Wow, what a day Thursday turned out to be. Speech was first. It’s going well and she’s made a little progress. They’re using Beckman techniques for oral stretching and strengthening. I know that Debra Beckman “wrote the book” if you will on oral motor, but we’ve been seeing her almost weekly since Nica was a year and a half. She’s always been Nica’s ST and I’ve never had a real chance to experience the impact she’s had in her profession. It seems every ST here references her techniques and they are all pleased that Nica has the opportunity to work with her.
OT went was also nice. Nica did a lot of drawing and coloring. She drew a picture of her sister wearing a brown shirt, according to her. She continues to work on block stacking and bead threading and she enjoys all of the exercises.
As OT rolled around it was time to walk. We actually made some nice progress up to and until the moment when the therapy dogs found us in the hall way. Blaze, Chicklet, and Blake were joined by a new friend today, Jack. If you watch the video, Jack is the one dancing in front of Nica, Blaze is the Greyhound, Chicklet the Chihuahua, and Blake is the yellow Lab. Nica got to hold Chiclket for a while and that dog was very content, nearly falling asleep in Nica’s arms. Blake snuck around and starting kissing Nica on the cheek when she wasn’t looking. She was startled at first but then she started laughing. It was good timing as Nica’s has been talking about our dog Iris lately. With the arrival of the dogs came the end of walking. It was OK though as Nica had done pretty well up to that moment. Having bid the dogs a fond farewell, it was time for lunch and a nap.
Afternoon PT was short, about 30min. It wasn’t with Katie, who she usually has and works the hardest for, so it was probably OK. We had to make our regular pilgrimage to see Michelle the Mermaid next, and then it was off to the Alvin room. They had some music therapy happening in the form of a harpist. Nica really enjoyed it. She wasn’t ready for her turn to be over, but the arrival of Grandpa Joe helped to cushion the blow. She took Grandpa back to see Michelle again and instead of returning to the Alvin room she told Grandpa she just wanted to go back to our room and play. It seemed far to soon when the time came for Grandpa to leave, but dinner had arrived and we needed to eat and get our bath.
We ended our evening with the video call to Mommy and Sissy. Nica gave everyone high fives over the internet. It’s become a thing with her. We said our good nights with the knowledge that tomorrow we’d be doing it it person.
Nica-Dogs video
Nica-Plays-Harp video
