Daily Log: December 11

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a good day.

Sammie was in a slightly tempermental mood.

Mom and Dad were in a good, but tired moods.

The weather was cold.

Daily Notes: Busy but great day!

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 830am
• Nap Time: 1245pm-230pm
• 'Bed' Time: 930pm
• Notes: Sammie's first "normal" nap in a long time. He seemed very relieved. 

Food

• Breakfast: eggos
• Snack: crackers and water
• Lunch: 2 yogurts, refused English muffin with PBJ, refused apple sauce 
• Snack: banana, ritz bites, apple juice
• Dinner: Kraft Dinner
• Snack: Happy Meal fries (refused burger)
• New foods introduced: Attempted English Muffin
• Notes: 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: AM Playdate with Tanika, Annabelle, Tara and Tobin. (And moms). It was mostly good, though Tobin's sour mood and screaming was very upsetting to Sammie.  He played very nicely with Annabelle after the older kids left, but was obviously tired and needed sleep. (Frequent, short crying episodes)
• Mom/Dad Time: PM: CPP Holiday train. Absolute awesomeness in every single way. 
• Mamelie Time: N/A
• Quiet Time: After naps- quietly snuggled with Mom, watching Thomas. Played with finger painting and with beading. 
• Outdoor Time: Holiday train (very very cold- we were out for about an hour)
• TV Time: About an hour
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: None
• Gross Motor Time: Mostly self-stimulatory, around the house. 
• Notes: 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Tongue-blowing raspberries
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Holiday train
• New words or sounds observed: Seems to be saying "Hi" when we say hi, and 'yeah'/yup more often. 
• New activities or play observed: VERY actively enjoying playing with Tinkie Winkie and Oopsy Daisy. He likes pretending that they are riding the trains. When he puts them down, they are almost always holding hands. 
• New gestures or signs observed:  When Erie asked him "Sam Waves?" when saying goodbye, he clearly waved to her while making eye contact. He also clearly greeted Trin/Tanika when they came over and smiled warmly to both of them (he doesn't know them well so this is notable).
• New behaviours observed: 
• Sammie was very upset by Tobin's crying and screaming today. At one point, he seemed to be genuinely frightened and it took until naptime before I noticed him return to normal. Sammie is not often exposed to screaming/yelling, so this was very far out of his element. He did seem concerned about Tobin's crying at one point, but did not stay in the room because Tobin was uphappy that he was there. 
• Sammie was exceptionally cooperative while doing the craft projects today. He painted both with a brush and even with his fingers.  He did a little bit of beading but had been doing quiet activities for 30 minutes by this point and got bored. Tomorrow we will do more beading and painting, but spread out throughout the day.  We will also introduce foam shapes. 
• New friends or social activities observed: Sammie *really* enjoyed Trin and Tanika's company.  He even held Trin's hand at one point (knowing she wasn't me, since he reached for my hand as well and tried to guide us to his bedroom). Annabelle is clearly Sammie's favourite and he relaxes when she is around. 
• Notes: Holiday train was awesome. His eyes were big like saucers and he was enthralled by it.  Sadly it was very cold, but he wiggled and danced around to keep himself warm :) 

Daily Log: December 10

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was an exhausting day.

Sammie was in an overall very good mood.

Mom and Dad were in exhausted moods- down time is necessary in the near future to prevent burn out.

The weather was cold and wet.

Daily Notes: 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 9am
• Nap Time: ...5pm until 615pm(*sigh*)
• 'Bed' Time: 1030pm
• Notes: Naptime delayed by a late playdate...again. This needs to stop in a big way. 

Food

• Breakfast: Eggos
• Snack: crackers
• Lunch: PBJ
• Snack: yogurt and banana
• Dinner: Happy Meal (car problems led to dinner being on the road.
• Snack: Cereal and milk before bed
• New foods introduced: n/a
• Notes: 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Visit with Beth/Annabelle/Erie (no T&T)
• Mom/Dad Time: Evening time at the pool after the tire got fixed
• Mamelie Time: N/A
• Quiet Time: Very little- he was wired after a late playdate and refused to sleep/calm down. 
• Outdoor Time: None
• TV Time: +1.5 hours
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: None
• Gross Motor Time: Around the house and pool time from 815-9pm
• Notes: 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Blowing bubbles in the pool
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Swimming and out costco outing. 
• New words or sounds observed: N/A
• New activities or play observed: Plays very nicely with Annabelle- even allowed her to share his trains, though more reluctantly.  Spent a lot of time carrying around Spike and T/O dolls. 
• New gestures or signs observed: Nothing new. 
• New behaviours observed: 
• Has been matching the other vehicles on the blocks and has also been more actively matching the animals on the fridge. 
• Sat nicely beside Annabelle in the grocery cart. They played with each other's hair and even held hands at one point. She is his best friend. 
• Greeted Erie with a big smile and gave her a hug. 
• Sammie is showing signs of wanting to do things more on his own (ie: showering and having his hair washed standing up).  
• New friends or social activities observed:
• Sammie is getting very close to Annabelle and enjoys her company a great deal. 
• Notes: N/A

Daily Log: Dec 7-8-9

Sammie's Daily Log

Weekend Summary: An extremely busy weekend led to little time for blogging, so we will combine everything into one big post. This may wind up being the reality for most weekends leading up to Christmas simply because of over programming. 

Overall, this was a very good weekend.

Sammie was in a wonderful mood, but noticeably off his routine.

Mom and Dad were in good moods, but very tired and already feeling the stress of the holiday season.

The weather was very very cold and windy. It was definitely not a play-outside weekend for us.

Weekend Notes: A very busy weekend, both with errands and social engagements. Sammie did very well adapting to his routine, but he definitely was off in terms of both eating and sleeping habits, and we did not get to do any specific work with him regarding his communication or speech.  

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 9 am on Friday, 10 am on Saturday, 8 am on Sunday.
• Nap Time:  Depended on the day. Friday was very late- 45 minutes at 5pm, Saturday was much of the same. Sunday, 3pm until about 5pm.  
• 'Bed' Time: Past 10 all nights except Sunday night. 
• Notes: During the holiday season, it is imperative that we make Sammie's routine a clear priority with our friends and family.  He is often treated as if his needs are secondary to the group or as if he should just "adapt".  Mom and Dad will need to be more assertive and more definitive in asking people to leave our home during nap time, and/or not come until after he's awake. 

Food

• Breakfast: Two eggos is pretty standard in the am.
• Snack: AM snacks were often had downstairs with Mamelie while Mom and Dad tended to errands.
• Lunch: Standard lunch items
• Snack:  Standard snack items
• Dinner:  Standard dinner items
• Snack: Standard snack items
• New foods introduced: Cinnamon Eggos seemed to go over well. 
• Notes: None- food was not accurately tracked over the weekend. 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: 
• Friday: Alicia and Zack were over all day on Saturday. Sammie and Zack played quite nicely together- they seem to have a found a bit of a groove with each other. 
• Saturday: Sammie had a visit with Gramma and Auntie Cristan in the late afternoon (he was much more engaged with them than he usually is), and Antoine/Heidi and Nico in the evening.  Morning was spent with Mamelie. 
• More visiting with A/H/N on Sunday while taking pictures. Sammie was rather cooperative- as far as toddlers go. Late afternoon was spent with Mamelie while mom and dad did errands. Swimming time in the PM.
• Mom/Dad Time: 
• Less one on one than usual.  Dad had some good quality time on Sunday am and swimming was a family activity as per usual. 
• Mamelie Time: Lots of time this weekend. 
• Quiet Time: Less than usual- he was not often alone and may need a little downtime. 
• Outdoor Time: None- it was very cold this weekend. 
• TV Time: More than usual- Mamelie freely allows TV/Movies on downstairs when Sammie is down there so it is always on the background. This is not the standard that we are hoping to maintain for him on weekends as we find it overstimulates him. 
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: More than usual- see above. 
• Gross Motor Time: Aside from swimming on Sunday evening, Sammie was left to fend for himself as far as gross motor stimulation goes.  Lots of indoor running, climbing and jumping around which seemed to keep him happy. 
• Notes: n/a

