good days

I've had some good days with the kids lately. Some long awaited, much needed good days!

Part of the secret I think is to look fore the positive more. In every situation of frustration or anger, with little kids, there are many things to laugh about!

Kaylin is becoming more and more vocal about "all the other kids" at school - On one day when I completely misjudged the weather she let me know how hot she was at school. "All the other kids were wearing shorts." The next day I wasn't about to make the same mistake. But she came out of her room in long sleeves and jeans again. She had checked the weather by looking out her window. I did manage to convince her to change by reminding her of the day before.

Kavan and Kai both managed to make a scene at the library. I have never gotten any of my kids to just sit still and listen during a storytime. During the brief moment when Kavan sat down, the librarian asked what song we should sing. Kavan did not hesitate to answer the way he always does to that question. "Hush little Kavan!" he yelled out. He said it about 5 more times before I clarified his request and explained his bedtime song to the librarian. He settled for the ABC's instead. Did I mention there were about 50 moms/children there? And Kai was not the least bit interested in sitting on my lap but decided he should be on the storyteller's lap. Who could say no to Kai? There he sat while she tried to show the pictures to both the rest of the room and the child on her lap. That didn't last too long though and thankfully we had the excuse of Kaylin's kindergarten pickup time to get us out of there.

Kav made up a song the other day in the car about Jordan's daddy that he sang over and over. He said it would bring him back. I still need to answer numerous questions every week about when he's coming back and why he's gone.

Kai has a mesh bag he eats food through from his OT. He loves to have it in his mouth and squeeze all the juice out of oranges. The idea is that he will get used to the taste of foods without having to worry about the texture since he's such a picky eater. He takes down his pants regularly now. I try not to encourage going to the bathroom but if one of his siblings says "he wants to go potty," Kai's there. He says "all gone," in many contexts with words and the sign, all day long. If Kaylin goes down a slide - "all gone"

It has been very fun to see how all 3 of them have progressed in their abilities on the playground equipment at parks. Kai LOVES running around on the bridges and steps and it's hard to pull him away. He is starting to have fits when he doesn't get what he wants. Like wearing his shoes to bed. Not going to happen.

I'm consciously working on slowing down the pace for all of us. It's really hard for me. Good opportunities are out there everywhere I turn! Yet I realize everytime I say "yes" to something else I'm saying no to Ben and the kids, so I'm certainly trying to be more selective. And the reward is that I'm starting to experience more joy in my conversations with my kids. They are experts at making me laugh. The other day I dropped something off at a friend's house who wasn't home. They tried to solve the mystery of where she was, where her kids were, and why her husband's truck was there but he wasn't home. I told them she went on a trip to Seattle. "Who's Attle?" Kaylin says.

Funny Man Kai

He is turning into a little man! He loves to make us laugh, and he loves to see what he can get away with. He thinks the funniest thing ever is when you are watching TV (I am trying to watch my exercise videos to learn the new routine by tomorrow!) and he changes the channel. He runs away and squeals with delight, and goes right back to do it again once you change it back.



Here is my proud moment of the day. Naturally I did not feel he was ready for potty training or that he would be any time soon consider his developmental delays. But I went in the bathroom today to find him standing in front of the toilet with his pants down! He is actually a very smart kid - not cognitively delayed. I have to remind everyone that since he is behind in all the other areas.







Another activity he entertains us all with is mimicking us. He repeats many one syllable words now, to the best of his ability, and repeats sounds and simple actions we make. We sigh, he sighs. We blow on our food to cool it down, he blows on his food. He likes to say "weeeee!" on swings and knows 5 baby signs now. It's fun to finally be able to communicate with him and show him we understand what he wants.



Here is the medical update: The doctors at the children's hospital got a hold of the MRI scans and agreed they are concerned with the small size of the pituitary. Because this increases the likelyhood of low thyroid levels, they want to start him on synthroid anyway, even though his numbers are currently good, because they were low previously. I do believe that God has healed him in many ways and it's possible for God to use even a small pituitary to produce enough thyroid hormone as he has recently - however the doctors are only requesting he take it until he's three, and then we can reevaluate and check his levels again. Since it's a relatively harmless drug and I don't want to fight the system we're going to go for it. There is a natural version of thyroid but it comes from pigs and I have a problem with that. I'm thankful we'll have an opportunity to get him off medicine in just over a year. The endocrinologist said the growth hormone stimulation test is optional at this point, (at his age it is not detrimental if it's a little low) but we probably will go ahead with it. Problem is no one can tell me how much it will cost - not the clinic, not the insurance company, and not the provider network. They are sending me in circles. So this test will likely be in October. This is the excruciating 4 hours in a hospital room with him wide awake hooked up to an IV and he can't eat or drink, after fasting overnight.

The School Girl

Here she is on her first big day:

Doesn't she look grown-up?! She certainly feels that way, and AT TiMES she acts that way... She loves kindergarten. She loves her teacher.

In her hands she clings to a note from her daddy wishing her a great first day at school. Immediately after this photo it blew under the bus and she freaked. We recovered it on the other side. She is very sad not to ride the bus, if you can believe that! She sees all her "friends" getting on the bus.

When Kaylin is not discussing her classroom rules or computer lab experience she still seems like a preschooler, sillyness and all. Every day she makes up songs. The other day I caught her singing this in the bathroom

(to the tune of "up above the world so high,like a diamond in the sky"):

"Gra-and-ma and Gra-am-my

miss me really really really much..."

(now keep in mind she's in the bathroom - here was the next line)

"wiping, wiping, wiping, wiping"

I won't share the rest of the song.