Water, Pom poms and Puppy

I am giving Olivia a chance to practice sponge squeezing.  She is not too good at squeezing, but  she is improving. This is such an easy activity for typical two year olds.  I was surprised how even squeezing a sponge has to be taught with great effort  and even this is a sensory issue. But she is making progress.  The OT is so impressed with the progress I have made with Olivia in her Sensory Processing Disorder in the past year.  I work really hard at it!  Nice to hear the compliment from the OT.  The PT has commented about how great I have done at getting Olivia to be more outgoing and social and adventuresome.  Again.  It seems that we special needs moms get so much criticism even though we work so hard, so when I get the rare compliment it means so much and keeps me fueled. This has been a tough week with my husband in the hospital with an ulcer.  I kept life even keel and happy and productive for Olivia in the midst of my worry. Of course only to hear criticism.   I have had many conversations with Adoptive Moms of kids with Ds.  We all have the same reason for adopting:  A call from God.  We really cannot explain it, but once God planted the idea in our heads we could not rest until we had that special child in our arms.  It is not easy raising  a child with Ds, but we hear that whisper of God saying YES this is my will for you.  One mom told me before we adopted that we would receive much praise and much criticism for adopting a child with Ds.  And it is true, It is still hard to hear the criticism, but I know that God's will is more important than the critics.  This Sunday my parents are going on a walk to support life. My husband and I feel that we have to defend life with our very lives.  I think that was part of God's calling to us. Don't just say you value life.  Raise one of my very special children!

This is one way that I set up the sponge work.  Bowl with a bit of water.  Small sponges and Elmo to entice her to stay focused and she will wash him too.   Elmo is a big motivator.   We know that our special needs kids need their motivators!!!!  Once we found that Elmo motivated Olivia, we were able to get her to do so many things we were struggling with before!  I wonder if we could open up our home study again and proceed to adopt Elmo!  

Again with a Sensory activity.  The Pom Poms are great!  They have also motivated her to practice pouring and another grasp release activity.  But we cannot leave them out unattended as she will put them in her mouth if no one is watching.      

This Fisher Price Puppy has been her time tested favorite toy from Christmas. Grandma and Grandpa B hit the nail on the head with this one!  It is so motivating to get her to move and dance and clap and  move up and down etc!  Her OT uses this toy and it has been great to own one ourselves.  Olivia is still perfecting her walking skills so anything that motivates her to practice is awesome!

Olivia has finally mastered crawling up on to the sofa and turning around to sit then getting onto her tummy to get herself down safely.  Again! I worked so hard on this one.  It is a joy and celebration every time I see her do it! We work so hard for everything that we really appreciate it when we get it!   I  love the evenings when we can sit on the sofa and she brings us books and climbs up so we can read to her.  Now that Daddy is safely home we can hope to have our missed family time back again.  It has been so sad to have Daddy gone. It is the little things I missed when he was gone.  I missed having him hold hands with us when we prayed, sitting and reading with us, dancing with us,  group hugs, family time getting Olivia into the bath and kissing good night.  So nice to know Daddy is under our roof where I can take care of him and kiss and hug him and know he is ok.  I really missed him.  I can handle keeping life going.  But I really missed the little things of having my husband home!!!!! Stay well sweetie!!! I love you!!!!!  I miss your presence so much when you are away.  Love you!!!!!!