Brotherly Love (Part 2)

The relationship between my boys is fun to watch. They love each other without limits. They just act like big bother and little brother in a very special way. Tommy is and will always be a big brother for Francis. There is not doubt about it! Francis imitates and tries to do everything than his big brother does just like any other little brother. He drives Tommy crazy all the time. Ummm, not much different how I used to be with my sister. Regardless all the challenges Tommy faces, he keeps blooming. He is so fortunate to have a little bother who will be on his side not matter what. Enjoy the video!

Tommy's Neuro-developmental program (Quick update)

"Oh Dear Lord! Thank you for listen to my prayers and help to get what my son needs."

I cannot be more thankful! We haven't even complete the second months of Tommy's Neuro-developmental program (NP) and we are seeing positive changes on him. He is interacting and being outgoing in new environments as well as an improvement in auditory and visual processing. I have to admitted I am exhausted, but not due to the Neuro-developmental program. I am exhausted because house keeping and working full time takes too much time of my days to fully dedicate to Tommy. But I am grateful with the company I work for because they have allowed me to fix my schedule so I can support Tommy. Really, I enjoy Tommy's therapies and NP because it is basically playing and being a child again. I am glad we don't have a huge house because I couldn't keep up with it. My tiredness is nothing comparing with the happiness I feel when I see Tommy doing something completely new or replacing his stemming behaviors for actually playing with toys —Tommy lost his playing skills after the hospitalization.

Tommy received the first quarter of the Neuro-developmetal program as a birthday present, this has been one of the best gift he has received. Thanks so much to our families and friends!

Happy Birthday, Francis!

Today is Francis 2nd birthday and we are so proud of our little man. I think he has came to this world with a mission from above, he may be teaching others to chill out, enjoy life and be in piece. This is what he have taught at his short age!

Francis's milestones 20-24 months:

• He began to be fascinated with puzzles at a very young age. At his 20 months began to work on puzzles for 3 year old kids. 
• He can recognize colors (red, yellow, blue, red, purple, black, orange, brown, pink and white)
• He can recognized shapes and generalized them to real objects (square, circle, diamond, octagon, rectangle, oval, start, heart, triangle)
• He can recognized all alphabet letters (upper and lowercase) on command or unprompted any where he sees print letters (public places, TV, magazines, computers, etc).
• He can sight read single words
• He can recognized and count numbers until 10 in English and Spanish. He also generalize them in any print material such as magaziens, books, cooputer screen, etc. He started this on his own).
• Francis is using more complex language. He began to use three-four words sentences by his 20 month. Example: "Mamma, I want juice." or "Mama, I said Juice." I want my car" "Bye, See you soon", "See yah!", "See you later, Dada." Currently, he is beginning to use 5-word sentence.
• He could name at a picture before his 18 months. But at his 21 month began to give details about the picture. Example: If it is an apple he will say "Red Apple."
• By his initiative he is working on putting his shoes on. This also began to emerge when he was turing one year old, but we has had not encourage this skills so much.
• He began to understand sharing and taking turns at his 21 month. I think I have influenced on this, he still has to work on this, but he definitely understand the concept.
• He can jump, yes actually clearing his feet out of the ground. He reached this milestone by the end of his 19 month (for a typical child this milestones is reach around 25 months and it is considered advanced for a 25 month old child).
• Walking independently up and down the steps without holding the real began to emerge at the beginning of his 21 month.
• Enjoys pretending and has a vivid imagination. One day he was hungry after dinner time because he refuses to eat. He came to me and said: "Fredy is hungry, mama" (Fredy is his blanket). "Fredy wants snack." When I asked what Fredy wanted to eat he said babanas. So Francis and Fredy sat at the time to eat a late snack. He began to fit Fredy, a bite for Fredy a bite for him while he was having a conversation with Fredy.
• Talks during play, which emerged at his 21 Month. This is a skills that emerge when the child is getting closer to 3.
• He enjoys to ride the scooter and the balance, he can ride then short distances at his 22 month, but I am holding on him riding these toys until we get protective gear. 

Francis had his screening from Parents as Teachers at his 20 months, and he scored 100% on all advanced developmental areas, and there are milestones he has accomplished or were emerging that were not part of the screening because they are for older kids. According to the lady from Parents as teachers, he is developmentally about a year ahead of his birth age with an incredible expressive and receptive communication skills as well as attention span above his age and an impressive visual memory, which is what help him to visually scan and process the information around his environment, so this make him a quick learner. She even mentioned the possibility of Francis to be in the advanced class. She has been following his development since he was a baby and she mentioned that the gap between Francis and kids around of his age is very noticeable for her.

