Weekly update on CB late October 2015
So, what’s new with CB? For starters, CB was able to hold the Landau reflex position, which is known as the happy baby reflex or the superman, on his own for 10 seconds for 5 repetitions. His OT and PT include reflex integration into their therapy and this is the fastest progress he has ever made with integrating a reflex. It is probably not yet fully integrated, I don’t believe; however, he went from holding his head up, with supported arms and legs to holding the position on his own in 1 week – WOW! The other interesting thing is that in that time frame, Olem and I both commented about getting the sweetest hugs from CB and that he was quite happy. CB’s OT commented that she has seen numerous times when kiddos work on that reflex integration and either integrate it or make great progress, that they seem happier. Well, it may have been coincidental, but it is awesome. I told CB’s PT and she said it brought chills to her body hearing me talk about him :). Reflex integration therapy is an excellent therapy for dyspraxic kiddos. So many of our kiddos have many unintegrated reflexes and this type of therapy is one way to target these reflexes, which should have become dormant when our kiddos were younger. My son for example started off therapy with most of the tested reflexes as unintegrated.
CB’s OT also commented on how much heavier CB felt. We started CB on L-Carnintine several weeks ago. His appetite grew and he was scarfing down his food in no time, asking for more, and finishing his seconds. It was like he couldn’t eat enough. L-Carnintine can cause increased appetite so I am guessing it is related to that supplement versus a growth spurt. The guy takes after me weight-wise so he can use the extra poundage. A few days ago, his appetite settled back down to normal. Another potential side effect of the L-Carnintine is producing a fishy odor from the sweat glands. Well, starting about a week ago or so, I noticed that CB’s neck produced an odor. The smell came from his ear across the back of his neck and to the other ear. I did not smell it anywhere else on his body, not his underarms, feet, legs, etc. I thought it smelled like BO but a friend of mine thought it smelled more fishy than BO so I guess it is the L-Carnintine. No clue why it is just smelling on his neck. The smell goes away right after a bath and resumes within minutes. I’ll watch it for another week or 2 to see if it goes away.
Last Friday, we had CB’s 6 month blood workup done. A lipids test for cholesterol levels and a thyroid test were added since we had not actually looked at those in the past. Fingers crossed everything looks good. I am really hoping his IgA levels have continued to improve!
The whole family has been suffering from allergy issues. This coupled with the fact that Olem has started suffering from allergy-induced asthma over the last couple of years, which now surfaces 1-3x a year and CB waking up sneezing for months and months now, we have decided to invest in a good air purifier. I hope this helps everyone breathe better in the house, especially at night.
The parent/teacher conference at CB’s preschool was yesterday. They were extremely receptive to my suggestions. It is a very different perspective from what we experienced at the public preschool. At the public preschool, it was like the teacher would appease us by listening but never actually make any changes based off our suggestions or comments. At CB’s current preschool, the main teacher and 2 teaching assistant’s attended and were basically like please share all your thoughts, and made changes to what and how they were teaching CB within less than 24 hours. They even asked for me to observe each month and share my thoughts, as well as, to meet monthly for updates. It is so much the opposite, that I am still not 100% sure how I feel about it :). Obviously, it is way better than last year. I guess I just want to feel like they know more than me about teaching but that I know the most about my kid. And time will tell how the teaching goes, but socially, emotionally, and physically, CB is doing quite well there. I even think his confidence is growing so it is definitely a much better fit for CB for now!
CB and HB are so pumped about Halloween and trick-or-treating this year! I can’t wait for Saturday!!