Joy is on the move! Yes, that's right.
Church. Last Sunday, we promoted Joy to the
Tiny Tigers class at
Ambassador Bible Church. She had a hard adjusting as she cried throughout the class. She didn't want to participate during music time and looked very distraught so the teachers paged me to console her. During snack time, Joy sat on my lap crying while the other kids ate their goldfish. The turning point occured when they took out the coloring sheets and crayons and Joy immediately stood up. With all the kids coloring, she wanted to participate too. Then the teachers brought out the books and puzzles and suddenly Joy was reaching over to grab stuff. I took a few steps back and let her play. It was beautiful to see her interacting with other kids.
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| Joy playing with puzzles and books |
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Music Class. As you probably already know, Joy LOVES music. Whenever we drive somewhere, she gets upset when we don't play pandora music. She smiles, dances, shakes her butt, etc. So this week, we took Joy to a music class (
Music for Tots) in North Potomac. Selena and I were a little concerned because the class falls dead smack during her nap time but we wanted to give it a try. She also has a friend (yes, he happens to be a boy) who also attends the class. Joy had a blast so we are going to sign her up for more music classes. I hope one day she'll learn piano, violin, etc. =D
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| Jackson and Joy |
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| Snowflake, snowflake, little snowflake... |
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| Selena and Joy |
Discharged from Physical Therapy! Joy has made great strides with her physical development. She now walks around the house (very little crawling) and often grabs our hand and leads us from place to place. She also crawls up the stairs and is starting to figure out how to crawl down the stairs. This week, she was discharged from physical therapy (hurray!) but the county will start providing services to help Joy with her speech and language development. Very thankful for all the assistance from Randi, her PT.
Here is Joy having fun climbing the stairs:
Bad Joy! And just so you don't think Joy is always a perfect child, she is not. She has been throwing food on the floor during meals along with some tantrums lately. Enjoy the tantrum!
Finally, here are some cool pictures of me and Joy. Enjoy!
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| Reading promotes imagination |
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| Bedtime fun |
Test (sorry for the spam-like look)
ReplyDeleteDear Thomas,
ReplyDeleteI found you late one night recently in the midst of an anxiety attack about trying to wean my daughter from her feeding tube. Thank you so much for sharing so much about your personal, private story for others. Sadly, we had to opt for a G-tube, which was the best decision for her and our family. I know you have a newborn at home, so I will try to be succinct.
We have just moved to the DC area and are desperate to find OT help. I am ready for the Spectrum Pediatrics intensive program, but to even consider reimbursement with insurance, we have to prove we've exhausted traditional methods first. In our area, there are no specialists who have expertise in infant feeding who accept our insurance nor are there any OTs through the state Early Intervention Infant and Toddlers Program who know about infant feeding. This puts us in a catch-22, as we need traditional OT but it isn't offered anywhere. I could pay out of pocket, but if I'm going to do that, I'd rather opt for Spectrum directly. I saw that you received OT via Children's National Hospital. How did you access this? We have been twice for her G-tube to be checked but were never offered any other therapies. On their website it appears that they offer OT, and they do accept our insurance, so I am very curious to hear your story.
Thank you again for sharing Joy and her story. It offered so much hope to me in a moment of need. Blessings to you and your family.
Kind regards,
Lesley Magnussen
did you get my reply?
Deleteok I guess not. Here goes again...
Deletewe had to go through the same thing with our insurance. That's why we took our daughter to Kennedy Krieger for OT/feeding and Children's for speech/feeding. We met with Laura Mcwade (GI/Feeding on 4th floor; http://childrensnational.org/choose-childrens/find-a-provider/laura-mcwade-paez?sc_lang=en) and she put us in touch with Johanna Motz in the speech dept. We also met with Sonia Sehgal (GI doctor) but that was more for the medical stuff. But in hindsight, we probably could have made an apt directly with speech/feeding which is on the main floor behind the elevators near the cafe. If you're not planning to be there in person, I would try calling the hearing and speech dept first (https://childrensnational.org/departments/hearing-and-speech?sc_lang=en) and ask if they can put you in touch with the right therapist. For our insurance, we were responsible for the co-pay. If they can't help, try calling the Eating Disorders Clinic (https://childrensnational.org/departments/eating-disorders-clinic).
Let me know if you need any other advice or help. Happy to help!