This morning Thomas woke up at the crazy hour of 2 a.m. Around 2:45 he wanted up at the table for some food, so I put him up in his chair and laid myself back down on the couch. A short while later he was whining to get down, so I asked "Thomas, do you want down?" And he reached over and pushed "yes" on his GoTalk. So I got up and let him down.
At around 4:15 he wanted back up at the table to eat breakfast. So I put him up and got him some more food, then I went and laid back down on the couch again. I snoozed, and a few minutes later woke to a lot of whining. So I asked "do you want to get down?" Nothing but more whining. So again I asked "Thomas, do you want to get down, press the button and tell me." So he looks at the GoTalk board, reaches over and presses "potty".
Okay, I was a little skeptical about this, but since he actually did check out the GoTalk board first and pushed that button after some deep thought, I got up and took him into the bathroom. I sat him on the potty, read his book a few times, and he actually went poop on the potty again!!
So it wasn't just a fluke!! How exciting is this? I envision no more poopy diapers, and after almost five years of them, that is a wonderful vision!!
Monday, January 21, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Go Talk Communication Device
Recently Thomas received an early birthday present. It is a communication device called a "Go Talk". Basically there are pictures placed in front of buttons. I can record a word so that when he pushes the corresponding picture, the word will play. I have programmed it with the words "Yes" "No" "More" and "Potty". The idea is to teach him to use the buttons to communicate, which will cut back on the frustration of figuring out what he wants, or doesn't want, and it will actually help with his speech in the long run.
Anyway, Thomas was sitting up at the table eating a snack this morning. I was working on my laptop sitting next to him. The "Go Talk" was near him and he pushed the "potty" button. So I said, "Do you have to go potty? if you push that button that means I have to take you to the potty." He pushed it again. So I took him into the bathroom. He sat on the potty and we read his book 3 or 4 times. I asked him twice if he was ready to get down and he pushed the "no" button. I left the bathroom to get a different book and when I came back I smelled something not-so-rosey. So I asked him if he made a stinky. I scootched him forward so I could see and sure enough, he'd made a poop on the potty!!!
This child amazes me every single day. I almost can't wait to wake up to see what else he is going to do!
Anyway, Thomas was sitting up at the table eating a snack this morning. I was working on my laptop sitting next to him. The "Go Talk" was near him and he pushed the "potty" button. So I said, "Do you have to go potty? if you push that button that means I have to take you to the potty." He pushed it again. So I took him into the bathroom. He sat on the potty and we read his book 3 or 4 times. I asked him twice if he was ready to get down and he pushed the "no" button. I left the bathroom to get a different book and when I came back I smelled something not-so-rosey. So I asked him if he made a stinky. I scootched him forward so I could see and sure enough, he'd made a poop on the potty!!!
This child amazes me every single day. I almost can't wait to wake up to see what else he is going to do!
Monday, January 14, 2008
He said it...
He said it...
The word I've been waiting for was finally, FINALLY, uttered from the sweet lips of my baby boy.
"Mama"
One word. One sweet word from my amazing guy.
A day I prayed for. A day I hoped for. A day I wished for with all my heart but was never sure it would really come.
But it did, and I realize that I need to keep on praying. Keep on hoping. Keep on wishing with all my heart and believing that the days will come when he will do the things I long for him to do.
It happened Thursday afternoon. I was working on a website for a new client but Thomas wanted to look at the Nissan website on my laptop. So I pulled it up for him and we looked through all the available models. While we were looking I received an email so I quickly clicked over to see what it was. This did not sit well with Thomas, who was not quite finished looking at the cars. So he began to get an attitude, as most soon-to-be five-year-olds will do. I turned to him and said, say "mama" and we can look at the cars again. Some more whining ensued, but a moment later he looked straight into my eyes and said "Mama."
Of course then I was too excited to switch screens, hugging and kissing him, cheering and applauding his accomplishment. All the while encouraging him to say it again. No such luck. Each request for the word mama was returned by Thomas with a kiss. Kisses are nice too, but I was on a "mama" high and wanted to hear it again. However I do know when to stop pressing my luck, so I returned to the Nissan website and we continued browsing for Thomas' dream car.
A few hours later he was at the dinner table, and he ran out of juice. Next thing you know I hear "mamamamamamama." So this time I was low-key about it and just refilled his juice. Okay, I did ask him to say "mama" before I refilled it. And he did answer me with "umma." Close enough kiddo, close enough.
After that requests for "mama" to be said were met with "babababa" or just plain old fashioned gobbledegook. Although I did get one more mama at random from across the room.
