Update on the day

We went to the party!

We stopped at the mall beforehand, and Aiden wasn't very good! I had put the umbrella stroller behind my car to put it in the trunk...forgot it was there and ran it over! So it meant he had to hold my hand. It didn't go so well.

Party- success! I say this because he did the bounce house for the first time! He was always so scared but not today. I couldn't even get him out of it for lunch. I did eventually!

He was asleep by 7pm...dinner was a bit hard...but it was worth taking him out today. Kept Eli safe and Aiden did something he never dared to do before.

Week 1 of Change

As I am sitting down to type this, my son is in his room, at 10am for probably the 10th time. We are at a lost. This weekend has been horrible. This week has been HARD. I feel like we are the only ones that go through this even though I know that is far from the truth. Dealing with a child with development delays on top of being a typical three year old or mostly at this time, still a two year old (even though he is 3 1/2 years old) is hard. We are frustrated. I actually just sobbed last night in the middle of bath time. Bath time should be fun- NOT HARD!!

This past week-

Aiden had his new school on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 1:15 until 4:15. That means he missed his afternoon nap. He needs a nap. He is learning how to live without a nap. We are learning how to live with him without his nap. He had his other preschool on Wednesday in the am. By Thursday night, he was asleep in 5 minutes after leaving his memere's house at 5:15pm. The kid is toast.

All week his word has been no. He turns in the dead weight, limp child who is kicking and screaming. Even when he means to say yes- he says no. Even with signs...this isn't working. Nothing works...nothing motivates him...

On Thursday, Eli had the worst day of his life. He looks like he has been put through a meat grinder and that meat grinder is his brother. Black eye and scratches all over his face.

My prayer every night- that some day, some how, his big brother will hug him and kiss him and play with him and really appreciate him for who he is... his little brother who looks up to him and just wants to play with him.

(And that his language delay and cognitive delay will grow 10 fold this year for everyone's benefit and sanity.)

We are suppose to go to a birthday party at 12:30 today. I am not sure how we are going to do this today. I really would like him to get that nap in before a big week again (this is the last week of his Wednesday summer school program).

Seventeen Months Old

Where does time go???



17 months ago- I had given birth to this little guy.

Now-



I have this adorable, daring, climbing fool, chatter-box of a boy that just cut his upper eye teeth!!!

(Who by the way doesn't like to sleep and who will have us going to the emergency room every other week because of some shenanigan!)

LOVE HIM!

The Aiden That Is...

About a month ago, I took Aiden to a small lake about 45 minutes away. We had an absolute blast! He and I got to spend a ton of one-on-one time together. The best part- a glimpse into the child that I know is ours and will be again. He was so good, so focused, so wonderful. Now- don't get me wrong- Aiden is a wonderful child but when you are constantly refocusing and recorrecting- you begin to feel weathered and tired.

I came home for the lake ecstatic! I couldn't stop talking about all the things Aiden dared to do! He also errs on the side of caution. He dared to put his face in the water, kick, blow bubbles, even dunk his head under! It was a wonderful, wonderful day.

Yesterday, I took Aiden to the school CDS has enrolled him in. I was on the brink of tears the entire time. It felt so good- so right. We are so excited to see more and more glimpses of the Aiden we know is there...

We know it will take time

We know it will take work

We know it will be awesome to watch

We feel very blessed to have the support we get from our family and friends...and now this new school.

So excited!!!!

Babble, Signs, and Words

My little Eli has always been loud. His babble is turning into words. He sort of says dada, dog, stuck, ball, and duck. So, okay, maybe stuck and duck are one and the same- who knows!? Eli has also taken to doing some sign language. He can sign, dog, hat, more, milk, ball, all done, and fish!


Go Elijah!

(He refuses to say mom-ma! Just like his brother! What did I do to deserve that?!)

