Swim Therapy

Evan had swim therapy during the summer but the only take away was his sudden aversion and fear of water. He went from being careless around water to being scared of it. We started therapy again this fall with a new therapist at an indoor pool. She was fabulous. For the first 20 minutes he clung to her with feet and hands. Then he was letting go, splashing, licking the water, and playing with dinosaurs she brought for him. It was amazing to see the transformation in one session.

Hand Foot & Mouth

It was only a matter of time until Evan got sick with something new. He continues to lick everything and put things in his mouth for sensory input. Several weeks ago he had a high fever of 102.1 on a Friday evening. On Saturday morning, he had no fever and ate great. However, I noticed his mouth had a couple little sores on them, but he often does this if food comes in contact with him for too long. However, by Saturday evening, I knew it was something altogether different. This always happens on a weekend!

Day 1 - tiny little red spots on top of his hand, knee, and mouth.

Day 2 - spots have now covered his feet and started on the palms of his hands and arms.

Day 3 - All limbs are completely covered in spots - millions of them. His mouth, chin, and nose have clusters of them. The doctor prescribed an antibiotic ointment for the bad ones so they would not get infected. It was confirmed Hand, Foot & Mouth disease. 

The next day he got a few more on his ears and up his legs, but they started to not be as bright red. After a couple of days they faded out. He had no more open sores and all the big ones had scabbed over. He missed a week of school. The nurse said no other cases had been reported to her so hopefully we caught his quickly and kept him isolated long enough. Alex never caught it either. 

After two weeks, there are visible scars on his hands from where the spots were. 

At the end of two weeks, his skin on his toes and fingertips has started to slough off and look like a skin peel. It only did this on his left hand (thumb and forefinger) and his left foot. 

Two weeks and 3 days - still peeling that looks like blisters. 

Thank goodness the only effect from this disease was a horrible rash. No sickness involved!

Mommy Son Date Night with Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A sponsored a Mommy Son Date Night near the end of September. My mom and I took the boys to a fun night out at the Upward Star Center. When the Chick-fil-A cow came out Alex was in heaven. He kept constant tabs on the cow and pointed him out every few minutes. We had our pictures made at a photo op station. We also had our caricatures drawn. Alex tried out the batting cage by swinging his bat at the t-ball. We ate lots of good chicken, fruit, chips, and cookies.

 Mr. Keith Laws is the owner of the Westgate Drive-Thru location. He is so good to my boys.

Back to School

I know I'm over a month late in posting our back to school pictures. Alex has returned to the ELC at our church. He is in the 3 year old class. We are working on skills such as potty training, sharing with others, and basic education. He's a talker and knows all of his letters, colors, and numbers, so at this point I'm hoping some discipline and structure will benefit him the most.

Evan is in a special needs pre-K class again this year. He qualified as a 5 year old to attend kindergarten, but we wanted to give him a chance to really learn some skills and have the smaller class size with pull out sessions for O.T., speech, and P.T.  He attends the CDC for District 6 and has a new teacher this year. The awesome thing that happened this year is he now has a one-on-one helper. This helper will help him in all daily tasks such as holding a pencil, sitting in a chair, walking down the hall, bathroom etiquette, and more. Since Evan puts everything in his mouth, this slight redirection will greatly benefit him. It also gives the teacher an opportunity to teach rather than constant monitoring of his behavior.

They both had great starts to the year so here's hoping we see lots of progress!

 Evan's shadow, Hannah.