Monday, February 6, 2012

Week Two

Week Two started today. How has life changed in the past seven days? 

Sam has been doing his exercises at least once a day. Not quite the 3-5 times per day that they suggest but considering the whole series takes about ten minutes and we run around all day like crazy people, I think it’s pretty good.

To make Sam feel like he has some control, we let him choose the order. Usually he likes to do the four eye exercises first. Then he moves on to the primitive reflex exercises. What are they? Primitive reflexes are automatic and repetitive movements that are essential in the womb and during early development.  They shouldn’t be active after a child’s first year and if they are, they can hinder the appropriate brain development. Sam has to do eight exercises to help him eliminate the presence of the rooting, spinal galant and moro reflexes (to name a few). When he’s done with those, he strengthens his core. It’s an active ten minutes; he’s a real sport and does them without much fuss.

We are writing down the foods Sam eats. The list is kind of horrifying and a change isn’t going to be a bad thing. A few highlights – Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Pizza Bites, M&Ms and Eggo Nutrigrain Waffles. But it’s not all bad. He had five pears, four apples, more grapes than I can count and chicken skewers from Wild Ginger in Maplewood.

His screen time has been cut. Each weekday, he played less than an hour of video games and watched no TV. He missed it but managed. I was kind of terrified for the weekend. Sam likes his games and he’s used to playing as much as he wants when there’s no school. He woke up at 7 and he played till about 10am. 3 hours. Not great. But better than the weekend before. When his time was up, we filled the days with lunch out, drawing, reading and playing with Legos. It was pretty fun. He entertained himself more than I thought he would and when he wanted company, we all had a pretty good time playing together.

It feels like the only music on is his. I wonder if my brain is balancing too since I am listening to it as much as he is. It’s not unbearable but we’re only one week in. I think it might make me crazy by the end. I need to get him to listen to it on his iPod.



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