Some highlights of our days

While currently only Veronika is being homeschooled we make it a bit deal to make sure the kids get lots of excersise and get their energy out before we start working on anything. By getting their blood flowing and getting them to move around a lot,

 with playing on the Gorilla Gym

Playing outside in the snow

 Riding the wiggle bike

Or dancing to the music

Or riding therapy bikes 

Exercise  is important because It signals the release of serotonin, which is a mood booster, dopamine, which helps with  learning and attention; and norepinephrine, which helps with alertness and attention.  According to  John J. Ratey, Ph.D., a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical Schoo,  "By elevating neurotransmitters in the brain, it helps us focus, feel better, and release tension."

Once they have gotten all their wiggles out they are able to focus more. 

That is when we start getting some work done.

 Willow has been working on writing her name. I wrote the top one for her so she could look at it and see all the letters, she wrote the bottom one.

 Veronika worked on counting the items on the puzzle card then finding the numeral that matches. Once she found the correct puzzle piece she counted out the bears and put enough bears to match the numerals

Another important part of our day is sensory play. 

This is oobleck. I love how it feels hard when you press it or try to pick it up...

but once it is in your hands it "melts"
Because it can act like both a solid and a liquid it is called a discrepant substance. With oobleck, pressure or lack of pressure influences the state of oobleck. By squeezing or trying to pick up the oobleck, or pressing on it, it feels solid, but when you just hold it and do not apply pressure it turns into liquid. It is pretty messy but very easy to make *cornstarch and water* and so much fun!

Water beads are also a lot of fun! 

 

One of the kids favorite toys is magnet blocks. 

I love how many endless possibilities there are with these magnet blocks and how the kids will often look through them so they can see the room in different colors. By putting two different colors together they can "color mix" and get a new color. They lover doing this! 

Growth

Since pulling Veronika from school in December we have had one month of intensive PT, where she was doing PT 5 days per week for 3 hours per day. We will do a few more sessions of this throughout the year but I love watching her grow so much stronger and confident in her abilities!
She will have a two week session of intensive OT in March and we are very excited about that!
Well, back in November, Veronika was working hard on putting together the little toddler 9 piece puzzles. She was getting better, but still could have worked on it longer. However, for Christmas she got two 24 piece puzzles. To motivate her, they were of her favorite cartoon, Doc McStuffins. With us being so busy in January doing PT we never had time to get the puzzles out and work on them, so it wasn't until this month we finally broke them out for her to give them a try.
The first time we put the puzzle together I helped her a lot. We talked about corner pieces and how they have two straight sides, we talked about the pictures on the puzzle pieces, and how we always have to look at each piece carefully and reference back to the picture on the box of what it needs to look like when it is done. The second time she put it together ON HER OWN!!!!!!!!!!!! I was blown away! Blown Away!!!

Another wonderful thing she has been doing is being more active in wanting to do art. I have made sure she has access to scissors, glue, paper, pens, pencils, markers, and crayons. She has been going on her own to get what she wants and then working on her own projects. This is great for her creativity, plus gives her a chance to work on her fine motor skills which are so weak. (hence our need for intensive OT)

She also enjoyed playing soccer this winter and is looking forward to t-ball in the spring! We are blessed to have "adaptive" soccer and t-ball for kids in our area. It was a great intro to playing on a field, kicking a ball, and not having the pressure of a real game. Once she gains confidence and gets more skills then we can always move on to a typical soccer/t-ball team, but for now it is about gaining confidence, skills, and just having fun.
Just so proud of this girl!!!