Summertime

We are six days into Tucker's Intense Summer program. He is in 3-5 hours of special preschool and therapy each day. I really should be updating this blog everyday, because everyday there is so much to update about, good and bad! Tucker had gym therapy last summer and did okay with it, well this summer he is thrilled to be back! He is four years old (as you all know!) and he is with the two year old class, which bums me out. He needs as much help as the 2 year olds, and he is at about their physical level, so it makes sense. He doesn't care, of course, he just loves to be at gym with "Bittee" (Britni). He is also loving his new preschool, he goes Mon-Fri from 9am-noon. It's near Blue Bayou, not far from Mrs. Mia's shop. So it's a little too far for me to go home in between, which has left me with time to run errands, read, and work out, yay for Mommy time:) I was also a little bummed to learn that Tucker is in the lower-functioning preschool class. They usually have 4-6 kids per class, and this year many kids signed up. So they split them up based on their needs. Tucker is in a class that really focuses on language and eating therapy, which my goodness! he really needs, so I am okay with all of it. He is continuing with eating therapy (OT) twice a week, as well as one hour of speech therapy at home each week. His eating has improved, bit by bit, but he is not eating nearly enough to go down on any of his tube feedings. In fact, he would much rather lick food, then feed it to any nearby animals...

Tucker with Sarah's dog Eli...Eli follows Tucker around all the time, hoping for leftovers! ....or just throw the licked food on the ground! Gina calls this food "Tuckerized", and you have to check all the food you eat, because there's a chance all chips and crackers have been previously licked, then put back in the bag! Tucker has also started swimming Physical Therapy. It is through the same company that he does OT and gym with. Tucker has always loved water, and now that his trach is out, I wanted him to really experience a pool! Well now that it is allowed, he decided he doesn't really like it:( The first two times, he said, "fimmin, fimmin!" like he was so excited to go, then screamed "out" the whole time that he was in the pool! This is a pic of him waiting for his turn...

He is so pale! And skinny! This time (his third session out of eight) he did much better. They played in the kiddie pool and the big pool, so maybe this is the beginning of his love of water

With all of this going on, we have had a nice break from doctors! Tucker went to his 4 year check up at the pediatrician on Tuesday, and he was NOT happy to be back in a doctor's office. It was a "routine" appointment, I guess, most kids go to the ped once a year to check on growth and regular stuff. We mainly catch the ped up with everything that's been going on! She knows, of course, since all of the specialists send her regular reports. I noticed a brochure for the BR Clinic pediatric psychology program. I looked over it and asked the dr about it. She said Tucker could maybe benefit from it with his eating issues and attention issues. They would do a complete assessment of all of his issues (this could take a while!), and then maybe put him on a behavior plan. I have been wanting to pursue this route for awhile, so I am glad that I saw that brochure.

Tomorrow will be 4 weeks since Tucker's muscle biopsy, so hopefully we just have another 4 weeks before we have some results from that and the lumbar puncture.