Owen's Accomplishments

"Mom.. do I look COOL?  Like Dad?  You like my style?"

Yes. Yes. and Yes!

Owen is growing and changing so much lately. I have been wanting to do a "what's up with Owen" post for a while.  This boy is working hard and catching up.

Owen's speech therapist comes every other week to work with him on his articulation issues.  He is missing his back sounds still.. "k, ck, gu".  His "th, ssss" sounds are not totally clear, but getting better.   His vocabulary is amazing and he is quite the jokester.  His speech therapist is always trying to get him to do picture tests.. "can you look at the picture and show me the boy that is finished with his dinner?" My favorite was when she asked ..

"Can you show me the bowl that is full?"

{there were four pictures of bowls, each had an apple, or two, or three, and one was empty}

Owen points to the empty bowl. 

We look at him again and repeat the question.

He continues to point to the empty bowl.

Then I ask.. 

"really Owen?  What is that bowl full of?"

"It's full of NOTHING!!"

He's a clever one.

Owen likes to read books and tell me the story based on what he's heard in the past or just from the illustrations.  He is recognizing tons of site words, but mostly those that have to do with Superheros.  He can log onto any website he wants to play and knows how to find pbskids.org, heroup.com, and Disney.com without assistance.  Owen can beat up the bad guys, cast spells, play every game and even do addition on some of the pbskids games.  Who says video games aren't good for development? Psh. I beg to differ.  This boy has ridiculous hand/eye coordination and can manipulate small objects better than I can. 

Owen's fine motor skills are another he excels at.  He's not exactly artistic, but he can draw inside the lines, completes mazes with accuracy and can sort of write his name.  His artwork consists of scribbles of many different colors, but maybe that's just his style. He can draw circles, squares and straight lines, but he just doesn't prefer to put them together.  He gets bored with puzzles, but completes them with little frustration.  He can velcro, snap, and zip.. but buckles and ties have room for improvement.  Owen is dressing himself (mostly) and brushes his own teeth.  He can untangle his oxygen tubing, administer his own meds and he is always closing his gtube that I leave open.

Owen loves gymnastic SO much!  His physical therapist is great and he works hard for her.  This is Owen's biggest challenge as he has severe gross motor delays, but he is making progress.  His gait is still so immature and his muscle tone is weak.  He doesn't jump, run or climb much, but those are goals we have set for him.  He is working on stepping up and down stairs rather than climbing or crawling.  He also has been working on bouncing on the trampoline.  It took months to get him strong enough to stand in one place on the trampoline while his PT bounces around him.  He used to fall over and couldn't stand up.. now he's holding his ground.  Baby step.  He can climb across the entire foam pit, walks well on the tumble tramp and can do "flips" (sommersaults).  He gets winded SO easily, but we are working on walking up the stairs to build his quad muscles.. he currently crawls up which is so much harder.  He used to hate the balance beam, but can now walk side by side and front or back.  HUGE progress.  His biggest accomplishment this week was that he has overcome his fear of swinging in a real swing, unsupported.  He is also walking across the sand more, which requires more strength than walking on a solid surface.  He will catch up eventually. :)

Ever since Owen learned to swallow his food, rather than pocket it in his cheek, he has been eating more!  He doesn't like pureed foods, and he's not a fan of sugar.  He likes a little bit of chocolate, but prefers salty and savory foods. He usually asks for celery sticks, carrots, cheese, pretzels, strawberries, blueberries, goldfish, and meats.  He doesn't like breakfast and chows down at dinner!   He likes to snack at night rather than during the day.  I am still tube feeding him 100% of the time, but he is eating more orally so I just count that as extra calories.  I can't even tell you how excited I am at how well his eating has improved.  At 3 months, he wouldn't even put a paci in his mouth he had such a bad oral aversion.  It has been a long road and one that isn't even close to over.. but progress is great!!

I am convinced that Owen is having a growth spurt as he is eating more and started napping again!  Just this week he has been so exhausted around 3pm, and he just crashes.  I would be concerned, but he is eating so much more that I have to assume that he is finally going to break the 33lb weight plateau he's been at forever!! 

Owen is amazing!!  We are so excited at how much progress he has made over the last year, and even the last few months.  Owen has asked if he can start preschool in the fall when Kamryn goes to Junior High, and so I'm doing my best to find the right fit for him.  I am extremely concerned about germs, as are his Cardiologist and Pediatrician, but am confident we will work something out.  It will be so good for him developmentally and socially!

We are so grateful for how far he has come.  Amazed at his strength. Proud of his determination.