It’s Not So Easy…

Growing up, my mother had a wall hanging that read “God, grant me the patience to endure my blessings.”  Or maybe it was a magnet.  Regardless, I never understood it.  Even when I first became a mom myself I didn’t quite understand.  My precious baby boy who never cried was such a treat I couldn’t imagine why anyone would feel the need to cry out for patience in dealing with such a blessing, though I did quickly learn to appreciate the feeling of complete exhaustion!  Then that precious baby boy grew into a quick witted, stubborn, three-year-old boy with the added frustration of a speech delay.  As many of my friends are also learning, three-year-old boys are strange and difficult creatures.  And we had a second baby who was not quite the treat her older brother had been.  He rarely cried as an infant; she never stopped!  And as she’s grown she’s become the most precocious fire-cracker of a 16-month-old I’ve ever met.  I don’t think she realizes she’s 16-months-old; rather, I think she believes she’s 5, or maybe 13.  I love, love, love these children.  With everything that I am.  And yet, days when I can’t rest because every time I try they see some sign that reads “It’s time to jump all over mom time!”, or days when my little boy’s face is totally vacant while I try to explain to him why he can’t hit his sister or shove my library card in the DVD player and no form of discipline seems to get through to him, or days (or nights!)  when my little girl throws tantrum after tantrum after tantrum because she can’t do something her big brother can do or because she’s not getting her way I finally, really understand that sign in my mother’s kitchen.  They are enormous blessings and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.  They are also enormous challenges.  I know without a shadow of a doubt that God gave me honour of raising these particular children for a purpose.  He has big plans for their strong and busy personalities, and he believed that I could best prepare them for those big plans.  And I know that he will grant me the patience, and the strength, to deal with these blessings.  I also know I often fall short of the mark, that I run out of patience too soon and maybe some days I don’t give them enough of myself (though that may simply be guilty-mom-for-no-reason syndrome).   And I know that I’m not alone.  Not alone because my mother before me went through what I’m going through now; not alone because so many of my friends are going through the same daily struggles (and what a great source of comfort Facebook and other mom blogs have become as we all trudge through this adventure together!); not alone because God’s pouring out of strength and patience won’t run out so long as I continue to lean on him.  And I know that this has been little more than a mommy venting, but I hope it will maybe be a source of comfort and encouragement to friends (or strangers) who are finding themselves also needing to cry out for patience to endure their little blessings and need to hear that they aren’t alone in this either! 

Telling Jokes

You know your nearly non-vocal little boy has come a long way when knock-knock jokes have become a daily part of his “conversation”.  We’re assuming his older cousins must have taught the him the concept of the jokes, and he clearly doesn’t quite get it, but it’s totally hilarious.  Here’s an example:  Knock-Knock? Who There? Drew-Bug.  BLAH BLAH!!

Each joke, which he recites entirely by himself, ends with someone’s, or something’s, name and a loud “BLAH BLAH”.  We don’t know why.  Then he laughs hysterically and we can’t help but laugh with him!

Unfortunately, we have noticed a bit 0f a set-back.  His pronunciation continues to improve so much so that I’m not at all worried about his next assessment, which we should hear about soon.  However, he has started dropping words from sentences and replacing them with “hm” instead.  So “I want to go to the playground” becomes “Drew hm hm hm playground!”  Of course, it would still be pretty normal at this age for the entire sentence to only be “Drew wants go playground”, but because dropping the words is a new “symptom” it’s a bit concerning.  A friend who does some work with other children like Drew tells me that this issue is quite normal among children who have been in speech therapy and is usually simply because they’re trying to talk faster than their mouths can keep up.  I hope that’s all it is and that he will overcome it soon.

Jami-Lee is starting to talk more and more too.  Most of her speech is random babbling, but her inflection tells you exactly what she wants to say and almost daily she’ll blurt out something real.  Just yesterday she said “Shoe stuck!”  It’s not her first two-word combo.  She says “Yay, Drew” (who she simply calls “Do”) or “Where Drew?” or “What’s that?” all the time.  Most of what she says would probably be totally unrecognizable to people who aren’t used to hearing her chatter, but that’s pretty normal for a 16-month-old and we’re not at all concerned that she’ll have her brother’s difficulties.  In fact, the very fact that she babbles means she shouldn’t; Drew really never babbled at all.  I’ve never counted her vocabulary the way some parents do, but if I were to count all the words we’ve heard her say I think the number would easily be at least 20-30.  That’s pretty exciting for a Mommy who’s first dealt with a child who couldn’t talk.

