional getting off the bus, but at home he wasn't prowling around looking anxious either. Jenna came a little after 1pm for an early therapy session. She didn't give him any snack at all, which was fine because if he didn't think about it, he was better able to focus on the tasks at hand. When he came out of his session, Nikko was singing and doing some weird jerky movements that I would attach to some song he was thinking about. He was eyeballing the tray of brownies I made while he was downstairs and Ronin was napping. It was from Cherrybrook Farms, a dairy/egg/nut free company (oh, and gluten-free, too) and I wanted to try it on Ronin to see if he'd like them. There were no complaints from the boys, but Audrey didn't seem too thrilled about the pieces I put in front of her. After snack time, I took the kids out into the backyard. I put up the baby gate and one ride-on bike, plus a yellow volleyball and a multi-colored mini beach ball. Between those objects and the swingset, the kids played for an hour. I kicked the ball around Nikko like a soccer ball, saying "One, two, three, kick!" and he would repeat Kick and do the action as well. Ronin was riding the big wheeler and I tried to help him peddle with his feet. He was resistant at first, but I watched him when I walked away and he no longer was pedalling the ground with his feet. Instead he was trying to pedal on the pedals, but I don't know if he has the leg strength for it. Practice, I say. Nikko watched us and soon was trying to bump Ronin off the wheeler so he could try it. Nikko tried to pedal with his feet, too, but seemed to tire of it and wanted to pedal the ground instead. We came inside in time for dinner, then I put on Veggie Tales per Nikko's request. I was about to give Audrey a bath at 7:20 when I noticed that Nikko was on the verge of nodding off. I didn't want him to nap before bedtime so I led him to the kitchen and put some Cheez-It crackers in front of him. Unfortunately, Ronin told me he ate some while I was giving Audrey a bath. I was freaking out because there is CHEESE in those crackers, and Ronin is allergic. I watched him while dressing Audrey up but there was no anaphylactic reaction. I thought his lips might be getting a little swollen so I gave him a chewable Benadryl generic tablet. Thankfully he didn't break out or swell up even more, but still I was very alarmed that it happened at all. I reprimanded Ronin for eating off Nikko's plate, because anything on there could have "itchy food" on it. Easily, Nikko fell asleep while Denis was saying prayers, which is the best way for him to sleep in my opinion. The boys woke up at 6:20a, by the way, which is only slightly better than yesterday.

We had more attempts at saying More today. I signed More before letting him have any more brownies, as well as vitamins. When I sign More and ask him to say it, if he does comply, it doesn't quite sound like More. It sounds like Mow or Tow or Doh. He is also able to sign it, without saying it, and skipping to the actual word he wants. Is it laziness or did he really forget how to say More??