Milestones:

• Favourite Sounds: No specific sounds noticed but lots of raspberries and tongue play  
• Favourite Activity: Lots of running around, and swimming is always a hit.  
• New words or sounds observed: "Yup" has been used a few times, in an appropriate context. Not sure if it is an actual response yet, but it has been noted. 
• New activities or play observed: He has been playing a LOT more with him dolls (Tinkie Winkie and Oopsy Daisy)- he takes them whereever he goes and like to make them ride trains, hide in cars, etc.
• New gestures or signs observed:  He did a "come" sign to his basketball when it ran away. Lots of "no" gestures, in appropriate places. Occasional head nod for yes. 
• New behaviours observed: 
• He is definitely more social and engaged with his family members- this was also noted by gramma. He actively played in front of her, showed her many of his "tricks" and stayed in the room with us almost the entire time they were here. (This is very rare).  He even gave some hugs, though not as openly. 
• New friends or social activities observed:
• Sammie is starting to actively greet people that he is excited to see at the doorway.  This included Zack- when Sammie saw him he looked right at him and gave him a great big smile hello!
• Notes: Not a bad weekend, but more one on one time with parents and some extra quiet time would probably have benefited Sammie. Getting him back on his routine is a must as he is much more receptive to learning and repeating behaviour when he is well rested. 

Daily Log: Back Into The Groove

So as you can see, I've taken a week off of logging.  I wasn't intending on taking a week, but it just happened.  In truth, I think my brain needed a bit of a break from over-thinking and over-observing, and I was finding myself spending more time thinking about what to log than I was really getting in tune with my son.  But also, with a variety of issues happening in my pregnancy, I needed to reallocate some energy to focusing on "me".

Sammie and I had a couple of "off days" this week.  I haven't had the energy to devote to him, and I haven't been able to give him the gross motor/play stimulation that he's used to because of my reduced mobility.  But we've also had some really great moments, and it has been overall a very good week.

Sleep:
This has been an area of struggle this week. Getting Sammie to wake up at his normal time has been challenging. He woke up throughout the night on several occasions and this led to long mornings spent sleeping in. This, in turn threw off his nap schedule and led to later nights.  We're starting to get him back to the point that he was at and are hoping to see an improvement over the next few days.

Food:
No major changes here.  We've started introducing more milk using cereal (both the 'hot' baby kind and regular cereal).  Sammie is doing really well with feeding himself and prefers to do it now.  However, he is still a ridiculously messy eater so accuracy and learning how to take smaller bites will be a priority.

Social Time: We've been pretty good at getting friends to visit us this week so Sammie has had a chance to get some social time in. However, finding opportunities for him to play with him peers more often will be important in the next coming weeks.

Mom/Dad: Our evenings have been spent as a family, either at home or out doing some Christmas shopping/errands/ swimming, etc.  Sammie obviously thrives when we are all three of us together. Making family time a priority has had a very positive influence on his receptive skills and his gesturing.

Mamelie: Sammie spent a lot of the weekend with Mamelie while Mom and Dad built the new baby's nursery.  You can hear his laughter all the way upstairs, and he thrives spending this one on one with her.  The lack of internet connection has forced all of us to think outside the box in how we engage with him, but he did miss his "app time". :)

Quiet: Sammie has been making sure that he gets his quiet time every day. He is very interested in his puzzles lately and may be ready for the next steps.

Outdoor: A particularly cold week has kept us mostly home bound.  When we run errands, Sammie gets a few minutes of fresh air, but this is insufficient for him.  We will be taking advantage of some warmer days to get more outdoor time.

TV/Ipad: A little more TV than ideal this week, while Mom took some time to rest. We had no internet connection from Friday to Tuesday, so this limited computer opportunities for everyone.

Gross Motor: A great deal of Sammie's gross motor has been self-stimulatory. He has made up for mom's inability to do certain things by running, jumping and climbing around the house. He shows a lot of variety in these activities and takes great joy in them- however, getting him out of the house more often is obviously in need.

Milestones: A few things to note:

• Sammie has been engaging differently with his dog Spike and his Upsy-Daisy doll. He appears to be beginning to understand symbolic play in a more advanced way. 
• Sammie has been enjoying turning various objects into trains- these have no patterns, and any object can take part in the play. 
• Sammie's train play has evolved- he is now very engaged in stacking objects on the trains and seeing how much he can balance while still being able to make things move. 
• Sammie is exploring new ways of using the "block puzzle"- instead of only finding the two train pieces, he is now exploring with matching the other objects.  He recently matched the motorcycle and seemed very proud when we praised him for it. 
• His verbalizing continues to take on more and more words, and he has been exploring different facial expressions more and more.  He has started mimicking some of the expressions that we are making and is taking a renewed interest in our faces. 
• He has gotten increasingly adept at doing the Bingo actions (though he claps his hands instead of jumping), even after taking a long break from seeing the video. 
• Many friends and family members are commenting on how much more involved he is with them, and how he seems to want to play with them more often than he used to. 

Today we will go back to our traditional log method so we can have more up to date information. 

Daily Log: Nov 30, 2012

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary: A wonky-sleep but all-round happy ady.

Overall, today was a happy day.

Sammie was in a mostly cheerful, but tired mood.

Mom and Dad were in tired, and a little rundown (mom)/ alright (dad) moods.

The weather was chilly and windy, overcast.

Daily Notes: 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 730
• Nap Time: Ha. 20 minutes at 1230, and 30 minutest 5pm.
• 'Bed' Time: 10pm
• Notes: Tomorrow, nap will be the first priority. Two days of poor napping has made Sammie's bedtime off completely. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos
• Snack: goldfish
• Lunch: cheerios/milk
• Snack: veggie straws
• Dinner: Had two slider buns, with apple juice at restaurant
• Snack: Huge bowl of hot cereal with 1/2 cup of milk
• New foods introduced:  Attempted freezer dried apples- Sammie was not impressed
• Notes: 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: 
• Morning playdate with Amanda, Ellie, Erie, Tara and Toby. Sammie was in a great mood until the older kids arrived- then he seemed to get overwhelmed and chose to do solo activities for most of the day. He did work on the train with Tara for a while and allowed her to tickle him at the end of the playdate. Toby and Sammie avoided each other rather skillfully. 
• Dinner with Uncle Miles and Auntie Audree- Sammie seemed in a tired mood at first (post second nap) but was quite warm and adorable with them. He took a special liking to Miles. 
• Mom/Dad Time:  Took Sammie swimming at the Y from 8pm until 9pm. It was late but totally worth it as Sammie had a fantastic time. 
• Mamelie Time: n/a
• Quiet Time: Some "quiet" time at Amanda's, playing by himself, as well as some alone time this afternoon while mommy rested her sore belly. 
• Outdoor Time:  None
• TV Time: Less than 1 hour
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: Less than 15 minutes
• Gross Motor Time:  Some self-driven gross motor during the afternoon, and lots at the pool. (Approx 1.5 hours total today)
• Notes: 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Today was a giggly day. Sammie did lots of laughing and sqawking, especially at the pool when he did his "happy dance" in the water. 
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Swimming. 
• New words or sounds observed: No new sounds- just continuing with the conversational style babble, and a great variety of different sounds. 
• New activities or play observed: Shower play time (see behaviours), enjoyed when daddy spun the quarters and handed them to daddy to spin them when they fell. 
• New gestures or signs observed: Not new but lots of "head shakes" for no today. 
• New behaviours observed: Sammie did a lot of "chair dancing" at the restaurant. He also did a lot of dancing and playing around in the pool. He is getting much braver in the water, and was able to pull himself out of the water (quickly and easily) for the first time. He is also launching himself off the mat, and is getting much better at "finding his feet" when he slips and falls into the water. He also engaged in some tactile, floor play in the shower that was devastatingly adorable.  He demanded that we turn the shower on again when we turned it off before he was ready. (He did this by gesturing adamantly/reaching for the handle. (no crying or whinning though).  Also insisted on "drying" a bathing suit when we were going to skip that on our way out. (Showed this by climbing the step, and pushing down on the lid while making eye contact with me). 
• New friends or social activities observed: None
• Notes: 

Daily Log: Nov 28

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a good day.

