The Latest On Rex

This is Rex’s last week at home before he starts preschool on Tuesday.  He will be there from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm each day for the official program and then in after-care 4 out of 5 days a week until Craig can pick him up on his way home from work.  While we are getting ready for the big transition, Rex continues to make developmental progress.  Sometimes it blows me away when I think about what he was like a year ago and where he is now.

Rex has learned to wave hi and bye.  Funny examples of this new social skill: I was on the phone with my mom one day and Rex climbed into my lap.  I asked him, "Say hi to Oma," and he waved at the phone.  He has also started walking his Ms. Rie to the door, holding her hand, at the end of his sessions and then waving after her.  It's so sweet.  

As I blogged last week, Rex has figured out how to spin a top and stack pegs the right way.  He now responds accurately to the receptive command “clap” and he imitates arms up and touch belly. He has learned how to sit in a strap swing and hold on while someone pushes him and he’s starting to be able to make some very rudimentary verbal imitations.  He now has a total of 15 signs, including personalized but consistent versions of ball, sandwich, and open.  Rex has also invented a game of peekaboo hide and seek where he hides under the grill cover or couch blanket and Craig has to find him with much fanfare.  When Craig finally lifts the cover, Rex giggles like crazy, sometimes even before when daddy is still searching.   We are in process of teaching him a sign for hide and Rex is just beginning to use it independently. And oh yeah, he’s figured out how to open child proof caps on medications (I always say they shouldn’t call it child-proof until Rex has tested it).  It would be nice now if he could just get into the habit of putting in his own eye drops twice a week, too.

Rex has had to handle a lot of changes in recent weeks from attending day camp to saying good-bye to two of our wonderful therapists, Ms. Kristen and Ms. Tara. Kristen had been working with Rex since his first month home and Tara joined his team in October.  Both helped him so much in acquiring new skills over the last year.

Rex working with Ms. Kristen

Thank You card Rex made for Ms. Tara

I know there are transitions still ahead in the coming weeks, but I believe that our son will cope to the best of his ability and rise to his fullest potential.  He has already exceeded what some doctors thought possible for him and I know he will continue to do so.