Posts from — March 2008

J-Man has always been a music lover. For a long time, it was the only thing that would help him calm down and relax when he was upset or couldn’t sleep. Singing still helps with certain things, like attempts at teeth brushing, but songs or anything lyrical (like Seuss books) also help engage him into paying attention and doing a little talking.

We have a ridiculous number of music channels on our digital cable. One of them was playing James Brown’s “Living in America”. I would imitate (badly) James Brown’s trademark “ow!” and Little Man started saying “ah-ow” after me. We had a blast! Then came some serious father-son bonding.

The next song was “Brickhouse”. I would sing “Brick! duh, duh, duh, duh… house!” and he would say “ow!”

Mary was in the kitchen rolling her eyes. I was in the floor howling. J-Man thought the whole thing was hysterical. Now all I have to do is say “brick” and he busts out laughing.

There are days you’ll do whatever it takes to get your kid to talk. Might as well have some fun doing it.

Ow!

Because I am a nerd and go in and read Tim’s posts, I went and read Amalah’s blog too, and found this piece that resonated with me.

This was the part that REALLY says what I am thinking.

You know why I’m afraid of autism? Of delays and labels and illness and stuff that just ain’t right with my kid?

Because I am afraid of myself. Of what I am capable of, of what I can handle, and that it won’t be enough. There.

Well, that, and the whole “I wish everything wasn’t so hard for him” thing.

He tries so hard to communicate without words. Now, when we say, “I love you” before bedtime and try to get J-man to say any part of it back, he kisses us instead. And kisses us. And kisses us.

I love you too, Little Man.

The word of the day is MoGo. That’s really two words. It’s a two-word sentence, asking for More of Ready, Set, Go!

My son used a two-word sentence! In response to the question, “What do you want?” when he was in his swing (see the pictures from Tim).

It really is the little things that make parents smile. I know there are a lot of parents out there who think something like “MoGo” isn’t anything to write home about – or to blog about.

It totally is.

MoGo. Word of the day!

What a difference a week makes! J-Man has gotten into his medicine groove with the fish oil! This has been the ritual with everything else he’s taken in the past - several days of karate and fighting it and then a grim acceptance. He never likes it, but makes his peace with it. Of course, none of his other medicine smelled like a fish camp.

So it looks like that part of the equation is good for the duration. I can’t say as we’ve seen any major improvements, though it does seem that his eye contact and interaction are getting better. As Mary says in the above post, we may be seeing a trend toward improved communication!

Again, this is by no means a scientific report and we don’t have any foolproof method of charting his progress. We don’t have any standard by which to measure what ’success’ means here either. I guess we’ll just know it when we see it.

For me, “I love you, Daddy” will be more than enough.

Daddy finally got the swing set and slide pretty much finished. Go me!

Pictures are worth a thousand words. So, here are 3,000 words.

I found the Amalah blog and laughed till I almost cried. Her son is in Early Intervention too with speech delays, sensory issues, and the like. It really helps to know other people are out there struggling through this. I so needed a good laugh after this past week.

A bucket of Advil hasn’t put a dent in the tent-stake-through-my-eyeballs headache I’ve had lately. Some laughter seemed to help, though. Thanks!

I read. I read a lot. I mean… a lot. I can’t stop myself from reading if there are words in front of me. I read for work, I read for pleasure, and I especially read because a book is about someone else’s troubles and not mine.

Lately (and by lately I mean the past few years) I’ve really worked on reading books with a strong female protagonist. Usually that means I’m reading either mysteries or fantasy/science fiction. I try my best not to read scary stuff, since I get nightmares from that. I also own a lot of children’s fiction, especially historical fiction. I have learned a lot about living in the 1850s through early 1900s. This is part of the reason that I am the Mary-pedia.

I learn from reading (verbal), and I learn from listening (aural). As an education major in college, I found that most children learn best from those two methods… but that there is a sub-set of kids who learn through body movement (kinesthetics), or music, or from visual stimulation like art.

I wonder… how will Mister Man learn the best? Will his sensory issues stop him from wanting to learn through movement, or will that be the best way for him to learn? Will he be unable to “get” art class because he spends the whole time concerned about getting messy? He loves music… is that the best way to help him remember? (I remember learning specific literature quotations while listening to music, and being able to remember them by just thinking of the song’s melody. Of course, that didn’t amuse the people who sat near me during an exam, because I would unconsciously hum!)

What do you do to escape from life for just a little while? Tim turns on the iPod and tunes out the world. He watches science programs on TV (best when they’re narrated by William Shatner). He used to just stand in the shower, but since we’re in the midst of the worst drought in recorded history… he doesn’t do that anymore! He goes on solitary walks.

Me? I read.

You’ll be pleased to know that the guide to eligible expenses that can be taken out of your flexible spending account has clarified some important social and theological issues.

Glad they cleared that up. This probably saved them from having to cover potato chips and cheesy poofs, too.

I particularly liked the theological implications of the next one.

I guess Tom Cruise didn’t yell hard enough.

All humor aside, breastfeeding supplies are not covered under flexible spending plans. We already knew this, but it still chaps our collective butts. God forbid we encourage breastfeeding even though every medical and child-oriented organization on earth recommends it. So working moms have to eat $300 plus the cost of supplies (at least, after you throw in a power supply every year and replacement parts on top of everything else) to pump milk for their kids while they’re at work even though doing so has shown that their kids will incur fewer medical expenses over time. But we’re not bitter. [end rant]