Leaps and Bounds

Not too long ago, I celebrated my 6 month anniversary with ECI (Early Childhood Intervention). They've been working hard with me on improving my gross motor skills, strengthening my core, and on sensory integration. I've been working diligently with Ms. Liz, Ms. Diane, and Ms. Irene. They're super fun to play with and have really taught me a lot of things.

Just recently, Ms. Liz re-evaluated me and we found out that I'm caught up on where my gross motor skills should be. But, thankfully, I get to keep working with them because I've already qualified for the program. Ms. Irene, my occupational therapist, started working with me just a couple of months ago. She's from England. I just love hearing her talk and she's really nice to me. She's working with me on sensory integration.

If you weren't aware, I really dislike eating any kind of vegetable that isn't pureed. Mommy thinks I need to learn to like them in their natural state. She claims she doesn't have the time or energy to keep pureeing all of my food. Honestly, I'm a little sick of eating "baby" food too, but I really struggle with chewing on green beans, cooked carrots, potatoes and other veggies with a funny texture. Most of the time, I won't even try them. Bleh.... But, Ms. Irene is working hard with me on tackling that issue.

This isn't the only sensory integration piece that we've been working on. One strange thing Ms. Irene taught Mommy to do was to put these little sponges in between my toes when I play. This is what they look like.

Mommy will put the sponges in between my toes, put a sock on over them, and the my shoes. Then we go play outside for about 25-30 minutes. Honestly, I forget that they're even there while I'm outside. But when I'm done playing, I'm ready to rip off my socks and pull them out from in between my toes! Apparently this technique is helping me build up my core muscles. Putting just 5 grams of pressure in between my toes forces my body to stretch out more, thus causing me to stand up taller, straighter, and forces me to rely more on my tummy muscles to hold me upright. We've also been spinning in a chair a lot to help me work on tracking, finding balance, and establishing a proper sense of equilibrium. From what Ms. Irene has said, these exercises are to help reset my vestibular system. (You might want to Google that one.) One cause for this may be due to all the inner ear infections I've had since I was little.

Ms. Diane has also been working hard with me on squatting and finding my balance. She came over today and had me balance on a board, which was tough! But I know it's something I can eventually master. Ms. Diane always makes me feel loved when she's over. She tells me how smart I am and that she's impressed that I can throw a bouncy ball with one hand and hold a marker the right way. Mommy just wishes Ms. Diane would teach me how to color on the right things, ie. paper and not my body or the carpet.
Overall, Mommy is very proud of how far I've come in my journey with ECI. We still have some things to work on, but I can say with confidence that I've grown by leaps and bounds.