embroidery and therapy

so, for mother's day i got this cool book that i've been wanting for a while now. it's about how to be a crafty, creative, active family with cool ideas and suggestions. she (the author) recommends embroidery as a creative outlet for children as young as three. i thought, "wow, parker could really like that" and i was right! she got so excited about going to the craft store and picking out a hoop, thread, and fabric. she makes grammy so proud!

she could hardly wait to get started. here are some pictures of her busy at her new craft. she's already ready to move on to beyond the beginner stuff.



now, for an update on macy... her speech therapy is going well. we had a really good session this week and learned more things we can do to help her. this whole process has been so interesting and i've learned so much! even though her therapist thinks she has dysarthria, it may or may not be tied in with other speech disorders (apraxia, dyspraxia). it can be kind of difficult to get a certain diagnosis.

what has been so interesting has been to learn how her eating "issues" are related to her speech disorder. when we first started this process and maureen (the therapist) asked me if she has any feeding issues i actually got chills and screamed, "yes!" because i ALWAYS knew that she was more than just a picky eater. a mother just knows! sure enough, it is a major symptom. the fact that she only eats oatmeal, yogurt, and macaroni and cheese (because they don't require chewing) shows that she doesn't use her oral muscles properly. And like maureen says, "if she's not using those muscles for eating, she's not using them for talking, and talking is A LOT harder than eating."

as for macy herself, she definitely knows what we're trying to do. that's another thing we've learned. we can't be pushy or tell her to say anything. that's very frustrating for her because she already knows that she has a problem. it's all about modeling and emphasizing words during play. very casual and non-threatening.

so, even though maureen says macy's disorder is not mild, there is hope! of course there is. we're starting her young, and that's one of the best things you can do.