Play Therapy!!!

We had great fun yesterday at Baby Therapy Centre and more importantly learnt a lot!

We started with speech therapy and Deqlan was quite into the new toys he was being shown , but then decided it was far to nice of a day to be sitting inside and decided he wanted out the room - we managed to distract him for a few more minutes and then it was Nanna to the rescue, as she was Deqlans 'lift' out of the room. The first building block is to get Deqlan to engage more with us. He is so busy and doesnt play with 1 specific thing for a very long time - so we want to try and make it more interesting and appealing to him, by getting more involved in HIS game. We are going to try and help Deqlan learns words through auditory and visual signs and really over emphasise on certain things like calling him to us or saying no or finished. Got lots of very interesting reading to do , which i cant wait to get stuck into !

Then it was time for a bit of occupational therapy and Deqlan definitely did not want to be inside, even though a lovely room with specific toys was layed out for the session - so we took it outside. The OT wanted to observe how Deqlan plays and how we engage with each other - again, instead of taking him to what i want to show him, i need to get more involved in what he wants to do - like , walking around a tree, taking his hands and rubbing the bark, and playing peek a boo in different directions. Then we had great fun rolling around on the grass. I would have been the perfect model for a shampoo advert , my hair was everywhere - and Nanna would have been the perfect model for an Omo or other washing powder brand, as she had stains for the grass and mud everywhere! I am sure Deqlan must have thought we where mad, rolling around with him , but the excercise was to get him to have more eye contact with us and to show us that he wanted more - which he did, he came to me to show more and he also laughed, so great success in the first session. We to have lots and lots of excercises involving motion to do with Deqlan at home this week - this will help in the develop of both spheres of the brain.

As we were all discussing yesterday - we cant just take Deqlan to speech therapy and show him an apple and expect him to say apple - we got to build the building blocks and put them in place for the next step which will lead to pointing and getting our attention and then talking!

Deqlan has made huge progess the last week - he is saying tons of sounds like ga, da, na, o ( we figured out he sounds o for nannas dog otto), ah,pa...so he is definitely experementing.

We also need to repeat each sound as says as he will learn that he gets a reaction from us and this is the first form of communicating with each other - even if we dont understand - Deqlan see's we are taking a huge interest in what he has to say

We have been repeating his sounds, and he loves repeating them back

His new game , is grabbing Dada by the hand, then Mama and putting us both in the kitchen, then he runs around us making noises and then i run around him to catch him, lots of laughs

I am thrilled to be taking Deqlan there, not only for his development, but for load and loads of excerise for Nanna and Mama - at this rate by next summer, nanna and i should like swim wear models they way we have been running around!

So glad to have Deqlan in a new environment , learning new things and enjoying it - the ladies there, are fantastic and so helpful and understanding to Deqlans needs - they make sure everything is sterilised and washed to help us protect his immune system.


Happy 7th week birthday Keaton! You continue to grow by the day and you become more beautiful and gorgeous! You have a very special event coming up, your Christening and i am HONORED AND BLESSED to be your god mother and promise to lead and guide you to Our Lord, as best as I possibly can!

Also, Happy 2 week Birthday Caden! You are looking fantastic! What a lovely surprise it was to see you in a baby gro and upgraded to an incubator! We are so proud of you, May Our Lord continue to heal and give you strength each day - your mommy and daddy are doing a wonderful job, they love you very much!

Congrats to Loren and Darryl and the great news today - ITS A BOY!!!! Wow, we are really going to be able to start our own soccer or rugby team at this rate! Out of all the 7 pregnancies amongst our friends this year, Tania is the only one, that we know of, so far, expecting a girl!

Please continue to pray for all our friends - prayers are huge stepping stones on the way to miracles!

God Bless and all our love
Mark, Samm, Deqlan and Logan

WE CAN DO ALL THINGS THROUGH CHRIST THAT STRENGTHENS US