Happy Birthday Munchkin

Happy Birthday Precious Munchkin.
So today is your 4th birthday even though you don't know it.

Yes his Dad and I have opted not to make a big deal out of today since he's essentially going to be having a Birthday Weekend. On Friday, we'll probably go out and do something he likes for dinner and then on Saturday my office has it's picnic at CB Smith Park. That's an all day affair and his Dad plans to take him to the water park so Dettol will be in use by the time we get home. Sunday plans to be a fun filled day of frolic at Pump It Up. Already I have 25 kids who are planning on attending. I'm only allowed 10 more so let's cross our final numbers don't go over 35 because that will not be pretty.

I'll post pics once available.

MOUS Mastery

So for the last year or so, I've been taking the little man online so that he can see the online offerings of Barney, Elmo and the Wiggles. He really loves the Barney and Wiggles sites. In all of this, I've been trying to teach him how to use the mous. For the first couple of times he kept using the scroll ball and using the right click key which was drivign me to insanity because he kept messing up the screen.

A few weeks ago, I noticed him getting better and better and began to have hope that we might master this before the end of that session, alas that did not happen. So yesterday he asks me to take him to the BArney site so that he can play with the bubbles on the farm. I sit down and get myself comfy because I know that we are once again going to working on his mous technique. First we go to the Wiggles site which has now changed. I'm going to have to spend some quality time learnign where all the old stuff is and practicing the new stuff for when we go back. Then Lord have mercy, the Barney site has also changed and I can't find his favorite counting game - yes that would be the bubbles on the farm. Finally I locate it and we settle down.

He sits on my lap and pushes my hand away from the mous. He positions himself and then adeptly moves the mouse over to the chick, clicks on the chick, the bubble engulfs the chick and moves it over to the cylinder and the magical number 1 comes up. I pause and wait, he does it again and again and again. When he's done with that lot, he smiles, looks at me and tells me he wants to do it again. I can't believe it - he's finally mastered the MOUS. YOu go Tristan! The world is your oyster.

New Ventures for the Little Man.

So my munchking began school and at first he was fine then he went through a day or two of trepidation and now he's just loving it. Every day he gets up at either 5:30 or 6:00 am only too happy to get ready to go to school. He's always loved a routine and he has certainly soaked this one up for all it's worth. The whole idea of getting ready for school, choosing what breakfast item he can take with him in the car (usually grapes, bannanas or cheerios - occassionally if I stop for breakfast, apple pie suffices) is just wonderful for him. Once we get in the car and get to the gate of our complex, I ask him what direction we should go and he chooses which way Mum shoudl drive him to school that day.

When he arrives at school, he announces that he's at his new school and that we need to go and find Ms. Angie, who's he's classroom assistant. His lead teacher is Ms. Liz, but he just has a special place for Ms. Angie. In the mornings, he rushes to hug her and she and he walk around the playground to get ready for the other children to arrive.

I could not be happier with Tristan's language development. His reports from school for the first few weeks were typical in that he was taking time to adjust and wasn't listening as he should but in the last week, his reports have been wonderful. Apparently, he's talkign up a storm which is exactly what they want him to do. He's also communicating with us in a lot more in a meaningful manner. He tries to talk about the people at school (Gina, Jalen and Matthew are his classmates) and the things that he does at school. The best part was one day I asked him a question about school and it took about about 2 minutes before he answered, but he gave me a list of things he did.
1. Circle Time
2. Told me the songs he sang.
3. Worked on puzzles
4. Had lunch
5. Played on the playground
6. Took the bus to Grandma.
I was elated, I'd never had him do that before. You had to take your time and decipher but he did respond and not just with one thing, but with a list. Who knew?

He and his Dad have also had some interesting situations. Munchkin is supposed to take the school bus to his grandma two days a week. However, when his Dad went to pick him up one day he flatly refused to go with him because he wants to ride the bus. So now he rides the bus every day and Dad picks him up from grandma and that seems to be working pretty well. This week his Dad decided to get him some fish. On Wednesday they got all the tank paraphanalia and that was set up. On Thursday he got two goldfish. His Dad refers to his goldfish as "Dorothy" since that's the name of Elmo's fish. But when I asked Tristan the name of his fish, he promptly told me "Nemo." Now I don't know if one is "Ne" and the other is "Mo", but hey they are his fish and he gets to call them pretty much whatever he wants.

His Dad made one big boo-boo however. He left the fish food where Tristan could get a hold of it and he promptly emptied the entire container into the tank. I was sympathetic to Tris and told his Dad that he really couldn't punish him because that was just one temptation that was too much for a toddler to resist and that it was up to Paul to put the food where Tris couldnt' get it. Paul didn't get my drift until I reminded him that as grown ass as he was, he still fiddled with items whenever he was in a new place - what made Tris any different. That sure shut him up.

So on Friday morning, he had to go and empty the tank, clean it, condition it and put back the fish. I suggested he get one of those scavenger fish that help keep tanks clean by eating debris. We'll see how it goes.

