My Little SPED

Some people might be a little put off by my nickname for you - but it truly is an endearing term and makes me smile every time I think about it. You are my little SPED and always will be. You amuse everyday with your antics and even through my great frustration sometimes I look back at all we are doing. In the short nine weeks you have been home you have earned yourself.....

- An appointment for sedation at the dentist to get a cavity filled and your teeth cleaned
- Orthotics for your feet and ankles
- Appointment with an audiologist
- 10 hours a week of ABA therapy
- A five day a week spot in a preschool with a shadow in the fall
- An appointment with an Pediatric GI doctor - I was told this week you have a malabsorption problem and need further eval
- Waiting lists for PT's, OT's, and speech therapists
- Aquatic Therapy once per week
- Adaptive sports camp once per week
- An appointment with a neurologist

And I am sure the list will go on..... We have been busy between appointments, evaluations, and scheduling but we are making it! Somehow you gave yourself a black eye over the weekend, best guess is that you were playing around in bed and fell into the side of it somehow - who knows, you tend to fall alot - especially down the stairs when you are watching the dogs behind you.

I am determined to get you independently riding a bike this year. It is quiet amusing to be out watching us as we attempt this feat. I have attached velcro straps to your pedals and then I stand on the side of you, one hand on your seat, and one hand actually turning your foot and pedal. You then just happily go along, not really aware of the amount of effort mommy is putting into this task. We are all good until someone passes us by and you being mister social decide to take one hand off the handle bars, turn your head and wave.. This means the bike also goes the direction of your head, Mommy starts to trip and lets go, and you have no clue what just happened!

Kinda of like kicking a soccer ball where someone has to stand in front of you, hold your head down so you look at the ball and keep moving forward, and then someone else, on their hands and knees, has to crawl behind you moving your feet in the right direction and kicking motion so you don't attempt to stand on the ball and fall on top of the person crawling behind you.

Yesterday was a 2.5 hour wait for you to sit in time out. You knew you were trouble, that you were supposed to sit on the bottom of the stair (mind you you only have sit quietly for about 30 seconds and you are allowed up) but you wanted no part of it. You would sit on the stair above, the stair below, run up the stairs and crawl around the stair but sitting on THAT stair was not part of your agenda. Finally, after 2.5 hours and a lot of Super Nanny techniques of no eye contact or feedback, you sat on THAT stair for 30 seconds as quiet as a mouse smiling and so proud of yourself. Know, if you had done that 2.5 hours earlier you would not of missed dinner or T.V. time and not had to go bed, but.. all this will be learned in time

I came into your room two nights ago, thinking you would be sound asleep as I was going to bed and little did I know you had gotten out of bed, turned on your light, and had many of your books under the covers with you. I was greeted with a little head popping out from under the covers, a smile, and a "hi" - followed by you willingly turning over all the books and quickly turning over to go to sleep - your light is now unplugged in your room.

I only wish we had taken more videos of some of these moments. Sometimes I have to take a deep breath, have a glass of wine, and vent to those around me but when it is all said and done I cannot imagine my life without you and all of our adventures. You are through and through a little boy and love to play hard and sleep hard too. I am sure the moments will get bigger and smiles and frustrations will continue to come . You have SOOO much personality inside of and you like to show it and of course, be the center of attention.

Love you