Sammie was in a quiet, but generally happy mood.

Mom and Dad were in happy moods.

The weather was chilly and windy- too cold for outdoor play.

Daily Notes: 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 8 am
• Nap Time: 115pm-415pm!
• 'Bed' Time: 930pm
• Notes: Super long nap led to a later bed time. Will make sure to wake Sammie up at 8am at the latest so that he doesn't get back into bad habits. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos
• Snack: Crackers and Juice at Erie's. Was not interested in eating much beyond that.
• Lunch: PBJ after nap (430pm)
• Snack: Veggie Straws, lots of water
• Dinner: Failed attempts at roast beef bun and fries. 
• Snack: Muffin, Yogurt after swimming
• New foods introduced: Failed attempt at Roast Beef and Fruit Gums
• Notes: Sammie is not eating much at "dinner"- maybe we should skip the pre-dinner snack?

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Playdate at Erie's in the am. Sam was particularly quiet and kept to himself most of the morning. He seemed very tired today- and Tara and Tobin were in off moods as well (lots of whining/crying unecessarily from all three)
• Mom/Dad Time: Playtime from 5pm until 630pm, YMCA playground from 730-810pm, Pool from 815pm to 845pm.
• Mamelie Time: None
• Quiet Time: AM from 8-930. 
• Outdoor Time: None
• TV Time: Less than 1 hour in the am.
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: None
• Gross Motor Time: Some gross motor games with mom in the AM/Afternoon (lots of "Flip"), Swimming and Playground time. (at least 2 hours total) 
• Notes: 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Lots of variety again- hearing a lot of "monosyllables" and two-syllable sounds that are starting to sound more and more like conversational babble/words and less like repetitive noises. Doing more sound imitating. 
• Favourite Activity of the Day: "Flip" with mom. 
• New words or sounds observed: None
• New activities or play observed: 
• During "Flip", Sammie learned to a) Ask to Play (by taking moms hands and lying on the floor facing her),  b) Ask to play again, by getting up and lying down again in the proper spot. We began to introduce the idea of "First/Then"- by adding a clap. "First we clap, then we flip!"  Proper gestures were used every time by mom and dad, but not mimicked by Sammie yet. 
• Sammie was playing in the dining room by himself and Daddy and Mommy decided to invite him to play with them by running in circles (one of Sammie's favourite activities.) He happily joined in on the activity. 
• Sammie chose to go back into the big pool while in the hot tub because he was not ready to leave. He showed us this by trying repeatedly to swim in the hot tub, and by reaching out his arms for the pool. 
• Sammie was very eager to involve Mom and Dad in all his activities today, and took their hands often to show them what he was doing. 
• He reached for cups when he was thirsty and even brought mom an empty cup when there wasn't a full one available. 
• He had been playing with the shakers and lots interest. Mom said "Oh Sammie! Shake Shake Shake!" and he looked at her, smiled, picked up the Shakers, shaked them vigorously for several seconds before putting them back down.  
• New gestures or signs observed: No new ones observed, but Sammie is reaching out for more things and is starting to use his finger to push buttons (instead of his whole hand or of pushing our hands)
• New behaviours observed: No new behaviours observed, but Sammie is getting signficiantly stronger at reacting to our one or two word commands. When he does not listen, he knows that he is deliberately defying us, and either runs away to hide or starts to whine/cry (this doesn't last very long). 
• New friends or social activities observed: Sammie was a little removed from Tara and Tobin today, but seemed warm and friendly with Erie- even giving her a (prompted) hug goodbye before leaving. He is actively engaging in eye contact with all members of the family, and very responsive when he is called/involved in activities. 
• Notes: None.

Preparing For Programming: Responsive Teaching

We will be beginning a program with Sammie called Responsive Teaching. This is an 8-module long program focused on developing both his social-emotional skills and his communication/language skills.

Having reviewed the curriculum, we have determined that this program will be an excellent match for our parenting and family philosophy as the focus is on creating a nurturing, loving and accepting environment where children are encouraged to flourish and are not admonished for their delays.  This is central to our philosophy on how to approach Sammie and is our guiding principle in our entire approach to his home-education.

Here is a summary of the program, a full description of which can be found here.

Intervention Goals

• Cognition: To enhance children's ability to perceive, know, reason and make choices and to use these competencies in every day routines. 
• Language Communication: To enhance children's ability to engage in conversational exchanges in which they express their observations, feelings and needs, and respond to requests, feelings and needs of others. 
• Social Emotional Functioning: To enhance children's social and emotional well-being so that they feel secure and capable of adjusting to the demands of family life and social interactions. 

Daily Log: Nov 27

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a _ day.

Sammie was in a _ mood.

Mom and Dad were in a _ mood.

The weather was _.

Daily Notes: 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 9am* Wow.
• Nap Time: 330-430pm
• 'Bed' Time: 930pm. 
• Notes: Sammie slept in later than he has in months. It seemed to set him off for the entire day. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos
• Snack: apple and crackers
• Lunch: PBJ (which he helped me make)
• Snack: Cheerios, apple sauce X2
• Dinner:  Hardly anything except a few nacho chips. Would not try them with cheese at all. 
• Snack: Hot cereal with Mamelie after swimming
• New foods introduced: None
• Notes: Hot cereal is made with almost 8 oz of milk, so it seems to be an excellent bed time snack.

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Bev (EIC) in the am, quiet pm
• Mom/Dad Time:  Mom in the AM, some playtime with Daddy during Bev's visit, evening with Mom and Dad. 
• Mamelie Time: After swim, Sammie got about 1 hour downstairs. Internet was down so he and Mamelie played very interactively. 
• Quiet Time: Mostly a quiet afternoon- Sam seemed tired, and off his routine because of his late wake up time. 
• Outdoor Time: None.  
• TV Time: 1 hour in the am. 
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: None
• Gross Motor Time: Some running/playing in the house in the am, a good hard swim in the PM
• Notes: Sammie loves his gross motor- on indoor days, it is important to engage in it with him by turning things into a game. 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day: A really big variety of sounds were present today. Lots of "Mah", "Bah", and "Dah", "Yah", "Uh". He is rediscovering sounds he hasn't used in a very long time.   
• Favourite Activity of the Day:  Sammie loves swimming without his lifejacket and had a great time with Mamelie. 
• New words or sounds observed: Possibly saying "Ya" as a response (ie: Yes).  Seemed to do this a few times. Also seemed to associate "Dah" with Daddy. 
• New activities or play observed:  
• Initiated lots of play with Mamelie, including asking her to join in with some gross motor games.  Reacted and engaged in tickling play back and forth. Is more willing to be kissed and hugged, and even actively sought some hugs and kisses. Active greeting at the door when she came home. Lots of direct eye contact and following instructions. 
• Sammie is getting much braver in the pool and is asserting his independence by choosing his own activities in a more proactive way.  
• New gestures or signs observed: While Sammie isn't engaging in any new signs or gestures, he is responding very favourably to them.  He has caught on to several of our cues, and we are continuing to pair simple commands/words with gestures.  Sammie responsive skills are notably better when we do this- and he is listening and following our directions much more frequently. 
• New behaviours observed: Sammie peed on the floor of the YMCA again- twice. Both times he chose to go on to the floor to do it (as opposed to sitting down on the bench, etc.).  The second time, he actually held his penis to control the flow of liquid.  I believe that he is actively ready for potty training and I need to do some additional reading on how to potty train non-verbal children. 
• New friends or social activities observed: Sammie was patient with turn taking at the slide and always seems interested in the older children. He has been making eye contact and smiling at them more frequently, and doesn't shy away from them the way that he used to. 
• Notes: 
• A relatively good day for Sammie.  While he wasn't at his most receptive or cooperative with Bev, it was a good example of Sammie "at his worst"- or rather, at his least cooperative.  This gives Bev a good baseline to compare his behaviour as he begins to become more comfortable with her. 
• We will be beginning the "Responsive Teaching" program with Bev in two weeks. (http://www.responsiveteaching.org/).  This is an 8 module curriculum that will focus on enhancing Sammie's social-emotional skills and, subsequently, his communication skills. I am very confident he will succeed with this program as he is quite strong socially/emotionally and is eager to learn. 
• The big focus for Mom and Dad will be to:
• Shorten our sentences to one or two words as often as possible and find gestures that accompany these. (We will make a list of common gestures we can use). 
• Be consistent with the words that we use, and repeat them as often as possible to reenforce them. 
• Continue imitating Sam's play and speech. It's the "Match and Raise" idea- we match his behaviour and then raise by one step. (ie: "buh, buh" BOOTS! Yes, Boots!)
• Really keep our eyes open for Sammie's responses and respect them.  When Sammie does respond, we need to act immediately (1/10 second rule) to reenforce that we understood him.  If he refuses something using a gesture or sign, we should respect it immediately. If he shows interest in doing something, we should do it immediately.