The next morning Thomas woke up way too early for any civilized human being to wake up. As I groggily got him some breakfast and strapped him into his booster seat, I kept asking him to say mama. Hey, it was 4 a.m. If he could wake me at that ungodly hour I had the right to make my request! Nothing doing though, so I came back to my couch and laid down where I could still watch him, and promptly dozed off. A short while later I awoke to "Mamamamamamama!" So I hopped up, did a happy dance, and went and got my big, sweet, wonderful, amazing boy down from his chair and smothered him with kisses and hugs before I let him down to play.
What an amazing little boy I have, don't you agree?
The word I've been waiting for was finally, FINALLY, uttered from the sweet lips of my baby boy.
"Mama"
One word. One sweet word from my amazing guy.
A day I prayed for. A day I hoped for. A day I wished for with all my heart but was never sure it would really come.
But it did, and I realize that I need to keep on praying. Keep on hoping. Keep on wishing with all my heart and believing that the days will come when he will do the things I long for him to do.
It happened Thursday afternoon. I was working on a website for a new client but Thomas wanted to look at the Nissan website on my laptop. So I pulled it up for him and we looked through all the available models. While we were looking I received an email so I quickly clicked over to see what it was. This did not sit well with Thomas, who was not quite finished looking at the cars. So he began to get an attitude, as most soon-to-be five-year-olds will do. I turned to him and said, say "mama" and we can look at the cars again. Some more whining ensued, but a moment later he looked straight into my eyes and said "Mama."
Of course then I was too excited to switch screens, hugging and kissing him, cheering and applauding his accomplishment. All the while encouraging him to say it again. No such luck. Each request for the word mama was returned by Thomas with a kiss. Kisses are nice too, but I was on a "mama" high and wanted to hear it again. However I do know when to stop pressing my luck, so I returned to the Nissan website and we continued browsing for Thomas' dream car.
A few hours later he was at the dinner table, and he ran out of juice. Next thing you know I hear "mamamamamamama." So this time I was low-key about it and just refilled his juice. Okay, I did ask him to say "mama" before I refilled it. And he did answer me with "umma." Close enough kiddo, close enough.
After that requests for "mama" to be said were met with "babababa" or just plain old fashioned gobbledegook. Although I did get one more mama at random from across the room.
The next morning Thomas woke up way too early for any civilized human being to wake up. As I groggily got him some breakfast and strapped him into his booster seat, I kept asking him to say mama. Hey, it was 4 a.m. If he could wake me at that ungodly hour I had the right to make my request! Nothing doing though, so I came back to my couch and laid down where I could still watch him, and promptly dozed off. A short while later I awoke to "Mamamamamamama!" So I hopped up, did a happy dance, and went and got my big, sweet, wonderful, amazing boy down from his chair and smothered him with kisses and hugs before I let him down to play.
What an amazing little boy I have, don't you agree?
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
R.I.P. Pat
Over the weekend a friend of ours took his own life. It came as such a shock and hung over our holiday celebrations like a dark cloud. He was too young to die, and it's so hard to accept that he is actually gone. He and his wife are a part of our circle of friends who all live within an hour of each other but grew up in the same rinky dink town up state years ago. He leaves behind a wife and two young children.
It is such a tragedy to have a friend die, let alone in the way he did. It is even harder to have it happen at the holiday. His little girl will have her fifth birthday in a week, but she will have to have it without her daddy. How is a child who is about to turn five supposed to understand that daddy is gone and never coming back? Will they ever find the magic of Christmas again, or will the memory of his death haunt every Christmas yet to come? How do you begin, as his widow, to pick up the pieces and hold it together when your world is falling apart around you? I can't imagine the pain of her loss, nor what she is going through to try to keep it together for her kids.
My heart is heavy with this loss. As my husband said, "We aren't supposed to be going to our friends funeral's for at least another 40 years." This is the second unexpected loss of a life much to young to have ended in the past 13 months.
I know that life will go on. Time will make it hurt less and we will all move on. However, in the here and now it hurts, and most of all I hurt for those he left behind and pray they can find their way to peace and happiness without their beloved father and husband.
It is such a tragedy to have a friend die, let alone in the way he did. It is even harder to have it happen at the holiday. His little girl will have her fifth birthday in a week, but she will have to have it without her daddy. How is a child who is about to turn five supposed to understand that daddy is gone and never coming back? Will they ever find the magic of Christmas again, or will the memory of his death haunt every Christmas yet to come? How do you begin, as his widow, to pick up the pieces and hold it together when your world is falling apart around you? I can't imagine the pain of her loss, nor what she is going through to try to keep it together for her kids.
My heart is heavy with this loss. As my husband said, "We aren't supposed to be going to our friends funeral's for at least another 40 years." This is the second unexpected loss of a life much to young to have ended in the past 13 months.
I know that life will go on. Time will make it hurt less and we will all move on. However, in the here and now it hurts, and most of all I hurt for those he left behind and pray they can find their way to peace and happiness without their beloved father and husband.
