may - first half.

There is not too much to report for the first half of May. The first week of the month we were in Florida, which was a delightful trip. :) Emmett did great for the most part. However, he hated the beach. Sigh. I was really hoping to have a breakthrough this year compared to last year. I bought him some snorkeling/sand socks that are made from the same material as a wet suit. He was fine walking on the sand at first, but once he felt unstable and the waves touched him, he lost it. He was upset and crying. I mostly blame myself because I think I pushed him too far the first time we took him down to the beach. I was excited and wanted so badly for him to feel the same. The second and third times on the beach were a bit better, but Emmett could only tolerate up to half an hour before he had had enough. We tried having him wear his sandals and all he wanted to do was sit on the towel; his safe haven from the sea of sand.

^^trying to outrun the wave while not letting the sand touch his feet at the same time.

Emmett also had a hard time with transitions while on vacation. The hardest transition each day was going from the pool back up to the condo. We had to prep him plenty of time in advance to make it as smooth as possible. Overall, he did very well and I was very proud of him. :)

Emmett will be taking a therapy break soon for 2-3 months over the summer. It will work out well because he will be going to Fraser 5 days per week. I don't want to make his schedule too crazy over the summer. We have fun things to do!
He has been extremely interested in letters. Not so much trying to write them, but recognizing them and singing about them (constantly). He loves the ABC song and others he has learned at school. He is also starting to recognize the letter and sound at the beginning of words. And he loves pointing to letters on the laptop keyboard.

april.

April was a blur. We had places to go, I put in quite a few hours working, and we were planning/packing for Florida. We also all got a bad cold that lasted for two weeks. :(
Emmett had a pretty extreme meltdown this month. I was the only one home with him when it happened and it lasted almost an hour. I felt terrible that I couldn't help or do anything to make things better. I have no idea what triggered it. He was really anxious to eat his lunch. I was making it and telling him it would be ready soon, but I think having to wait awhile for it made him upset ? It's so hard to tell. I believe he doesn't know what he's doing, nor remembers the meltdown after it's over. After almost an hour of bawling, screaming, hitting and flailing, he literally "snapped" out of it and picked up where he had left off before the meltdown began. He was back to being my happy, smiling boy, except he had a red, puffy, teary face. How does this happen? What do I do when this happens in public if I can't predict it? It is very confusing. Unfortunately, I feel like he has to ride it out and suffer through it. At this point in time, I have no remedies or solutions to stop the meltdowns. I hate it because I feel helpless.
Emmett started his speech therapy break. In two weeks his OT and PT break will begin and will last until around the end of July. We are hoping to see a jump in progress when he starts up again.

Teanna is still working with Emmett in the therapy pool and he is loving it. I have gone in with him too, but he seems to focus and listen better when he is alone in the pool with Teanna.

He is working on floating and being aware of where his body is in deeper water. He doesn't quite understand that when his feet are pointed down, he will touch the bottom. It's hard for him to stay calm and not panic while he's floating.

^^he looks like he's doing fine here, but he hated the way the lifejacket came up around his chin while he floated. he's normally in a boat wearing a lifejacket so he hadn't experienced that before.

^^he is working on kicking on his back and front. the noodles seem to help.

^^toy break

Lately, he has been wearing the floatie-style PFD in the pool and likes it much better because there isn't anything up around his face. He is technically too big for this style of PFD, but he's using it just so he has a little buoyancy and feels more confident in deeper water.  

^^great job bud!

Sessions with Kevin have been going great (PT). He has been putting weights around his wrists and ankles to help with body awareness. His throwing and catching skills have really improved.

^^playing soccer in the hallway

Emmett is really timid and cautious to try new things, especially if it involves an unstable foundation or height. Kevin has done a really good job with pushing him to do things (eventhough a couple of times he pushed him a little to much and saw some tears).

^^he likes having a male therapist. Kevin is the only guy in the rehab clinic! 

Emmett has been doing a much better job of doing two things at once. Here he is balancing and throwing. He also had to do a squat to pick up the balls, which was difficult for him.

so proud of you Emmett!