Daily Log: Nov 26

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a good day.

Sammie was in a decent mood.

Mom and Dad were in a decent mood.

The weather was chilly.

Daily Notes: 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 745am
• Nap Time: 145-230pm
• 'Bed' Time: 9pm
• Notes: Short nap, due to a wet toosh. Happy baby, but probably an early bed time. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos and water
• Snack: Cheese crackers and juice
• Lunch: Refused all food at Ikea including bun, pasta, meatballs, etc. 
• Snack: Had PBJ after nap and more water
• Dinner: Hot cereal. 
• Snack: 
• New foods introduced: 
• Notes: 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Intellidance/Shopping Playdate with Annabelle and Beth
• Mom/Dad Time: Quiet morning with mom, snuggling and watching Thomas
• Mamelie Time: Some in the PM
• Quiet Time: Did some reading after naps, playing with Marbles at Education Station (20 mins)
• Outdoor Time: Walking to and from stores
• TV Time: Less than 1 hour in am. 
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: Approx 15 mins with Mom (BINGO, and other songs)
• Gross Motor Time:  Intellidance (45 mins) Swimming (45 mins)
• Notes: 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Lots of "Buh" today, and more "Mah" sounds
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Magic Carpet ride at Intellidance and the Marble game at E.S.
• New words or sounds observed: Still using "Buh" sound when putting on Boots
• New activities or play observed: Parallel played beside an older boy with the marbles- Sammie was patient and waited his turn (unprompted) and enjoyed watching the boy put the marbles higher. 
• New gestures or signs observed: No new ones, but lots of reaching, clapping, "up" gestures and "no" gestures. Was able to do do most of the Bingo moves again, though wanted more prompting today than yesterday. 
• New behaviours observed: Not new, but more cooperative at Intellidance. 
• New friends or social activities observed: Sammie gets along very well with Annabelle (20 months) and enjoys her company a lot.  Her quiet nature compliments him and they never fight with each other. 
• Notes: 

Weekly Summary: Nov 16-26

Weekly Summary Nov 16-26: 

Overall Weekly Summary:

This will be a long weekly summary (10 days) because it is the first one we are doing for Bev, Sammie's EIC. 

The past 10 days have been remarkably eye opening for us and for Sammie. Through logging his behaviours, we are able to more clearly identify not only certain patterns emerging, but also to better recognize milestones as they occur and pinpoint the circumstances and learnings that are associated with each. 

The major areas of growth this week were in terms of Sammie's social interactions and engagement. However, he also made some significant ground in terms of his communication (expressive and receptive). 

Overall, this was a very productive week. 

Generally, Sammie was in a particularly receptive mood, proving himself to be very open to learning. 

Generally, Mom and Dad were in a good moods, but a little tired with a lot to do.

Weekly Sleep Summary:

We've made some significant strides with Sammie's sleep patterns. While he has been an excellent sleeper since about 18 months old, we noticed that his naps were unusually long and that his bedtime was quite late for a toddler of his age (10pm or later).  We decided to actively work on getting Sammie to bed at an earlier time (aiming for 830pm, with 9pm being more of a norm.)  Sammie has consistently woken up between 7am and 745am almost every day, and has been taking more reasonable naps (45 minutes to 1.5 hours) since.

Average Night Sleep: Approx: 10.5 hours
Average Nap: Approx: 1.5 hours

Weekly Food Summary:

Sammie still eats quite well, but is a very finicky eater. We've been actively trying to encourage him to try new foods or to re-try foods that he used to like. This has been met with moderate success, and we've managed to re-integrate raspberries, graham crackers, tuna (in macaroni and cheese only) into his diet.  We've also increased Sammie's water intake and decreased his juice intake as he was beginning to favour only drinking juice. 

Key Activities for the Week:

Social Activities: Sammie was given many opportunities to interact with his peers on almost a daily basis.  He is showing significantly more interest in the children around him, and is engaging more often in parallel play. 

Mom/Dad: Spending more time with Mom and Dad doing "Sammie focused" activities has been a priority this week. At least a few hours are dedicated to this per day. Note: Sammie hits the most milestones during days were the focus is either mostly or entirely on him. 

Mamelie Time: Sammie has not gotten as much one-on-one time with Mamelie in the last two weeks. This is probably not a huge problem as we are preparing to transition her out of the home. However, he does miss her when she is not around and often gestures to the stairs or shakes the gate to see if she is home. Mom has started integrating more "Mamelie based" play upstairs (ie: showing and playing with Sam's favourite apps on the computer, etc.)

Quiet Time:  Is still very important to Sammie and we need to make sure that he gets some down time, especially after very busy days. He will often self-impose this quiet time, and chooses to play trains, read books, or snuggle when he needs it. 

Outdoor Time: Sammie is not a fan of being cooped up all the time. We've made a concerted effort to get him outside every day, even if only for a short walk or two. He loves playing in the snow, and was very interested in the sledding day he had with dad. This should become a weekly activity, weather permitting. 

TV Time: We have reduced Sammie's TV intake from several hours a day to less than 2 hours (generally less than 1 hour). This gives us more time to spend actively engaging him and also encourages him to find other things to do with his time. 

Interactive Ipad/Computer Time: We are noticing that Sammie is particularly prone to learning using technology. He very much likes to control the activities by either pointing to the touch screen or pushing the keyboard buttons.  His favourite game is now "Peekaboo" (Sesame Street app, though he also loves playing Peekaboo in person) and he has learned to follow along with all the actions for BINGO. (Clap hands, Slap knees, Pat Belly, Tap Head...we're still working on "jumping" but he does throw his arms up when he is supposed to jump).  Ipad time is capped to 30 minutes per day. Non-interactive ipad time (ie: watching "The Steam Engine that Could") is counted under TV time.

Other Notes:  Sammie has significantly decreased the amount of random running and spinning that he does at home. He also appears to have given up on chewing his shirts and sweaters, and has significantly reduced "diaper diving". 