Thomas at Christmas
Thomas was so much fun for Christmas this year. In years past he has helped open his gifts, not really interested in the act of opening nor in what he found inside. This year he couldn't get enough of opening. Occasionally he'd stop to check out what was in the package, but mostly it was on to the next package, ripping the paper a little at a time, tiny bits of paper being thrown here and there. At the start he needed help getting started, but at the end he was a pro. He also quickly figured out that soft packages most likely meant clothing, and he'd toss those aside without bothering to open them. Stinker.
Thomas received way too many gifts, but he really loved most of them, and as the days go by I'm sure he'll love the rest. There was so much excitement involved as we went from my mother's house to my mother-in-laws house, but he was so very very good. He had a great time and it was such a lovely Christmas with him. It's so nice to see how much he has grown and how he is beginning to enjoy those things other parents take for granted that thier kids will do and enjoy. I can't wait for next year!
Thomas received way too many gifts, but he really loved most of them, and as the days go by I'm sure he'll love the rest. There was so much excitement involved as we went from my mother's house to my mother-in-laws house, but he was so very very good. He had a great time and it was such a lovely Christmas with him. It's so nice to see how much he has grown and how he is beginning to enjoy those things other parents take for granted that thier kids will do and enjoy. I can't wait for next year!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Merry Christmas!
For the past two years, just before Christmas, Thomas has done something amazing which always manages to lift my mood and restore my holiday spirit.
Two years ago he began using the walker.
Last year he figured out how to crawl. (yes, he's backwards lol)
This year I fully expected him to start talking. Nothing big, just a single word would do. It is now December 11 and still no words. However, he has once again done something truly amazing. This year for Christmas Thomas has decided he would start to "get it". He is suddenly understanding everything being said around him. He is listening, understanding, and complying (when he feels like it!).
There are three other things he has started doing in the past week. The first is that he has become a puzzle master. I took a puzzle to therapy with him last Friday. It is one of those wooden ones with the big chunky pieces with the wooden knobs on them. It has three large shapes, a circle, square, and triangle. In the past he has shown a mastery of the circle, a pretty good grasp of the square, and troubles with the triangle. He hasn't touched the puzzle in months. Well, I pulled it out at therapy on Friday and set it in front of him while his therapist twisted and manipulated his body into the proper kneeling position. Like an expert he grabbed all three pieces and put them in their proper spot. After proving to us a few more times that this was not a fluke we challenged him with another puzzle. This one had smaller wooden shape pieces with smaller knob handles. It also had more shapes. Again he shocked us and put all the pieces in the puzzle with no trouble at all! It was truly amazing to watch him work those puzzles.
The second thing is last night (Monday) he took a hot wheel car, held it wheels down on the table, and began scooting it back and forth in front of him! He PLAYED with a car just like those boring "normal" kids do.
Finally, the third thing is he has a leap frog book that is in the shape of a barn. It reads the story about farm animals, counting them as it goes. Along with this book is a block, which has an animal pictured on each side. For each page of the book "Tad" the frog is looking for one of his missing animals. The object is to find the animal on the block and put it in place with the correct animal facing up. Then when you push the block down it congratulates you on finding the animal. Thomas has had the book for almost a year, and has never used the block with it. The other morning I got the block out and showed him what to do with it AND HE DID IT! He has trouble getting the block in the hole, but he can find the correct animal each time. He will hand it to me to put in the hole after he has tried to do it himself.
I can't say enough how amazing this kid is. I am so in awe of him and all he has accomplished and I wait with baited breath for his next great accomplishment.
Two years ago he began using the walker.
Last year he figured out how to crawl. (yes, he's backwards lol)
This year I fully expected him to start talking. Nothing big, just a single word would do. It is now December 11 and still no words. However, he has once again done something truly amazing. This year for Christmas Thomas has decided he would start to "get it". He is suddenly understanding everything being said around him. He is listening, understanding, and complying (when he feels like it!).
There are three other things he has started doing in the past week. The first is that he has become a puzzle master. I took a puzzle to therapy with him last Friday. It is one of those wooden ones with the big chunky pieces with the wooden knobs on them. It has three large shapes, a circle, square, and triangle. In the past he has shown a mastery of the circle, a pretty good grasp of the square, and troubles with the triangle. He hasn't touched the puzzle in months. Well, I pulled it out at therapy on Friday and set it in front of him while his therapist twisted and manipulated his body into the proper kneeling position. Like an expert he grabbed all three pieces and put them in their proper spot. After proving to us a few more times that this was not a fluke we challenged him with another puzzle. This one had smaller wooden shape pieces with smaller knob handles. It also had more shapes. Again he shocked us and put all the pieces in the puzzle with no trouble at all! It was truly amazing to watch him work those puzzles.
