As I shared in the last post, Kelsie has been working hard to capture a little picture of each child in the Fulp home. Below I’ve collected and shared her posts. (Mostly this was for my email folks who won’t see facebook posts!)
Here is the second half of Family Fulp!
Jenny
Little Jenny is so gorgeous, and has one of the most unique personalities in the home! She has had a long journey, and is growing so much. Jenny has downs syndrome, and when she came a little under a year old, she also had intense spasms every time you tried to feed her, and she was pretty malnourished. We believe she also has some sensory processing struggles and may be on the autism spectrum. Through so much loving patience, and some meds to help with spasms, Jenny can now drink without pain. Sadly, these early set backs have left her with an aversion to eating.
We questioned at first if she would ever walk or crawl, but as her strength grew, so did her curious nature and off she went crawling into everything!! I believe this one is unstoppable!
Jenny loves climbing onto things too tall for her, and coming up to say hi when specific caregivers come for a visit. Her smile is massive on her tiny face, and her laugh is so contagious. She has very high emotions whether joy, or… not joy!
Jenny’s greatest challenge remains eating enough. She has begun to touch food to her mouth, and even let it enter. While playing with the food, she now allows us a few spoons into mouth! This child really is unstoppable!
Jenny is also working a lot on walking and can now use a walker to cross a room alone! She is working on sensory input as well since this is pretty huge for her.
Jenny is a curious, intelligent and crazy cute little woman, and it is a delight to spend time with her.
We will work with playing with toys and having fun. Some rhythm time with music and toys, dancing, and of course some dance breaks. If you felt led to, you can check out the wishlist for this ministry below.
Kelsie Wester/Fulp’s Art, Dance, and Therapy Ministry – Amazon Custom Gift List – https://www.amazon.com/…/custom/25F48SK7VM7EC/guest-view
Santiago
Santi is our youngest boy, now over 2 years old. He too came to us very young. He has many developmental delays resulting from complications at birth. His vision is somewhat impaired, and he may not walk, and does not tend to handle toys. Through a lot of therapy, he has learned to sit up and lay down on his own! He is not a fan of therapy time, so it is a challenge to encourage him to sit for expanding periods of time. Santi LOVES being held and cuddled and would spend every second in someone’s arms if possible!! He also loves it when someone engages him through talking, playing peek a boo, or just making funny sounds. His giggling response is pretty fantastic! When he is not being held, he likes to find a fun surface to kick his feet against.
He will continue to spend time in therapy working with sensory or tactile input, and developmental milestones. Santi can now hold his sippy cup alone, and with time we hope he will reach for cheerios and use his hands with food.
We will work with sensory toys and doing art. We will also work on helping him hit his developmental milestones. We will do a lot of music therapy as well.
Santi is a sweet, cuddly little man who makes you feel like the most special person in the world when you hold him
Kevin
Kevin has his tube now, so he has gained weight. Terry Cook has been trying to use eye tracking with him. He hasn’t fully connected with using the system yet, but we believe he will! He absolutely loves the one on one time with her!
If he set cross legged, he can hold sitting on his own for a little time. Kevin seems much happier overall these days, and he has more people that he connects with.
Kevin is such a fun little guy. He came super malnourished to the home. Now, he is at a much healthier weight and has the best smile.
We will also work alongside Terry to work on the eye gaze system with him. Another thing will be music time! We will make sure he gets a lot of extra attention and love! Another thing is working on sitting up. Hopefully, he will be able to do that for longer time on his own. Lastly, we will read and as always take some extra cuddle time.
David
I spent a good bit of time with David while I was an intern at the homes. Let’s just say, our quality time was mostly spent around 3:00 AM because someone was causing the other to not sleep because they were crying all night.
David, now, is much happier and wakes up a lot less. He does lose interest in eating and has not gained as much as they would like.
For David, we will spend a lot of time just snuggling because the quality time will be the best for both of us. I will also do some sensory therapy, read books to him, play music, and just enjoy loving on him.
And I mean, that smile!
Nohemi
Next up— Mimi
Mimi is the princess of the family! She came as an infant, and with her microcephaly, she is a forever baby– that is, she will always need full care and be the best of cuddlers. All of her siblings in the home adore her, and everyone who meets her finds her precious.
Mimi has had a lot of health struggles and is one of our more severe kiddos. She had a g-tube placed this year, and since then she has grown tremendously! Her spasms are now under control as well and she is much more content than before.
Mimi’s therapy goals mainly have to do with tactile stimulation. More than anything, she just needs loving! That’s exactly what all her caregivers and siblings in the home want to give her!
That is exactly what we will do! Read together and mostly just love on her.
Protected case
Meet this sweet one. Because of the situation, I will not be sharing her name and covering more of her face.
She joined the crew last year. Initially she was malnourished and had some major health concerns, but with time and quite a bit of back and forth with doctors in Guatemala city, she is healthy and thriving now. She loves helping out the younger children, and sometimes forgets she is not their parent! She rocks out her own dance moves whenever kids worship or disney songs are on. She speaks many words, but her speech is pretty garbled. She loves school, and is so excited for that time each day when she gets to learn and grow. She enjoys playing with therapy related toys like legos that allow her to build and create, and she often spends time drawing circles in her notebook.
We have been working with her on speech, and fine motor skills. We are also trying to help her learn age appropriate boundaries as she is such an affectionate young woman, but has gotten a little big for sitting in an adults lap like the younger children.
She is a joy and adds so many dimensions to the home.
We will work with reading books together, dance therapy, art therapy, and maybe even working on speech some. She may be able to help with some of the younger ones as well depending on how everything goes.
She is going to love some of the amazing toys and therapy things we been able to receive through our wish list.
Kelsie Wester/Fulp’s Art, Dance, and Therapy Ministry – Amazon Custom Gift List – https://www.amazon.com/…/custom/25F48SK7VM7EC/guest-view
Cesar
And our last introduction from Home 1.… Cesar!
Cesar is one of the older ones in the home now. He has a lot of trauma from his early life that is causing most of his behaviors. He really is just the sweetest kid. Sometimes, he just needs some hugs and words of affirmation. He loved playing with water and balls. He also loved pushing his trucks around the home.
Cesar loves screaming Jeremiah Fulp name when he is on the balcony of the home until Jay comes down
We will do art together and work with sensory toys. We will also try to do some music time together. We will make sure to do some water play as well since it’s one of his favorites.
Love this guy. Can’t wait to be there with him again