Key Milestones for the Week:

• Has started doing "turn taking" play, especially with blocks. When he gets bored, he often gets up to leave but will return if we call his name and tell him it's his turn. He has gotten much better at waiting for his turn with his friends- still a little impatient with strangers. 
• Starting to show an active interest in dressing himself. He's learned to put on boots, is more active in choosing his clothes and in putting them on. He has also engaged in more "helpful" behaviour in choosing to put away clothes into the bag at the pool, opening/closing doors, etc.. 
• Sammie has started actively greeting certain people, especially when he hasn't seen them in a long time.  When his daddy returned from Texas, Sammie ran up to him and hugged his legs. He has also given big hugs and kisses to Mamelie when he hasn't seen her for a few days. He almost always runs to the door to see who is there now. 
• Sammie is more actively using gestures to communicate now. He clearly shakes his head for no and occasionally nods it for yes. He "asked mom to dance" by playing the song machine and taking both her hands before starting to spin.  He has started mimicking some gestures (ie: clapping, sticking out tongue, blowing bubbles, shaking the music shakers when asked to, etc.) He also appears to be picking up on the sign for "Water" (when mommy will do this, with or without verbal prompting, he will often go to the fridge) and "Wait". 
• Sammie has started following our "finger points".  He has done this now on several occasions, and has not needed verbal prompting to do it. It is important that he be focused on you and not overly engrossed in an activity for this to work. 
• Sammie is taking great pride in his milestones, and responds extremely positively to praise. 
• He has starting doing significantly more babbling- usually spending most of the day "talking" to himself or to those around him. He is also laughing out loud much more than he previously has. 
• Several of Sammie's adult friends have noticed that he is making much more eye contact (ie: almost all of the time) with them, following their directions more often, and smiling/engaging with them, etc.).
• Has started picking up on our social cues (ie: knows when we are angry, happy, sad, etc. and reacts accordingly). Runs to hug one of the parents when he is "trouble")
• Sammie receptive skills seem to be exponentially increasing, and he is following almost all "simple" commands now.  (Ie: "Hands", "Wait", "Stop", "Come", "Sit", etc.) 
• Words observed: Up, "Buh" (for boots), "Mom" (for Mom) and "Mah" (possibly for Thomas?), Repeated the sound "Da" several times while climbing up and sitting on Daddy's lap.  He is also mimicking/repeating several sounds and is "singing" again. 

Key Areas to Work On Next Week:

• Continue working on integrating gestures and encouraging spontaneous use of the ones he has (clapping, etc.)
• New signs for the week: Continue with "Water", "Food" and "Wait", but also integrate "train", "book". Continue encouraging "nods" and "shakes"
• Ensuring more outdoor play on days that are weather friendly.
• Encourage more taking turns play, and involve more of his friends in these activities. 
• Encourage more arts and crafts (Zita picked up several supplies from Michael's including bead lacing, painting, pipe cleaners, etc.)
• Continue with daily gross motor goal of 1.5-2 hours/day
• Continue observing for oral stimulation behaviours. Shirt chewing appears to have been replaced with playing with his tongue, and licking things (specially people- he does not mouth or tongue objects very often, if ever), he has also started finger sucking for the first time since he was a baby. 

Other notes:

• Completed the ASQ-SE with Zita, Jason and Carole-Anne on the 17th of November and received an initial score of 60 pts. 
• The three caregivers were in almost complete agreement on all points except a handful that were toss ups between "X" and "V" (with Zita favouring "V" answers and Jason/Carole-Anne favouring "X" answers.) 
• Upon consulting with other secondary caregivers (baby sitters, aunts/uncles, etc) and after observing carefully for these behaviours over the past two weeks, the consensus agreement has been that there are no "X" answers at this time and these have all been changed to "V"s. (*Possible exception would be question #20)
• The revised ASQ-SE score as of November 26th was 40 pts with a potential for up to 50 pts. (re: questions #6, #20)
• At this time, none of the questions asked on the ASQ-SE were areas of "concern". Sammie, for the most part, interacts extremely well with those he is close to, is generally friendly with strangers, and is generally receptive to the social cues around him. 
• He is, however, a child who likes to integrate on his own terms, and on his own time. This has always been his personality and we believe that it is important to respect who he is as an individual. 
• We strongly believe that any perceived social delays are the consequence of either his discerning personality or of his challenges in receptive and expressive communication. When these factors are neutralized, Sammie is (according to everyone who knows him) a completely well adjusted and socially engaged toddler. 
• It should be noted, that neither parent (Jason or Zita) agreed with the Speech Language Therapists initial concerns regarding Sammie's social interaction at the Language Assessment Playground activity.  

Key Appointments:

• Bev: November 27th at 11am

Weekly Summary Template

Weekly Summary: 

Overall Weekly Summary:

Overall, this was a very _ week. 

Generally, Sammie was in a _ mood. 

Generally, Mom and Dad were in a _ mood.

Weekly Sleep Summary:

Weekly Food Summary

Key Activities for the Week:

Key Milestones for the Week:

Key Areas to Work On Next Week:

Key Appointments:

Daily Log: Nov 25

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a good, quiet day.

Sammie was in a happy mood.

Mom and Dad were in a happy mood.

The weather was a little brisk and windy.

Daily Notes: 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 745am
• Nap Time: 130pm-230pm (car nap)
• 'Bed' Time: 9pm
• Notes:  Sammie slept relatively well but did not nap at home or for very long. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos
• Snack: grapes and graham crackers
• Lunch: craisins, applesauce, goldfish
• Snack: Muffin, yogurt.
• Dinner: Cheerios, Banana, Raspberries, juice
• Snack: n/a
• New foods introduced: 
• Notes: 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Visited with Uncle Antoine, Auntie Heidi and Nico all evening
• Mom/Dad Time:  Only during quiet times. 
• Mamelie Time: Spent a few hours in the am, prenap and the evening as a family. 
• Quiet Time: Quiet time with Mom in the am, and with dad pre-nap. 
• Outdoor Time: None
• TV Time: Approx 1.5 hours
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: 30 mins- see "new gestures" below
• Gross Motor Time:  Only what was spent at home, running and climbing downstairs.
• Notes: Sammie had two major falls where he hit his head yesterday (once on glass table, once on chair/cement floor).  We kept him home from the pool and social time because of this. 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Still experimenting with blowing raspberries and "vuh" sounds
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Snuggling and playing Ipad with Mamelie. BINGO. 
• New words or sounds observed: "Mom" and "Mom-Mom" was said a few times, throughout the day, especially after injury. Was clearly gesturing for Mom. 
• New activities or play observed: Still exploring with the tunnel, and finding new ways to use it
• New gestures or signs observed: Followed along with BINGO ipad app and did all the actions by himself (clapped hands, tapped head, patted belly and slapped knees), attempted to blow kisses when prompted (with help first). 
• New behaviours observed: Sammie is getting more daring with some of his aci
• New friends or social activities observed: None
• Notes: Seems to be improving his observation and copying skills. Seeing dramatic improvements in his receptive skills as well. Still lots of "tonguing"- exploring his tongue with his fingers, using his tongue to explore objects and people's.

Daily Log Nov 24

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a super fun day.

Sammie was in a very happy mood.

Mom and Dad were in great moods.

The weather was beautiful!

Daily Notes: Today was a huge day for Sammie. Lots of activity, lots of signs of growth.  His receptive communication skills seem to be exploding, and he responded favourably to almost all simple commands. He is showing more and more signs of imitating behaviour, is engaging more and more in social play with Mom/Dad/Mamelie and is absolutely seeking touch, comfort and affection on a more continuous basis. This was Sammie's most "normal toddler" day so far.  This might also have been one of my top favourite parenting days of all time. (Zita)

