"Nugga"

This guy does not get nearly enough face-time on this blog. Nearly three and a half, we affectionately call him "Nugga" (nug-uh), which was originally derived from "nugget," I believe. But really, how often can one really pinpoint where a nickname came from? He will actually answer to it in public, so I guess he's officially stuck with it. In any case, I dare you to find anything cuter!

Adoption and the Heart of God

A link sent to me by my mom started me on a "goggle spree." Here is Albert Mohler on the subect of adoption. I found some other interesting stuff by John Piper. While I usually reserve adoption-related stuff for our other blog, the lessons to be learned are pretty powerful -- and they have helped me to focus on something besides the fact that we still have four more days before school starts.

Yes, its been that bad!

Shark Boy

He casually mentioned last night that he had something stuck behind his tooth. He had eaten a ton of strawberries at Grandma's that day, so I wondered aloud if it might be a wayward seed. When he brought it up again this morning I thought I ought to take a look. Was it a seed? Nope, its two permanent teeth coming up right behind his bottom two front teeth! We had no idea. He is nearly six, but we certainly didn't expect permanent teeth before kindergarten. I'm keeping an eye on the baby teeth, which I discovered -- after much pleading -- to be slightly loose, to make sure we aren't really going to end up with a Shark Boy!

Speaking of kindergarten, I finally got in touch with somebody from the elementary school. I was told that we were on the list to be contacted. Essentially, we are going to meet with someone next Wednesday, the 3rd, after kindergarten orientation. (We have an hour orientation on Wednesday, then half the kindergartners attend on Thursday and the other half on Friday. On Monday the 9th all students will attend, as the teachers will have figured out the class lists by then. We already know which teacher he has because the other full-day kindergarten class is team-taught, different teachers on different days. My boy needs consistency! Luckily the school agreed.) Anyway, they want to wait to adjust his IEP until they see how he is going to do in a mainstream class. (Or, as my mom who has been with the Kent District for 17 years said, they just couldn't find anyone who wanted to come in to work early to do it!) Either way, I'm going to keep on top of it!

I am completely ambivalent about the start of kindergarten. I know I am more than ready to have some peace restored to our home, as respite of sorts for our littlest guy and I. I know that sounds terrible, but it really is better for all involved at this stage if the load is shared, so to speak. As far as motherly anxiety goes, when I take the time to think about it, I am vaguely concerned about what is going to transpire when he walks through those doors. But mostly I am either in denial or very much at peace about it. Its also sort of surreal to be reaching this milestone -- I think a lot of this has to do with his complete indifference to the idea. I don't know how he's going to respond when the day finally comes. He's totally unpredictable in that regard. I alternately feel strange to be having a child starting kindergarten and proud that my child with a special needs diagnosis is doing something so normal.

New teeth, school supplies -- and let's not forget, riding a school bus! This is going to be one crazy week! I'll try to keep things here up to date.

SuperNanny?

Naw, just Uncle Chris!

Small Steps

Realizing that it has been quite some time since I have posted regarding our son's circumstances, I thought I would tackle it tonight. Before I do so, I have to confess that my failure to post anything of a truly serious nature has not merely been the result of busyness. Rather, I simply haven't had the slightest clue where to begin. The last month or so have been extremely difficult for me emotionally and spiritually; its been one of those times when my faith is greatly tested and I find myself battling darkness everywhere I turn. I found myself wondering like Job's friends what I had done wrong to find myself in such a pit. But I never found the answer. I still don't know. Perhaps, as our pastor pointed out on Sunday, my heart has been hard and closed to the work the Lord wants to undertake in me. I do have a stubborn streak when it comes to change! Whatever the cause -- only the Lord knows -- I am only now finding a path out of this particular valley. But enough about me....

I mentioned in a prior post how we were feeling like we needed to look a little further into some sort of intervention with our son. We ended up biting the bullet monetarily, so to speak, and purchasing a DVD series regarding RDI. Many months ago we attempted to look into RDI, as we felt it might be a good fit for what we saw in our son, but sort of reached a dead-end when things didn't go well with the only certified consultant in our area. This was where I just needed to swallow my pride -- and my hurt-mommy feelings -- and take another look at the program. The program itself is ridiculously expensive, but right now we are just taking a second look at it.

I cannot believe its been exactly a year since his diagnosis. In so many ways he has come so far. One of these areas is his gross motor and many fine motor skills. He has met and surpassed his goals in occupational therapy, so we are going to put that on hold for the time being and focus on his social skills. He has been attending a social skills group, which he has greatly enjoyed, and may continue to do so this Fall. Social skills, relationships, and self-regulation continue to be big problems for him.

Speaking of the Fall, in three weeks he begins Kindergarten. We had hoped that the school would have been in contact with us by now regarding his IEP, but haven't heard anything. With the offices being closed, there hasn't been anyone to contact. (I am going to try Special Services at the district to see if they know what's going on.) I'm sure this will be ironed out, but we would sure like to know what we're getting ourselves into ahead of time. While I am hopeful about Kindergarten being a success for him, I remain cautious. As I promised my mother-in-law, at the first sign that he is being labeled a behavior problem, he's outta there. (Okay, so maybe not that fast, but like I said, I remain cautious!) In any case, I think we will all be glad for the Fall and the consistency that it brings to our schedule.

I have been encouraged to have intersected lives with a few folks lately who have children with ASD -- thank you, Lord! It is a lonely road that is only understood by those who have walked it. One particular family we met at the homeschool convention where my husband spoke...and, wow! we had an instant connection. They were so open and gave us their address so we could keep in touch. What meant the most was how the mom reached out to me without trying to soothe away my concerns. She spoke openly of her own struggles and acknowledged the difficulty of the journey. She didn't try to convince me to try one thing or another, but just promised to be a listening ear if I needed one. What a special gift from the Lord.

Our free time this summer has mostly been spent as a family, trying to take advantage of all that God has created that speaks to our family. It is amazing to reflect on all the things that do help our son that are so simple and that God has designed each member of our family with the desire to seek out. We all love the outdoors, the beach, the woods, the lake. These are the things through which the Lord has spoken to us and helped us survive this summer, together with a whole lot of prayer and meditation on His Word. The next year is going to be very full -- a new school, the writing of another book by my husband, bringing home our daughter! -- but He's been faithful through one year since the diagnosis and we know that He will be faithful to carry us through the next.

** Yes, that's another Boy in the Surf photo. What can I say? The kid loves water! Never mind the fact that it was 62 degrees and drizzling that day, he was in paradise.

"Pajama Sam"

We received a free trial of the computer game, Pajama Sam, from our beloved Miss Marina, keeper of the Kids Room at the Lake Tapps Top Foods. The boys and I spent the afternoon hiding out from the heat, trying to navigate little Sam through the Land of Darkness. The goal of the game is to find Sam's lunchbox, mask, and flashlight so that he can defeat Darkness -- ie conquer his fear of the dark. Somebody's imagination was piqued and this was the result:




Now if we could just figure out how to make the chandelier swing hard enough to reach the oars....