Francis's development has been consistently advanced since he was a newborn. The first time I noticed something different, it was when he was a few weeks old and I saw him trying to leave his upper body while supporting by the booppy pillow, and then he actually sat.  I got nervous rather than amazed!  I knew in that moment something was different with him. Even when he is still little to ensure he will always be advanced for his age,  my husband and I have a strong feeling that things will be different with him somehow.  Based on my observation, I see Francis's advanced development in the following areas:

• Language skills: Francis has a highly developed expressive and receptive communication skills.  Francis has an extensive vocabulary and the ability to learn new words easily. He began to understand and carry out multi-step directions between 14 and 18 month.  He started to use more complex language at his 20 months because he had adjectives, verbs, nouns and prepositions and began to use 3-4 word sentences. At his 23 month, he began to use 5 word sentece. Example: Daddy sits next to me. For us is not hearing new words, it is hearing new sentences and phrases everyday, it is like a little conversation between us. He ppropetly uses the word help, please, sorry, excuse me or por favor without prompting and Thanks, Thank your or gracias properly all the time. This skills began to emerge when he was 15 month without our intervention, which it cut my attention because these social-communciation skills emerge when a child is 3 year old.
• Learning Abilities: I don't see he is in advanced toddler because he can recognized color, shapes, numbers, all the letters if the alphabet upper and lowercase, route count, sightread, do more complex puzzles for 3 year old kid, understand the concept of sorting in one explanation and currently he is trying to count with his fingers. Many toddlers can learn many of these concepts at the same age than Francis, even kids with different abilities, but it requires time and effort. Francis can effortlessly absorb and incorporate all this new information and ideas and generalize them to real objects and everyday life situations. I do believe environment influence in his learning because we have  varied selection of toys, educational videos and books, but I don't sit to teach him anything as I do with Tommy. I even avoid to work on structured activities with Francis around because he creates too much distraction, so I cannot focus on Tommy. The only structured activity we do together once in a while is the iPad.
• Emotional and Behavioral Traits: One thing I have noticed quite different since Francis was a 8 month old is that he was not easily distracted as it is usual for a baby, and it is getting worse because he can cry non-stop for about 30 if he doesn't get what he wants, so I have started disciplining him. Even when an hour has passed, he recalls what he was requesting an hour before. I also notice that he is overprotective with Tommy. I began to noticed this since Francis was 16 month old during my struggle to make Tommy to pick up his toys. Francis run and picked the toys for Tommy and he still does it, so I tell him that Tommy can pick his toys. He gets very overprotective if a doctor or a nurse takes Tommy. Francis gets very anxious, calls me "mama" and begin to point where Tommy is. So I calm him down saying something like: The doctor is my friend, she is helping Tommy. It is like seeing a little guardian dog!  Francis always make sure that during snack Time, Tommy gets the same treats than him. Example: One day, I gave him a can juice and didn't give juice to Tommy because Tommy was eating ice cream. Francis started to get mad at me and jelling "mama. mama." So stop what i was doing and I got closer to him and them he said: "mama, Tommy juice." So I brought a can of juice for Tommy, but Tommy didn't want it, so I told Francis that Tommy was ok, he didn't want juice. On June 26, TOmmy for some reason was upset and didn't want to wash his hands, so I had to keep a firm position about washing hands before eating because Tommy was very revelious and he can wash his hands. He fianlly gave up after 10 minutes or so. After Tommy sat to eat, I was in the kitchen serving my dinner and Francis came to me pushed me to the table close to Tommy and asked me to sit. When I was sat Francis climeb on my lap, hugged me and said: Mama, Paz (piece), Paz (piece) Mama. He wanted me to be in piece with his brother, and not mad. This shows to me he is more emotional aware and he has the language to express it than most kids of his age. He is too polite for just being a 2 year old.  

Because of our last Parents as Teacher visit, I am starting to learn more about kids with advanced development and how to support them, because they also face challenges, they also struggle to be understood and their feelings can easily be hurt, which is something I see on Francis. It may be too early, but as a mom I can see what other people cannot about my kids and I do care about my kids feelings. It seems the early kids with advanced development are identified, the better they overcome any challenge will come as they grow up. 

I contacted a psychologist in our area, who specialized in kids with advanced development and their families. She thinks that Francis has a lot of characteristics of a high-potential child, but little kids are like sponges, so we should wait until he goes to school. She also recommended to keep tract of his milestones, which it is what I am doing by blogging about him, so we can have proof of his development and present them to the school when time comes. Then, we should make sure he gets a screening to determinate what class will be appropriate for him; because of he is being raised bilingual he can easily be overlooked. 

If Francis's path is going to be also different, I am ready for it. God has giving us a precious boy who is pure joy! We all enjoy Francis, he is a funny little guy. When he comes to the room where Tommy and I are, he greats us: "Hi Guys, How are you doing there? He lights my days.

Happy Birthday, Francis!