The second thing is last night (Monday) he took a hot wheel car, held it wheels down on the table, and began scooting it back and forth in front of him! He PLAYED with a car just like those boring "normal" kids do.
Finally, the third thing is he has a leap frog book that is in the shape of a barn. It reads the story about farm animals, counting them as it goes. Along with this book is a block, which has an animal pictured on each side. For each page of the book "Tad" the frog is looking for one of his missing animals. The object is to find the animal on the block and put it in place with the correct animal facing up. Then when you push the block down it congratulates you on finding the animal. Thomas has had the book for almost a year, and has never used the block with it. The other morning I got the block out and showed him what to do with it AND HE DID IT! He has trouble getting the block in the hole, but he can find the correct animal each time. He will hand it to me to put in the hole after he has tried to do it himself.
I can't say enough how amazing this kid is. I am so in awe of him and all he has accomplished and I wait with baited breath for his next great accomplishment.
Monday, November 12, 2007
One in every family
There seems to be at least one person in every family who is either unable, or unwilling, to comprehend the nature of a special needs child. This person usually speaks without thinking, often causing us parents to cringe, or worse, to cry. We are used to strangers coming up and saying things that astound us by their complete ignorance. These people don't know us or our children, and often don't realize their comments hurt. However, when it is a family member who says, or does, something completely ignorant, it is hard to let it go.
In my family I have one major offender of the above crime. This person is constantly saying things that make me slap my own forehead, when really I want to slap hers. The last time we were at a family gathering she introduced Thomas as her "special grandson." UGH! The time before that she asked me "do you think Thomas can understand what we are saying?" To which I replied, "Yes, of course he can." Her next question, "Do you think he wonders why he is different than everybody else?" Oh my God woman! Did you not hear my previous answer that he DOES indeed understand what you are saying? Then why on Earth would you ask such an asinine question as a follow up? The last time I saw her was at a smaller gathering which included a friend of my uncle. This friend, who I did not know, asked my cousin if Thomas was the "special one" she had heard about. UGH UGH UGH!
What in the world are we supposed to do with family like this? Strangers are easy, we don't have to like them, we don't have to explain anything to them, and we likely will never see them again. But with family we do have to see them again, we do have to like them, and we do have to explain. Or do we? It has become my new policy that I will only surround Thomas with those who are supportive and who lift him up instead of those who seem to thrill when he falls. I have received a lot of flak for this policy. Other family members think that because She is my family I should forgive and forget. They don't understand what it's like to fight tooth and nail for every small achievement in a special needs child's life. To fight the insurance company, the schools, the doctors, and whoever else out there wants to stand in the way of our child and what we believe is best for them. It is my opinion that family should be the one group I shouldn't have to fight. They should be supportive and helpful. They should be next to me, cheering Thomas on to his next goal, that next great achievement. By allowing those who do not do those things to be in his life I am doing a disservice to him. Thomas has enough hurdles to face in this world, I won't knowingly give him another by allowing anyone, family or not, to stand in his way.
In my family I have one major offender of the above crime. This person is constantly saying things that make me slap my own forehead, when really I want to slap hers. The last time we were at a family gathering she introduced Thomas as her "special grandson." UGH! The time before that she asked me "do you think Thomas can understand what we are saying?" To which I replied, "Yes, of course he can." Her next question, "Do you think he wonders why he is different than everybody else?" Oh my God woman! Did you not hear my previous answer that he DOES indeed understand what you are saying? Then why on Earth would you ask such an asinine question as a follow up? The last time I saw her was at a smaller gathering which included a friend of my uncle. This friend, who I did not know, asked my cousin if Thomas was the "special one" she had heard about. UGH UGH UGH!
What in the world are we supposed to do with family like this? Strangers are easy, we don't have to like them, we don't have to explain anything to them, and we likely will never see them again. But with family we do have to see them again, we do have to like them, and we do have to explain. Or do we? It has become my new policy that I will only surround Thomas with those who are supportive and who lift him up instead of those who seem to thrill when he falls. I have received a lot of flak for this policy. Other family members think that because She is my family I should forgive and forget. They don't understand what it's like to fight tooth and nail for every small achievement in a special needs child's life. To fight the insurance company, the schools, the doctors, and whoever else out there wants to stand in the way of our child and what we believe is best for them. It is my opinion that family should be the one group I shouldn't have to fight. They should be supportive and helpful. They should be next to me, cheering Thomas on to his next goal, that next great achievement. By allowing those who do not do those things to be in his life I am doing a disservice to him. Thomas has enough hurdles to face in this world, I won't knowingly give him another by allowing anyone, family or not, to stand in his way.
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