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 740am
• Nap Time: 1230pm-3pm
• 'Bed' Time: 10pm
• Notes: Fought napping until we discussed "driving him down", at which point he had a change of heart and went down very easily.  Went to bed at 915pm, but had a HUGE poo at 945pm and let us know by squawking. Fell asleep very shortly after his diaper change. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos, water
• Snack: Grapes (about a cup), 1/2 cup cheese crackers, 4 graham crackers
• Lunch: PBJ, Water
• Snack: Fries, sippy cup of apple juice, handful of chips
• Dinner: Oatmeal with Mamelie
• Snack: N/A
• New foods introduced: Re-introduced graham crackers- successful. 
• Notes: Didn't have lunch until after nap. Oatmeal was post swim. 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Exploring the Enjoy Centre with Mom and Dad- really seemed to enjoy watching people and seeing all the sights. 
• Mom/Dad Time: All day. Today was a very family focused day, starting with an hour of "Daddy" time in the am, sledding, Enjoy Centre and an evening swim. 
• Mamelie Time: About an hour from just after 8 until just after 9. 
• Quiet Time: very little quiet time. Kept to himself for the first 15 or so minutes at Mamelie's, possibly to decompress. 
• Outdoor Time: 45 minutes of sledding.
• TV Time: 1 Waybuloo, 1 Thomas (less than 1 hour), half hour video with Mamelie.
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: N/A
• Gross Motor Time: Sledding (45 mins), swimming (45 minutes)
• Notes: A particularly busy day- may need some extra "down time" tomorrow. 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Lots of laughing today- unusual amounts. Blowing raspberries and "Vuh" sounds. 
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Enjoyed blowing bubbles at the YMCA, seemed to enjoy sledding, LOTS of laughing from downstairs at Mamelie's. 
• New words or sounds observed: Nothing 'new' though he may have repeated "Vuh" when were talking about his 'sounds', and may have said "mom" on the way out of the YMCA. (it was for sure a 'muh' sound, which we haven't heard a lot lately.)
• New activities or play observed:  Introduced rolling balls back and forth in tunnel (mom and dad assisted), introduced sledding (successful!), enjoyed crawling up onto the water mats and throwing himself into the water (from the mat, from the side of pool, and from our arms), learned to blow bubbles at the pool (after watching Mom and Dad do it several times, he attempted on his own and was overjoyed by the result). Also still very interested in trying out Mom and Dad's shoes, and now their hats. Tried to wear Daddy's hat unprompted. Removed Mommy's hat and attempted to put it on his head. Helped Daddy wash his hair in the shower (this is a first. Usually Sammie fights having his hair washed).  Loves slides, including at park, at Enjoy Centre and at swimming pool. 
• New gestures or signs observed: Lots of "Up" gestures today. Did a "hand reach" when he wanted me to give him my hand, blew "half" a kiss (brought hand to mouth after being shown how but did not move hand away immediately).  Fewer "no" head shakes, but mostly because he was in a particularly cooperative mood. 
• New behaviours observed: Wanted to hold hands us with us, socially, even when walking.  Was much more cooperative about having his nose cleaned, and his hair washed. 
• New friends or social activities observed: Seemed keenly interested in the strangers around his at the Enjoy Centre. Loved looking at the little girls at the YMCA- Sammie sure loves his women. 
• Notes: Sammie appears to have taken to using sounds (sing-song hums) to express joy as well as laughing out loud. Was in a particularly "smiley" mood today, including smiling at strangers. Seemed interested in other people. Also laughed out loud at Waybuloos when they were growling. Also, Sammie LOVES snow. Loves it. Daily outdoor time should be a priority.  Very little to no "random running" or "random spinning" today, and no shirt chewing at all. Still loving exploring the tunnel. 

Daily Log: Nov 23

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a decent day.

Sammie was in a great mood.

Mom and Dad were in a tired mood.

The weather was cold, windy.

Daily Notes: A busy, but generally good day. Sammie will need to get some concrete, out of the house gross-motor in throughout the weekend to balance out a mostly indoors, at home day. 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 730am
• Nap Time: Ha. Ha ha ha. Drove Sammie down at 3pm after he fought sleep for 3 hours. He napped until 4pm and then we woke him up. 
• 'Bed' Time: Approx 930pm 
• Notes: Sammie wanted to sleep much earlier than predicted (11am). Had I been home, there would not have been a problem with nap time at all. Second, third and fourth winds were what killed us. 

Food

• Breakfast: Eggos, a few apple pieces
• Snack: A whole whack load of Ikea bacon. Apparently he can't get enough of the stuff
• Lunch: Mostly snack foods- crackers, etc. Refused to really eat- probably out of exhaustion.
• Snack: n/a
• Dinner: Big bowl of cheerios with milk
• Snack: 1 apple sauce, 1 yogurt, lots of water
• New foods introduced: Bacon. And it's a hit. 
• Notes: N/A

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Ikea breakfast with Alicia/Zack, hanging out with Uncle Conor and Suzanne in pm
• Mom/Dad Time: Not a lot of one-on-two or one-on-one today- just a bit busy with errands, etc.
• Mamelie Time: None. Did not see her. 
• Quiet Time: Exhaustion led to a VERY overstimulated Sammie. VERY little "quiet" time today.
• Outdoor Time: None- too cold. 
• TV Time: Very little- less than an hour. 
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: None
• Gross Motor Time: LOTS. All afternoon/evening. 
• Notes: Bought a new crawl tube from Ikea. He loves it. Not such a big fan of the doll. 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  "Brrr" ("sad raspberries")
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Playing with the tunnel in many creative ways, including "worm baby". 
• New words or sounds observed: N/A
• New activities or play observed: Lots of creative play with the tunnel- very interested in different ways of exploring it. Also put on his boots AND daddy's boots and explored new balance challenges. 
• New gestures or signs observed: Nothing new, but was very "clingy" at bed time when saying goodnight to mom.  We decided to give him a few extra minutes of mom snuggles, and he went down relatively quietly with dad after that. 
• New behaviours observed: Sammie receptive skills are getting significantly stronger in public places. When asked to "stop" or "come back" at Ikea, he followed instructions. When asked to wait patiently, he did. When asked to give me his hand, he did. When asked to push the buttons, he did. Overall, Sammie had an extremely receptive morning, where he followed 90% of simple (one step) instructions. Did not attempt any two-step instructions at this time. 
• New friends or social activities observed: Sammie's relationship with Zack has improved drastically. They played patiently, taking turns, and did not fight then entire time.  Sammie also showed an interest in Alicia for the first time, allowing her to distract him with reading a book while mommy paid for items at the cash register.  Generally, Sammie tends to keep Alicia distant, so this was an exciting step for him. 
• Notes: None

Daily Log: Nov 22

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a really good day, especially when contrasted with yesterday.

Sammie was in a mostly good mood, with a dramatic improvement after his second nap and his poo.

Mom and Dad were in a much improved, rested mood.

The weather was gray and chilly, but a pleasant day to be outside.

Daily Notes: Wanted to sleep much earlier than anticipated (1130 vs. 1pm), however did not transition from carseat to bed. Need to be home no later than 1130 in the future so as to not miss window. 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 7:15am
• Nap Time: 1130-12pm, 330-400pm 
• 'Bed' Time: ~900pm
• Notes: Two short naps, one tired baby. Also, one HUGE poo.

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos, but slow to eat them. 
• Snack: Yogurt
• Lunch: Fries from Wendy's. Refused burger. 
• Snack: Apple 
• Dinner: Grapes (only a few) and raspberries, banana, handful of crackers
• Snack: Muffin (top only but it was huge)
• New foods introduced: Tried oatmeal- no go...possibly too hot. Muffin went over fine. 
• Notes: Seemed extremely uninterested in food/drink today. Possibly because he was waiting for a poo (hadn't gone in two days)

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: Beth/Erie/kids in the am, and Intellidance in the PM
• Mom/Dad Time: Mom time: Shopping in the am and pool time in the pm
• Mamelie Time: None
• Quiet Time: In between naps- played mostly quietly, seemed a little out of sorts. 
• Outdoor Time: Only between stores/errands, but still probably 15 minutes of walking.
• TV Time: Less than 1 hour
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: None
• Gross Motor Time: Intellidance (45 mins), Pool (45 minutes), Running around at home (at least 30 mins)
• Notes: Seemed a little standoffish at Erie's- probably due to the short nap.

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day: "Vuh" 
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Pool- loved walking and swimming without his life jacket
• New words or sounds observed: 
• I think he said "up" when I told it was "up time", 
• He also seems to have associated "Buh" with "boots" so we will be encouraging this sound more often. 
• New activities or play observed: 
• Very exploratory in the pool, pushing boundaries of independance,  and very quick to get up when he falls down. 
• Very actively engaged with the shakers at Intellidance. We should buy him several to explore with. Also continues to really love the parachute games, and seemed to enjoy the magic carpet ride by the end (took him a few minutes to get the hang of the activity)
• New gestures or signs observed:
• No new signs- but actively using head shake for "no" on repeat occasions. 
• Responding to our verbal cues (ie: "hands", "two feet", "boots", "jacket") very actively,
• Seems to be increasing his receptive skills quickly. 
• New behaviours observed: 
• Did a poo in the pool- very surprising, first time in his life. 
• However, he hadn't done a poo in two days, so he was due.
• Very cooperative in being cleaned, seemed very relieved, happier and more cooperative after the fact. 
• Feel asleep in car ride home (between 845 and 9pm) 
• New friends or social activities observed:
• Was a little standoffish from his friends at both Erie's and Intellidance- however, he actively observed them from afar and even laughed along with them on occasion. 
• Seemed interested in the "big kids" at the pool. Enjoyed observing and seemed to want to engage with them, but he was too small. 
• Notes: 
• Did I mention: Huge poo!
• We need to ease off the apple juice as he is starting to reject water. 
• Also, should introduce milk as new food in the very near future. 