Now if only I could teach them to clean and do chores.  They do help pick up their toys, but I can’t wait for the day they can take their turns washing dishes and mopping floors!

Big Update!

Okay, so I should have written this post weeks ago, but it’s “better late than never” right??  My only excuse is that our Summer has been so busy!  And, really, anyone with children will understand that it’s a completely valid excuse for some things being left at the wayside.

So here’s the big news not everyone has heard:  Drew’s Phonological Disorder has been upgraded from “severe” to “moderate”!!!  We knew that he had responded amazingly well to the speech therapy, but I was still a nervous wreck in the two weeks between his re-assessment and our last visit with his therapist before the Summer.  I was beyond elated when she told me the news!  She even went so far as to say that he’s on a “mild end of moderate right now”!  She explained/warned that one of two things would happen during his Summer break from regular therapy:

1. The months of careful practice would appear more and more in his daily speech (there is always a delay between practicing the new skills and sounds and their appearance in daily speech); or

2. He could possibly get lazy and revert to old speech patterns, which would simply mean that we would have to step up practice with him on our own.

She wasn’t really concerned that the second possibility would be a problem for him and it  certainly has not been.  In fact, having to stop and correct his speech is becoming more and more rare!  There are still a number of sounds and words he has difficulty with, and he does sometimes need to be reminded not to be lazy, but generally he’s doing very very well.  A number of people have even told us how elated they are to be able to have conversations with him, and it warms a mother’s heart to see her little boy talking when 8 months ago we didn’t know if this day would come.  We look forward to the days of frustration over difficult communication being long behind us!

The plan now is for him to have another re-assessment in either the Fall or Winter and his therapist expects that he will still need another block of therapy to work on the sounds and muscle movements that are still a problem.  So it may be a while again before there’s a new update!

Sentences!!

It was only about 3 short months ago that I wrote about Drew Speaking in Phrases, when he very carefully put together a 3-word question.  In the past month, since working regularly with his therapist, full sentences have become completely normal!   For the first time we are able to carry on full conversations and this mommy is totally thrilled!!  Almost as thrilling as carrying on a conversation with him myself is listening while he talks to other people, and they can understand him!  His favourite topic of late is his trip to see the “special train” at Heritage Park with Daddy (Thomas the Tank Engine was there for a special weekend visit) and he’ll tell anyone who will listen.   But he’s picked up numerous other regular phrases too, such as “Sit on bum, Bebe!”, (or “Sit on bum, Jam!”), as he copies familiar phrases Mommy has to regularly use!  He’s also now able to use words to describe his feelings, like telling me if he’s mad or sad or sick.  “Drew no happy no more!” is a sentence we’re hearing often, as he clearly indicates his feelings at not getting his own way.

I wrote in the Speaking in Phrases that I hadn’t totally believed he really would improve like he has.  I was so afraid to believe it was possible, and I praise God for his work in my little boy.  I sometimes find myself wondering why he would have allowed Drew to be born with this defect in the first place.  What is the point of this challenge?  I may never know the answer to that question.  In fact, I most likely won’t.  Regardless, I trust that he has a greater purpose for my boy and his resilience.  Perhaps one day he’ll be an eloquent public speaking journalist or politician!  Only time will tell and for now I will simply revel in his incredible progress.

More Crafting!

I’ve been really busy crafting in the last little bit.  Partly because there were a few little girls to make new gifts for!  I’m going to have to take a little break again though, turning back to books until the inflammation in my poor wrist settles again.   Using a couple of different tests described to me by a friend who is an Occupational Therapist I’m feeling fairly confident that it is simply (or not so simply!) a case of “mom’s thumb” and will stop acting up as Jami becomes more and more independently mobile over the next couple of years.

This is what I’ve been working on:

I am excessively proud of this dress I crocheted for Jami-Lee.  It is another project I did without a pattern and I’ve been working on it for a few months.  It’s totally adorable, but I wasn’t able to get a good picture of her in it!  They’re all either a blur of her trying to walk to the camera, of her sitting in her stroller, or from the back!

