PT and speech update

Last night at PT Elijah found a new love. CHEETOS! We have never fed him a Cheeto before, and I thought for sure he wouldn't eat the ones his speech therapist had set out for him. He typically does not like rough textures in his mouth (with the exception of that rice cake the other day). He hesitated when it first touched his lip, but he must have gotten a taste of the cheesy goodness because he persevered, and managed to gobble down the first Cheeto in about a half of a second. He wanted more, and could see the cup with more in it, so he reached and grunted and tried to crawl over the table to get to it. Of course, his speech therapist wasn't just going to give it to him. He had to ask for it, either through signing or talking. We all know he knows how to do the sign for more, but for some reason he is really stubborn about using this particular sign. It is maddening! Minutes ticked by, and he was getting more and more frustrated, as were we. He continued to refuse. Finally his therapist put her hands over his hands and did the sign for him, and that counted. She gave him another Cheeto. This repeated about 10 times. Toward the end, he would actually take her hands and put them over his so that she could sign MORE for him, WITH HIS HANDS. UGH! At least we found something that will be good motivation for him to speak and sign and try other things. Thank you, The Cheeto!

His PT has noticed in the past few months that Elijah appears to have some sensory issues. Most likely, the reason for the majority of it is due to his non-movement for the first 16 months of his life. The amount of oxygen in his blood was very low for a majority of that time, so he didn't have the energy to do much of anything. Now, after a year of having excellent blood-oxygen saturations and much more energy, he does not like to be moved into different positions too quickly and he avoids unique textures (in his mouth and by touch). His PT has been working hard with him to get him used to different textures and movements to correct some of these aversions by introducing him to a lot of new things to stimulate his senses. We have started each therapy session off with the swing. He goes back and forth, side to side, and in circles. This stimulates his vestibular system (inner ear) and seems to always help with the rest of the session. It seems like he doesn't mind being moved around as much when we do the swing first. They have also been introducing him to many new textures that he can put in his mouth and that he can feel with his hands and feet, hence the Cheeto. He doesn't care much for having wet gooey stuff on his hands or face and for having hard, rough stuff in his mouth. He wrinkled up his nose at a Twizzler yesterday! Whose kid is this?!

He still cannot stand on his own. We need to help him build up more core strength before he can do it by himself without holding onto anything. I would guess that walking is still at least a few months away. I keep thinking that maybe he will decide to give me WALKING as a birthday gift in July! That's four months away. I think that might be doable. Of course, if it doesn't happen by then, that's ok. We all know he will do it in his own time. We have exercised great amounts of patience, and we will continue to do so.

His speech therapist was really encouraged last night when I told her about all of the sounds Elijah has been making lately. It's a very good sign that he CAN produce every sound in the alphabet (or at least try...the l, r, x, y and z sounds are a little tough). Now we continue to work with him, and wait for him to decide when he is ready to unleash it all. This morning he said to me, "Baba bah bah," which in Elijah Language meant, "Mama is going bye bye." I'll take it!