Daily Log Nov 21

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a really rough day.

Sammie was in a sick, tired and cranky/uncooperative mood.

I (Mom or Dad) was in a sick, tired, cranky/uncooperative mood.

The weather was irrelevant since we didn't go outside.

Daily Notes: Because today was an exceptionally rough day on all fronts, I will not be doing a full log since it would be mostly blank and/or not particularly relevant. I will do summaries by section instead. 

Sleep

Early wake up (640am), coupled with a very late nap (2pm-4pm despite all efforts otherwise). Late bedtime, (after 1030pm, despite all efforts otherwise including driving for 1.5 hours). Spent the day and went to sleep in fleece pjs- is he possibly having issues with the material? We wondered about this when he was younger. 

Food

Sammie ate very little all day, and mostly drank water/juice. When he did eat, he snacked on crackers, etc. 

Key Activities for the day:

With the exception of a few bursts of energy dispersed throughout the day, Sammie was general quiet and uncooperative today. He was exceptionally cranky, which didn't jive well with his exceptionally cranky mom. It was an off day for both. By the evening, things had improved post nap but he was still not himself. His cold is clearly affecting his behaviour. 

Milestones:

Not only were there no milestones, but there appeared to be regressions in Sammie's communication (expressive and receptive) today. This is likely due to him being sick, cranky and tired. It is also likely due to the fact that mom was completely unengaged with him since she was equally under the weather. There were some intermittent snuggles, but for the most part the day was spent with Sammie and Mommy being very oppositional to each other.

In the evening, Sammie did experience about half an hour of very engaged, interactive play with mom and dad.  He ran up and down the hallway, between mom and dad, and gave them hugs back and forth.  He then engaged with mom is some 1-2-3 FLIP! play and was very patient during the 1-2-3 parts. 

Not one of our finest days by far. Hopefully tomorrow Sammie is feeling well enough to venture out of the house and get some social interaction time as I believe that cabin fever is contributing to his overall behaviour (and I *know* that it is contributing to mine). 

Daily Log: November 20th

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was an okay day.

Sammie was in a sick but overall cheerful mood.

I (Mom or Dad) was in a sick but overall cheerful mood.

The weather was too chilly to take sick-baby out.

Daily Notes: Sammie appears to be coming down with a cold. This could explain his less than usual energy levels and his restless sleep last night. 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 730am (went to bed at 9pm)
• Nap Time: 115pm-2pm
• 'Bed' Time: Didn't fall asleep until after 1030.
• Notes: Sammie is showing signs of having a cold. He had a restless night last night. He had an extremely short nap, probably due to the fact that he couldn't breathe properly.  

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos, glass of juice/water, refused banana
• Snack: Yogurt, refused muffin and fruit juice/water, 
• Lunch: Refused everything except crackers and an apple sauce. 
• Snack: Lots of apple juice and half a banana after naps. 
• Dinner: PBJ
• Snack: Apple sauce
• New foods introduced: n/a
• Notes: n/a

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: 
• Visit at Bellies store for one hour with new friend Mackenzie. They played relatively well together. While Sammie was not particularly interested in her, he didn't avoid her. They did experience challenges with sharing the trains. 
• Play time at Auntie Erie's with Tobin and Tara. Sammie kept to himself most of the day, a sign of him not feeling well at all. He didn't outright avoid the other kids, but he was not interested in playing with them when they tried to engage him. 
• Mom/Dad Time: Evening quiet time after dad got home from work. 
• Mamelie Time: Less than half an hour, mostly spent watching Ipad apps while Mom, Dad, and Mamelie talked. 
• Quiet Time: Post nap was quiet in general. Sammie played quietly, and watched Thomas. 
• Outdoor Time: None- too cold and Sammie is unwell. 
• TV Time: Less than 1 hour in the am, with another 1 hour after naps. Sammie snuggled for a full episode of Thomas. 
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: Less than 30 minutes
• Gross Motor Time: Sammie had a particularly quiet morning- no running, spinning, jumping or climbing. 
• Notes: N/A

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day: None noticed.
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Today was an exceptionally quiet day due to him being sick. His favourite activity was probably his bath or snuggles watching tv. 
• New words or sounds observed: None.
• New activities or play observed:
• Auntie Erie has a stuffed play dice like the game one that we purchased for Sammie a few months ago for Christmas.  He was drawn to it and looked at all the different colours. It may be time to introduce the game it comes with in the new future. 
• New gestures or signs observed: 
• Sammie WAVED at Auntie Erie when he got into the door. 
• Sammie is actively utilizing the head shake to say no to foods and other simple requests. 
• New behaviors observed:
• Sammie takes a hand automatically when asked to go somewhere- he seems to understand that "go" and holding hands go together. 
• Sammie still uses the "gentle rub" for when he wants to nurse. When refused, he will do a "shirt dig", but he is utilizing his old gesture more often than he used to. 
• Sammie is getting very good at putting on his boots. Our next "self dressing" learning step will be putting on his jacket. 
• Very little "clothes chewing" observed today. A little bit when his winter coat was on, but none when it was taken off. He did stick his tongue out a bit, but less than yesterday. 
• Sammie seemed to "choose" a diaper bag for Mommy. He walked around, found a bag (the most expensive in the store of course) and brought it to Mom. The bag was floral print with purples and pinks- very pretty and certainly an usual colour scheme for him to choose. 
• Sammie followed my "finger points" twice when I was trying to show him that Thomas was on the television screen.  He also followed Dad's fingers points several times during the evening. 
• New friends or social activities observed:
• Met new friend Mackenzie who is 20 months. They played side by side but not very interactively. However, it should be noted that he "let" her play with trains too and seldom tried to take them away from her. 
• Notes: Despite being sick, Sammie was exceptionally receptive today. He was very tuned in, made LOTS of great eye contact with everyone who talked to him, and was extra snuggly and cute. 

Blog Post: Moving beyond labels.

So one of the topics that comes up often with friends and family when it comes to Sammie's growth and development is what his "condition" is called.  Terms like Autism Spectrum Disorder, Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD and the likes are all big media recently with superstars like Jenny McCarthy going public about their children's conditions and treatments.

Naturally, labels are things that make Jason and I pretty nervous. As parents, we are totally committed to figuring out what the best ways to support Sammie's development are, but we are much more focused on finding answers and solving problems than we are on figuring out exactly what "label" best fits his behaviour.

Thankfully, in discussing this issue with our Early Intervention Counsellor, we're learning that our instinct is bang on.  Many people spend too much time trying to figure out what box to place their child into.  In fact, sometimes they forget that the important part isn't identifying the right "box" but instead helping their kid find the best ways out of it.  Our EIC informed us that many kids who go through the Early Intervention Program never get a medical label.  These kids are either too complex to properly sort into one specific condition or simply too high functioning to require the type of intervention that would require a "diagnosis".

Trying to explain this to our loved ones can be challenging, as it can be difficult to not sound defensive or like we're in denial of Sam's unique needs. Many people feel that, without a label, we are walking blindly in the dark and just guessing at what Sammie's needs truly are.

This could not be further from the truth!

The problem is that we are so familiar with the medical system's treatments of our illnesses that we assume that the mind and the psyche work in the same way.  If you are sick, you get a test to confirm what illness you have and then you treat the illness. It's relatively straightforward and seldom requires a whole lot of "guess work".

The mind is an infinitely more complex organ than the all the body parts put together.  We are still very much in the baby stages of learning about neurological and development disorders.  Most of mental conditions have been identified in less than the past 50 years!

