A Little Pick-Me-Up

February has been a stressful month for this Wilkerson family. It's been a stressful last couple of months really, but February has been the peak. At Luke's 3 year check up we discussed some concerns with Luke's pediatrician (speech delays and sensory issues) that she agreed needed to be addressed and helped. At the beginning of Feb. Luke started speech therapy and has since added 2 days of occupational therapy each week which means that we spend Mon, Tues, and Wed mornings rushing out the door to the therapy office.

Luke LOVES occupational therapy on Monday where he works on fine motor skills and some sensory exercises. There is a big pit of balls at the bottom of a slide that Luke absolutely loves to play in/on. His therapist can get him to do almost anything by promising some time in the ball pit. He tolerates speech on Tuesdays and really does pretty well. Wed. is his roughest day. He works with an occupational therapist who is an eating specialist with the goal of helping him accept more textures and a greater variety of foods. He gets VERY upset about new foods so there were quite a few tantrums today. It's going to be slow going, I'm sure, as the most progress she made today was to get Luke to smell a new food and touch it with a fork.

I feel quite overwhelmed by all of it. While the therapy is very helpful, one day a week for an hour each visit isn't going to be enough. I have to do a lot in helping him to progress, so there is a huge list of things I'm supposed to be doing with Luke, and it's just so daunting.

This month has also had lots of appointments with the school district because Luke is being evaluated for a special pre-school program provided through the public schools that provides speech services, etc. as part of the pre-school day. Friday is our last appointment before his big eligibility meeting with his IEP team. (He should start school next September.)

Add a nursing baby that won't take a bottle and doesn't sleep through the night, a couple of colds and it's been a rough month.

To top that off Jared has been very busy during February with journal, moot court, and school so he's been coming home pretty late much of the time this month. AND THEN he just got called to be the Elder's Quorum president! So now Sunday is full of meetings.

And the straw that broke this camel's back is Jared's moot court tournament that has taken him out of town until Sunday.

So I needed a pick-me-up. If I was really rich I'd get a sitter and escape for awhile. Oh, and hire a maid. But as it is we took a trip to Target where I let Luke do some of his favorite things. (He needed a pick-me-up too.)

We first checked out the big row of trash/ recycling bins and admired all their colors. Then we went into the bathroom to wash hands and let Luke stare at the vent in the wall that he is absolutely convinced is an air conditioner. And then we went to the food court for a soft pretzel and blue slushy.

Followed up by a trip down the hair dryer aisle where Luke got to pick up and examine every blow dryer. "It's off! Yep, it's off."

Micah was a good sport about the whole thing.

We ended the trip with a visit to the toy aisle where Luke got a new shape sorter and Micah got a little rattle. I threw in a Twix at the register, and we all came home a little happier.