House of Krause

I’m no Molly home maker but every once in a while I try. Especially when I have sick kids who need to start eating again. This was a fun breakfast. The kids love to help cook. I remember Luke’s very first occupational therapist telling me how great it is just to include him in every day activities. Things like; Pushing a laundry basket, sorting clothes, sweeping with a broom, washing kid friendly dishes, letting him help put away groceries, cooking together. She said another good one is letting him spray and wipe off tables. That takes some muscle to push the towel across the surface. Sounds good to me. Just go ahead and clean the whole house Luke! This is the greatest OT idea yet! Really if you think about it, these activities do use huge amounts of coordination, muscle control, and skill.  Fine and gross motor skills. Cooking remains the favorite for Luke.

I did manage to get Luke to eat a couple bites, but he is still really trying to fight off this flu. I’ve had a house full of sick kids all month long. This has been awful. Please say a prayer. I hope this is almost over. I’m ready to rip my hair out!

So sweet, such a family effort.  Lily made this Halloween chart for Luke to practice with. She wanted him to be able to say some things about Halloween time.  She only got a little mad when Luke decided to color on the witches hat. Luke really has an advantage of having older brother and sister that try to help him with his talking. It makes me smile to watch!

Always looking for an OT moment!

Whoa!

So much suddenly going around here. Exciting things for Luke. Big changes. New adventures. Trying to find some balance myself.  One step at a time. One day at a time. Luke always seems to show me the way!

We made through nearly two weeks of sickness. Lily almost ended up in the hospital over the weekend. The doctor said she did have a flu (most likely H1N1, but said they are not allowed to test for it unless the child is hospitalized or has died from it, WHAT?? What kind of sense does that make??). That passed through then she developed a secondary infection of pneumonia. The doctor put her on a strong course of antibiotics and thank goodness that worked. We are all back to good health. I’m just exhausted over the whole ordeal. So today may have not have been an ideal day to end up back out for more school district testing for Luke.  But right back to business.  Now, have I mentioned before I hate testing? I know it is necessary. I know there is no way around it, but I hate it. When we pulled up to the elementary school Luke says from the back seat, “Too big, too big!” Referring to the enormous size of the school form his little view.  I try to handle this whole process as well as I can.  Today half way through Luke turned to me and said, ” All done now.” I firmly told him, ” No, we are not done yet. Listen to your teacher. Do what she asks you.” Inside I’m thinking, I know baby, I’m all done with this too. There’s the door. Let’s make a run for it and go get some chocolate milk.  You just can’t help it as a mother. I want to cradle him and protect him. I just want to make it all go away and make everything better. But this is not reality. This would not be the best thing for him. I have to fight against my own instincts and push him out a little bit. This is not easy for a mom who enjoys having her children tied to the hip! Anyhow, I just wanted to share what kinds of things they are looking for at a three year old OT assessment.  These are all things that we had been working on all along with Luke’s play therapist and OT therapist. Again it just reinforces how important early intervention is. Just to give you an idea of things you can work on if your not already.

It went something like this;

Stacking blocks. Not the big wooden blocks, smaller colored blocks. Up to 12 high.

Coping a pattern with those same blocks. Example; She made a train with blocks. Three on the bottom, one on top. Luke had to look at her pattern and copy exactly how she made hers. She made a wall with blocks, Luke had to copy her wall.

Stringing toys. Not the big stringing toys, small blocks with tiny holes. Luke had to feed a shoe lace through.

Lacing a paper with holes punched in it.

Pre-writing skills; Drawing scribbles, drawing a circle, drawing lines up and down and side to side, trying to draw a square, trying to draw a plus sign.

Buttoning and unbuttoning. Zipping, and unzipping.

Unscrewing a small lid. Screwing it back on. Dumping out the contents and counting the contents up to five.

Folding a piece of paper in half.

Cutting with kids scissors. Using one hand.

This boy has not had a fun week. The flu hit our family, hard! I am so confused about all of this swine flu/flu stuff.  What I’ve heard is that our regular seasonal flu is not even here yet so 99% of all flues now are the H1N1 variety.  Is this true?  Does this mean we’ve already survived the swine flu??  It all began at Luke’s wonderful 3rd birthday. He was kissed on all day long. Four days later…BAM, he’s sick. Sweet Lily despite all my warnings would not stay away from her sick little brother. I would leave for a minute and come back to her stroking his head. Needless to say, she fell ill.

Now after a week of caring for these two, it finally got me. Paul and Preston are the only two that have escaped, SO FAR.  These children have been very sick.  Thank goodness Preston is a gadget man and ordered a stethoscope on e- bay a few weeks ago. It has come in very handy.  After trips to the doctors office, I’ve been listening for any signs that the lungs are having problems. They did not swab the kids, so I still have no idea what type of flu this is.

Here is my question. I was set on NOT having my kids vaccinated on the swine flu. Now I’m questioning it, because if this was in fact only the seasonal flu, I would seriously hate to see what this H1N1 flu will do.  Any one have any information??  All of the information I hear is so confusing. Will you have your kids vaccinated??

I think we are through the worst of it. The love these two have for each other is really incredible. Not a fun week, but they survived together!

My poor Preston is so set that he is not going to get sick. He has been living outside for a week. He asked if he could stay in the motor home. Not a bad idea Preston!

I’m so proud of your new belt Pres. Your mental disciple and focus is really amazing. You have more self control then I have in my little pinkie.

New belt, yellow with black stripe. You’ll be back to orange in no time!

It’s hard for little ones get that good pincher grasp on crayons for coloring. Someone just showed me this easy trick. Buy the fatter crayons and just snap off the tip. Look, works like a charm.