Friday, March 25, 2011

A day in the life: Blown button, new job

Done with…

  • Early morning private OT session, sensory-focused, for Braska. Had to use or lose flex spending money from M’s soon-to-be-in-4-hours-FORMER-job, so we get a few weeks to see how it goes. I’d love to document this stuff and the reasons behind it so much better for myself and others… but alas…
  • Picked up Kidlet, little snoozalicious.
  • Girls’ Playtime while I got Braska’s meals for the next several days ready to go. Oh how I love a quality stick/immersion/hand blender. Pulse, Pulse, Pulse, Done.
  • Kinlee declined lunch and wanted to go to nap. Not that uncommon. Kidlet went down about the same time.
  • Don’t forget plenty of diaper changes all around and various feeding.

But then…
As I was preparing to give Braska her mid-day milk, via tube, I sat her on my lap and something was weird. Missing. The belly terrain was too smooth.
*eye roll, sigh, then hunt for the button*

It was found quickly, near the chair where she had been sitting…probably fell out when she climbed up.

Ever seen a Mic-Key Button with a blown balloon??
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Pleasant huh?

In case you’re not familiar but curious, the part on the right of the above picture is the balloon, which is supposed to be inside the stomach, inflated with water once it’s in by the port on the lower left side. I always describe it kind of like an earring. Except you don’t inflate the earring post behind your ear. The tube connects to the port on the left side, when the little flap is opened.

Hmmm…that might be interesting though. The inflatable earring thing... Maybe later I’ll ponder that more.

Anyway, after more pushing and effort than I care to experience, and Braska agrees, in order to get the new button in (thank goodness I had one already in the cabinet for backup…I sometimes forget), we’re all set and she’s good to go.

If we ever get rid of that thing, she’s going to be one of those whose stoma just closes in no time when the button’s removed. So that’s good.

Now on to the rest of the day…

  • Short appointment for paperwork for the new job. Oh yeah, I didn’t follow up with that did I? I got the job from Saturday’s interview. Working part-time at the Y!!! I’m pretty excited! Evenings, weekends, front desk, you get the picture. The people there are great, from my perspective as a member, so I think it’ll be fun to work with them. Big props to my long-time friend Sarah for the tip and lovely reference!! Now we’ll have the extra income required to pay for medical insurance since M’s new job has astronomically high group benefit costs. We’re going with an individual family plan and it’s far cheaper.
  • Potty training seminar tonight, also dealing with elopement, specifically for kids with DS. Should be interesting. (Workshop day tomorrow for practical solutions in educating kids with DS. Both put on by our DSA. Bridget Murphy from the KC DSG is speaking.)

Friday, March 18, 2011

Stringing letters

My teachers at school are just the best. I like all of them so much. And it’s so much fun to see what new things we’re going to do everyday.

Miss J had a fun new thing for me to try a few weeks ago.  They are LETTERS! My favorite thing in the world!  Miss J helps me learn how to use my hands better and make them stronger, which is really hard for me.  But these fun new letters are so great I don’t even mind doing them for practice.

Then the coolest thing happened…. I got home and there were MORE letter beads, just like my ones at school!  It was like magic! Somebody special loves me a whole lot, I think!
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KiKi plays with them too, but they are my special toy to practice with.  The first day we had them at home, Mommy let me play with them some after KiKi went to nap.    Here’s a little movie for you to see…  check out my skills!

Mommy note:   Neat things to note in this clip…
~~Fine motor is a VERY difficult thing for Braska.  She has only been in regular fine motor focused therapy for about a year, because prior to that most of her OT time was focused on feeding.  It is one of the areas that she shows the most delay. But we’re not bothered by that.  She’s doing great! She now has two OTs at school (the best two, in my opinion!), one for feeding and one for fine motor. (They are a GREAT team and overlap a lot in each area.)
~~ Suddenly every letter was her “fav’rit”. As in, “Oh, the letter U, my fav’rit!”
~~Most of the letters you will hear her say “makes the ___ sound.”  This is something we’re working on, mostly because Kinlee is obsessed with what everything starts with and what sound all the letters make.
~~You’ll notice phrases “I better go get it” and “I do it again” and others.