I made two of this hat for two adorable little princesses!  My new “neice”, Hailey, and another friend’s baby girl, Belle.

This hat was made for another “neice” as her 2nd birthday gift.  I did make this from a pattern, but it was so poorly written that it took me a few attempts to adapt it until it worked properly.   The hat is a bit big for Miri, so her mom wore it instead!

I used the same adapted pattern to make a hat for myself as well, and would also like to make tiny pink one for Jami-Lee when I can.

In addition to these four I’ve been working on a red stripped blanket that Jami-Lee has claimed as her own since it was only a strip!  I also made another of the name wall hangings for my newest nephew, Nate, but somehow lost the photo I took of it!  Of course, with two busy  skinny toddlers who have recently grown into bigger clothes there has also been  plenty of waist bands to cinch in and holes to mend!   There’s never a lack of projects to work on after kids are in bed. 

Keeping Busy!

I guess I’m no better at blogging than I am at keeping a journal!  It’s been a month since my last post!  I thought I’d better write something so people don’t think I’ve disappeared.

Drew continues to make progress with his speech therapy.  His therapist is working particularly on “p” and “b” words right now.  He’s made quick progress on the “b” words.  He’s now able to say “bus”, “bye”, “big”, and others that used to evade him and some of them are starting to sneak their way into his everyday speech!  The “p” words are still a bit more troublesome, but we’re keeping our heads up!   Unfortunately, as he’s improved at pronouncing the first letter of these words, the last letters are starting to be dropped.  Dropping the last letter is actually very normal for age three and his therapist believes the coordination of both sounds is simply too difficult for him still; but because we know he can say them properly he should re-attach those end sounds himself when he figures out the coordination a little more.  Sometimes it looks and sounds as if he’s talking with a mouth full of cotton as he tries so hard to get his little muscles around the hard words, but he’s working so hard at it and I’m very proud of his efforts.  I’m also very grateful that the frustrating moments of simply not being able to communicate with him are occurring less and less.

Jami just keeps growing both bigger and into a more difficult hand full!  I’ve been told that she’s just like me!  She climbs everything in sight, does pretty much whatever we tell her not to do, bites, throws huge on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming temper tantrums when she doesn’t get her way.  But she sure is cute!  She’s also starting to talk more and more and is a joy to watch despite her strong will!

And I continue crafting!  I have numerous projects on the go right now.  I’m working on a blanket, which Jami-Lee has claimed as hers since it was only one skinny stripe wide!  I’m also working on a crocheted dress for her, a number of hats, and a name wall hanging for my new nephew!  Hopefully I will start finishing some of these projects soon so I can show them off!

Drew’s Speech Progress Report

Today Drew had his second visit with his speech pathologist/therapist.  I was so anxious about what she would say.  Had we done enough?  Had he showed real progress?  What more can we do?  As per usual, the anxiety was totally unnecessary.  She was thrilled with his progress, particularly with the fact that he is actually getting ahead with some of his new sounds.  He can use the “sh”, “ch”, and “tr” combination sounds with very little difficulty which some totally normal just-shy-of-three-year-old’s haven’t mastered.  He’s also able to say 2-3 syllable words (though the initial sound in most is still missing) and put together 2-3 word sentences.  Despite the fact that his initial sounds are still largely missing he’s significantly easier to understand because the increase in sounds and words leaves less guess work in figuring out what he’s trying to say.   Frustratingly, we still have to frequently ask him to repeat himself numerous times or to show us what he’s trying to say.  But he’s making progress and we hold to that with hope!

Drew will have 4 or 5 more sessions with his therapist over the next couple of months and perhaps a few over the summer, but the most important therapy is what she gives me to do with him at home.  I spent a good amount of time this afternoon putting together two practice booklets she photocopied for me that work specifically on the consonant-consonant words he struggles with (words that both begin and end with a consonant sound).  I hope that I can remain diligent and we’ll see even more significant improvement as this time passes!

On a totally different update note:  The Hazelwood necklace was a bust for my baby girl.  Though her cheeks seemed less red and chapped after a few days the rest of her body actually broke out in worse eczema (which I’m sure was not caused by the necklace,  but simply by the stress of teething) and it certainly did nothing to calm her teething pain and irritability.  Oh well, at least it’s cute!