Pre-School and Other Events

Before I state what has happened in the past few weeks- I just want to say that I am so excited for this weekend. I get to spend the whole weekend with my baby- no daddy- no Aiden- just me and the baby! I am so excited!? Did I say that already? We are going to go for a walk with a friend and spend the day at some family camps...but the rest of the weekend so far is unwritten. I might take advantage of some naps and try to get through my pile of college books that I still have and try to sell them or donate or recycle them or something...not sure yet.

This past weekend, my niece got married, and I made her a wedding cake. It was a four tiered square cake with an extra cake on the side (due to my nervousness and error of removing the cake properly out the first time!). With only a few hiccups, the cake came out great! I was very pleased with the results. She had a beautiful day, and I am so excited that her husband is in our family. I think he is wonderful and sweet!



Aiden started pre-school yesterday. This was the school I had originally signed him up for before I started going through CDS to get him services. CDS agrees with me that this is still a good option for him for socialization and getting him ready. He hasn't been in regular daycare since he was 21 months old. He is now 40 months old. I wasn't sure how Aiden would handle yesterday. Sometimes he can surprise me...but I was the parent with the screaming child. His teacher was really good, and within 10 minutes, he was settled and in the mix. Although, I think he takes after his mom, and he peed 4 times in a 2.5 hour session. Nerves???



Elijah is starting to use more syllables. He still isn't talking but he is making more attempts to get his point across. People always say that the younger one starts to talk sooner because they have someone to copy- and with Aiden being delayed, I am not so sure how that is going to go. Aiden is talking plenty, so it could go either way.



That is the cuteness I get to spend my weekend with!!!!

Let the Skies Open Up and Sing!!!

I am sharing this post at http://thingsicantsay-shell.blogspot.com

Phew! We have some results! So much weight has come off our shoulders!

Monday, we had an appointment to visit with Aiden's case manager at Child Development Services (CDS). I received a call while at the playground. Our case manager was no longer there, and this new case manager received Aiden's file just that morning. She would not be able to conduct a meeting. I was not thrilled with this because Russ and I took Monday off in order to attend this meeting. I also had lined up a sitter so that we could focus on the meeting and get down to business! I expressed my concerns and asked that she note a few of them while she was reading through the files. I told her that I wanted to find out if Aiden could receive services in the next county over because he has daycare and we have our jobs in the next county. It would be a logistical nightmare to have to drive all over creation if he was to get services almost an hour away from daycare, etc. (Just a reminder- my mom takes care of my two boys, and she is 67...so she is already dealing with them and is exhausted.) I also expressed my concern in speech therapy. I wanted to know ASAP if he would be getting services in the fall or in the summer or none at all. I told her that if not, I wanted to know so I could get him into a program myself, and that I was aware of the fact that most likely, CDS would not provide any program until the fall. She took this all down and told me she would call me back in a few hours. I honestly didn't believe her and was quite disappointed that they would until the same day of his appointment to assign him a new case manager.

Fast forward a few hours...after we left the playground, our play dates came over for lunch. My phone had been charging in my bedroom. When our play date ended, I grabbed my phone to go and do an errand. I had two missed calls. Both were from the new case manager. She wanted to meet Aiden as soon as possible and believed from her reports that he needed to be in an extensive program! I was so giddy with excitement. I called her right back. We talked at length and made arrangements for her to meet us the next morning at my mother's house so she could observe Aiden.

Fast forward to Tuesday...our case manager was promptly at the house at 8am. She observed, we made notes, she made sure all the paperwork was complete, and all the while, Aiden had taken apart my mom's screen door, he let himself out of the house without permission, had a temper tantrum and hurt the dog!

The result: Aiden will be getting three days of school (I am assuming half days), and if speech therapy isn't at the school, he will be getting that separately! And...if she can work it, she will make sure that he can attend the summer preschool program I already set up for him as it is only one day a week, and she believes it will be a good social experience for him!

We are thrilled. We are anxious to see how he blossoms and grows and changes! There is always a chance that as his language grows, his other skills may not follow, but we firmly believe only good can come out of this next step!