Wednesday, November 28, 2007

and so it goes....


And so the baby doesn't talk right? He is the silent shouter in my life. That knot in my gut that follows me around and tells me that things just aren't right.
So tonight I have my gut somewhere up in my throat as I roll this diagnosis around in my head..."Childhood Apraxia of Speech."
The speech language pathologist (SLP) came today and gave him a full evaluation. And when she told me this apraxia word my brain froze. She continued....It is treatable with the right intervention....Not a big deal, really. She told me not to Google it, because she has this book, see, and that I should read that book, not the internet. She told me about a crazy hysterical mother that took her toddler to a neurologist in search of what could be wrong with him.
"Not that you would do that. You don't seem the type," she said with a wise wave of her hand.
So I said good-bye, thank you, waved, shut the door and 3,2, 1....Googled....."Childhood Apraxia of.....and there it was. Come on, this lady has known me for, what?, five minutes?
As many of these disorders, diseases, syndromes, conditions... are apt to have there is a dot org. And words like "special needs," "IEPs," "special education," "advocate for your child," "therapy," all stick to my eyelids and prevent any rational thoughts from occuring.
It will be alright. I know it. As Patty our own personal family SLP, talked me down out of my tree tonight, she's a wealth of information. I suppose if God had given me a list of tough things your child must endure, this may be one of the ones I would have chosen, if forced to.

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

The reveal

OK, People here it is....you've probably been wondering what I've been doing with all my time. I present to you the after. If you haven't seen the before, you'll have to scroll down through the blog (to Sept 7th) to see the work in progress.

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Wednesday, November 21, 2007

three way pull

First tooth yanked by Mama Super Grip.
And baby "sleeps" in the barn with friends.
My oldest boy turned eight on the same day his brother lost his first tooth.

A day of milestones...

The mother of said boys was supposed to be in three places at once. All between 1130 and noon this is what I should have been doing.

1) handing out birthday treats at school

2) attending a Thanksgiving play

3) attending baby's speech therapy

Needless to say, I ended up in breaking all speeding records, frazzled and in tears. And my sweet middle child said matter of factly from the back seat, "too bad, you couldn't see my play."

KC still doesn't talk. And to say I'm worried about it is putting it lightly. I try to work with him and repeat things until I can feel my eyes bulge.
I'm off to do more stuff in the kitchen. I've got the UN coming for dinner.

Monday, November 19, 2007

there's nothing like...

i've been a bit afraid of my blog lately.
I don't know why.
Kind of like picking up the phone to talk to a friend you haven't spoken with for a long time. It seems like there is too much ground to cover.
Oh, I also had two people tell me they don't read my blog anymore because it is too boring.
So I feel it is probably safe to talk about them in unfavorable tones in future posts. I may even post pictures of them.
We've had our first case of pink eye in the house last week. There is nothing like chasing down a two year old, tying him down to pry his eyes apart to splash medicine into his eyes.

Q is going to be in a Thanksgiving play tomorrow. He has a dual role -- The King (as in of England, not Elvis) and Miles Standish. Again....there is nothing like 5 year olds dressed as pilgrims and the natives.

Tomorrow is K's 8th birthday too, which will require the usual fete and festivities.

Shawn is gone to NY for his 103 year old Nana's funeral. He will miss the celebrations here.

I'm also not sure how I will complete the meal preparation for 12 that I have planned on Thursday, but I'm sure it will all work out.

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. There is nothing like it.
This is my week to watch Food Network. I can watch people prepare turkey and stuffing all week.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

camp




Here is one great element to being the only female in the family. For questions like...."mama, can we camp outside tonight?"

I can simply say, you know I don't deal with such things, ask your Papa. And he will pitch a tent in the backyard and all boys over the age of 5 will prepare for the hardship ahead.

I was awake from 330am to 430am that night with the baby. The outside thermometer read 43 degrees. Papa didn't sleep so well. He tried to convince the two children that maybe they wanted to go in and sleep in the house, but they had none of it.

Friday, November 02, 2007

2nd grade blues

To the best of my knowledge, I've attended second grade.

In fact, I remember the first day my mom said to me. You know, I didn't go to school here (meaning America), I cannot help you any longer with school work, you are on your own.

Well in the end, it was just another great gift she gave me. So while other kids had awesome solar systems crafted out of store bought styrofoam balls and paint or a mechanical structure they built in the garage with their dads. I tried to figure out how to make a dental plate out of flour, water and food color. I won a "superior" and then when I went to the district science fair I found my teeth and literally rotted in the moist baggy with fuzzy mold.

But now I've found myself having to repeat 2nd grade, again. Because we live in a new world where the parents are required to involved in every aspect of the student's class work. K had to decorate a paper gingerbread man to look like himself. He worked at it with great vigor and let's just say the child is not known for his artistic abilities. When I saw all of the little people up on the bulletin board. K's was in the lower left hand corner with a bit of crayon color for clothing and a basic smiley face. Others had buttons, fabric, yarn hair and 3D embellishments showing little gingerdude doing a favorite hobby or sport. Our next project was a book report where we had to, get this, craft a pumpkin or gourd into the main character of the book. Now we are supposed to create a "family turkey" or some damn thing.

Honestly I could hardly fully comprehend the instructions I just glanced at the headline, "Dear Parents...' the dread filled my chest. And then there was something about Thanksgiving being about gratitude for family and golly gee this project will really be a great way for your children be thankful that you got locked away because you won't be around to hurt anyone. anymore.