There is no simple brain-test to see if you are a, b, c, or d.  They are identified in accordance to their symptoms.  And these symptoms overlap so much and are so varied according to the individual that special categories are often needed to "catch" those that simply don't fit into any strict moulds. (In the case of Autism Spectrum Disorder, this is referred to as PDD-NOS or Pervasive Development Disorder, Not Otherwise Specified.)

The fact of the matter is that it can take years, and often a fleet of specialists, to gather the kind of information needed to make conclusive decisions regarding some diagnoses. And we certainly don't want to delay treatment in the meanwhile.

So we do the only thing we can do. We treat the symptoms, and observe to see what works and what doesn't.  Based on this, we gain clues and insight into each child's mind and from there begin to get a fuller picture of what is going on.

So, in Sammie's case, we have a few steps to take.

We've determined that Sammie has a severe delay in expressive communication. (Ie: the ability to express his thoughts through words or gestures.) This is the first priority area as it is unquestionably the most severe of his delays.

We've also noted that he appears to have some delays in his receptive communication skills. We are not able to determine the extent of these delays yet, and are still gathering information on them.  As such, we are tracking how often he responds to our instructions, follows rules, responds (physically or otherwise) to his name or to being called, etc.  By observing this, we will be better able to assess if his delay is mild, moderate or severe.

Finally, we're looking at Sammie's social and emotional development.  Sammie seems to display some interesting differences when it comes to how and when he engages with people.  Most of these seem to correlate with his expressive/receptive communication delays. However, a few other things stand out including his selective use of eye contact and physical contact and his reactions to those around him.  However, Sammie's social and emotional development delays appear to be mild at worst, and possible more a result of other challenges and of his very strong, very unique personality.  We will continue to monitor his growth; of all the areas of development this is the one in which he most frequently achieves milestones on a daily basis.

Whether this all adds up to a specific condition or not is, quite frankly, irrelevant at this time.  Identifying his "diagnosis" is not the primary or even the secondary goal of his intervention program. What we are trying to do is to figure out how to best reach Sammie, in ways that he understands so that he can subsequently learn to overcome the obstacles that he is facing.  This, and only this, should be the focus of our attention.

So please know that when we say "we're not interested in labels", it isn't because we are afraid of what labels Sammie might get. It is because we know, through repeated conversations with specialists, that we are far from the stage where that conversation needs to happen. At this point, we are taking baby steps and seeing leaps and bounds of progress.

And that's exactly what we want to see.

Daily Log: November 19

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was a great day!

Sammie was in a cheerful and playful mood.

I (Mom or Dad) was in a rested, happy moods.

The weather was chilly but nice.

Daily Notes: Intellidance Day, First day with new housecleaner.

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 7am (bedtime was early, 830pm. Sammie slept through the night)
• Nap Time: 1235pm
• 'Bed' Time: 9pm
• Notes: Earlier bedtime had positive results this morning. Sammie woke up happy, refreshed and full of energy. 830pm may be the new goal, especially if he'll sleep until after 630am. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos- not overly interested in them.
• Snack: Yogurt, Nutrigrain bar, water/juice
• Lunch: Refused KD at Erie's, but was very tired. 
• Snack: Post nap: bowl of cheerios, handful of raspberries, banana, water
• Dinner: two buns
• Snack: fries and water, refused apple juice.  
• New foods introduced: none
• Notes: May be hungry through the night as he didn't eat a lot today.

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: 
• Intellidance in the am: Sammie was very active (as per normal) and very insistent on shirt chewing but did allow himself to passively participate in a few songs and playing with instruments, and he really seemed to enjoy the parachute. 
• Went to Erie's for 30 minutes after Intellidance while waiting for cleaner to finish. 
• Mom/Dad Time: Evening was spent playing as a family. Sammie loved to show off his spinning skills and his running in circles skills. 
• Mamelie Time: Spent some time with mom and dad. Got a very excited greeting from Sammie when she got home and lots of hugs and snuggles through the evening. 
• Quiet Time: Sammie was engaged in some quiet, solo play after his nap. He did play a little with mom, but seemed a little tired and more interested in lounging around. 
• Outdoor Time: N/A
• TV Time: Less than 1 hour in the am. 
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: Less than 10 minutes- was not interested in playing
• Gross Motor Time: 
• Intellidance for 45 minutes 
• Continued to do a lot of running, spinning and climbing- "showing off" for family time, with lots of proud smiles. 
• Swimming from 730-8pm
• Notes: Parachute time should be integrated at home as well with mom and dad. Need to buy shakers for Sammie's hands. Need to take action shots at pool and friends faces for photo book for Sammie to read. 

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day: Quiet day- not much verbalizing today so far. 
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Enjoyed lying and watching mom do the "Crocodile, Orangutan" song at Intellidance. Also enjoyed doing puzzles. New block puzzle seems a little challenging. Sammie always wants to go back to the train. 
• New words or sounds observed: None
• New activities or play observed: None
• New gestures or signs observed: None- lots of use of "no" today (head shakes, at appropriate times).  
• New behaviors observed: 
• Still lots of shirt chewing. Removed shirt and it seems to help, but kept sticking out tongue instead. 
• Clapped twice when mom engaged in clapping role modelling. 
• "Asked Mom to dance" by pushing music button on fridge and taking both her hands. Danced to three different songs (about 3 minutes).
• "Helped Dad" put away swimsuits. Took Dad's swimsuit from mom and brought it to Dad. Helped Dad put it away. And then Sammie put the other two swimsuits away on his own. (First time)
• Still very excited in Peekaboo games with Mommy- he loves finding mom, and sometimes also hides and waits to be found.  
• New friends or social activities observed: Showed an interest in Mackenzie at dance today. 
• Notes: Very friendly, social, happy and active today. LOTS of smiles and eye contact. Very aware of people and interested in playing with them. Overall, an excellent Sammie day. 

Daily Log: November 18, 2012

Sammie's Daily Log

Daily Summary:

Overall, today was an okay day.

Sammie was in a bit of an off mood.

Mom and Dad were in tired in moods.

The weather was sunny and mostly warm.

Daily Notes: 

Sleep

• Wake Up Time: 730am (had a middle of the night poo that disrupted his sleep)
• Nap Time: 1-230pm
• 'Bed' Time: Fell asleep at 830pm
• Notes: Sammie seemed tired all day, not as energetic as usual. As such, we chose to skip the pool and give him some extra rest. 

Food

• Breakfast: 2 eggos
• Snack: Refused to eat
• Lunch: Mac and Cheese (did not eat very much)
• Snack: A few raspberries, Apple sauce
• Dinner: Attempted a hamburger which was refused, PBJ
• Snack: N/A
• New foods introduced: Re-introduced raspberries successfully
• Notes: Was not interested in eating very much at all, drank a lot of juice to help with possible constipation, did not have much water in the evening. 

Key Activities for the day:

• Social Time: No out of family social time today
• Mom/Dad Time: Shopping trip to costco and Chapters, playing around the house after naptime
• Mamelie Time: Spent morning (830-1230) with Mamelie- described as a little "lethargic", hard to engage. Did perk up after having a very dirty diaper. Engaged in some peekaboo and pretend play with a diaper box. 
• Quiet Time: Spent most of the day playing by himself and not wanting to play with others. Refused to play with blocks or other cooperative games. 
• Outdoor Time: None today. Did not appear interested. 
• TV Time: Very little- a Thomas before bedtime. 
• Interactive IPAD/Computer Time: None.
• Gross Motor Time: Some running/climbing, but significantly less than usual. 
• Notes: Had an very active day yesterday with very little down time- perhaps this was his day to recharge?

Milestones:

• Favourite Sound of the Day:  Today was very quiet in general. 
• Favourite Activity of the Day: Quiet play, puzzles in the am with Mamelie. 
• New words or sounds observed: None
• New activities or play observed: Played with box (peekaboo, ride around, etc.)
• New gestures or signs observed: Lots of head shaking for "no" today
• New behaviours observed:  None
• New friends or social activities observed: None
• Notes: A particularly quiet day for Sammie, with a very early bedtime. He will need to be monitored to see if he is ill over the next few days.