We are not "tragic" at all

You know life is really interesting. When I first realized that my son had some had of speech and language issue, I never thought of it as something that was a “tragic” event. I figured, okay, he has a setback, let’s do what we need to do to get him on the right road. I even went as far as thinking he might be autistic and I still didn’t think it was “tragic, “ because at the end of my day, he’s my son and I love him to death. Sometimes I look at his little face and my heart simply swells. It really is true that you don’t realize how much you can love until you love your child. I thought loving a man was an experience, but your child is a whole other matter altogether.

So I’ve settled the little munchkin into school and he loves it so I’m thrilled. He can’t wait to go there every morning and when there, he doesn’t even want to wait outside with his teachers, he wants to be in the classroom and getting ready for the fun stuff. In 6 hours, they do so much. They do singing and communicating lessons, work on the computer, do listening exercises with tapes, one on one activities with the teacher, group activities, arts and crafts, not to mention lunch time, nap time, snack time and time on the playground. At his other school, they only did the singing and communicating part in the mornings, one learning experience before lunch, nap and then one activity in the afternoon and then play time. I’d always thought he was bored and now it’s confirmed because he participates in everything that is done and his teachers think he’s settle in quite well.

As I dropped him off at school today, I once again saw the Mom brining her son in to school with his work dog. The stop and talk to the school resource officer (cop) and then make their way to get him to class. I think the little boy has some sight loss and that his dog helps him to get around school and that kind of thing. Then there’s another little girl who I see all time. She’s in her wheelchair and each morning her big sister wheels her into class. I think she has spina bifida.

So I go back to thinking about people thinking that my situation with Tris and his developmental delay is a disappointment or a sad or tragic event and I want to tell them to please can the whole sorry for me, Paul and Tris bit; because we don’t feel in the least disappointed in the situation. I think things like these force you to step up the plate with parenting even more so than over parents. You have to do more, know more and be more. I spend more time working with Tris and his language acquisition and other skills than I’m sure do most parents. I have to.

So, I look at the parents of the little boy with his dog and the little girl with her wheelchair and I’m sure they feel like me, no more disadvantaged than any other parent.

PDD-NOS

For a year, I've been walking around trying to get resolution and there was none available. I find it fascinating that I go to a Pediatric Neurologist to get answers to my questions and his response to me is to send my son for further testing, yet when I speak with the test center, the said neurologist has actually made a preliminary diagnosis which he didn't feel the need to share with me.

I swear that being a parent is the hardest job out there. There is no rule or guide book and you simply have to go with your gut, but I'm glad I did, because finally I feel like I'm about to get some resolution.

My munchkin has been diagonsed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder - None Specific with a Receptive Speech Disorder. While he's not autistic, he has the characteristics of an autistic learner. He actually already knows the curriculum for kindergarten but yet he can't hold a simple conversation with an adult or peer. Thankfully I've been a bull hound and he's now goign to be in a special program that will cater to his special needs so that he can join his peer group by the time he gets to Kindergarten.

I'm relieved to the poitn where I feel exhuasted. I no longer have to wage this battle, I can now sit and work with him on makign the most of himself like a normal parent.

Thank God.

So relieved,

today I was talking with one of my instructors and I don't know how the topic of my son came up and suddenly we were discussing the fact that I have him in speech therapy. He asked me a couple of questions and told me that his son had had exactly the same problem. Then he urged me to have him tested by the county and put into the PLACE program which is exactly what I'm attempting to get done. Finally, another parent who can understand where I am and what I'm going through. They boys (Oren and Tristan) are almost identical in their behavior with the same reticence to speak in public because they knew they had speech and language issues. He said within a year they had Oren up to speed with the rest of his age group when at 4 1/2, he'd actually had the speech of a 2 1/2 year old.

There is a God. Now I just have to wait until August when he goes for his final evaluation. For the first time in my life, I actually want him to do badly at something that so the qualifies for the program. But I've felt a bit alone in the last few months and finally I'm beginning to see a glimmer of hope.

A budding vagrant

I am raising a budding vagrant. I've been distressed by many of the developmental milestones that my son either has not reached on time or seems to be way past. Speech is clearly my big issue - or rather language acquisition since he does speak. Up until 2 months ago, he took no interest in dressing himself and then suddenly he seemed to become independent overnight and wanting to dress himself. This has blossomed into the child wearing 3 and 4 outfits at a time. Today, he refused to take off his pyjamas. Currently, he's wearing pajamas along with a pair of long pants covered by a pair of shorts and two shirts over the pajama shirt. Rather than changing clothes, he simply wishes to keep adding to the garments he already has on. Then alogn with that, he has an obsession with all his yellow clothing, a red and blue pajama pant bottom and a blue shirt. He feels these items should be worn all together and daily.

Hmm, it's an interesting ride - I'm now curious at how another child would be - maybe it's time for Paul and I to work on number 2.