A snake says ssssssss

I'm sure that most of these posts are completely uninteresting and pointless for anyone other than myself who reads this, but bear with me.  This is serving as a great way for me to keep track of Isaiah's progress.  This past week marked some milestones with Isaiah's communication.  At the end of meals Isaiah if asked "all done?" will sign back to me the sign for all done.  When I ask Isaiah what a snake says he will say "sssssss."  If I ask Isaiah what a train says he pumps his arm up and down   and says "ch ch ch ch."  There is no vowel sound with it yet.  If I ask Isaiah what a Lion says he will make kind of a soundless growl or rather a hissing sound.  It's kind of a growl without sound.  Isaiah will also point to things and say "this."  The other day I was laying on the couch with Isaiah and I was scrolling through the photos on my blackberry and with each photo I was saying a little one line saying about it.  I think Isaiah thought I was reading to him.  Anyway he saw a picture of Mark, pointed to it, and said "da."  I think he knows dada goes with Mark but just chooses not to use it at he moment.  While these are all very exciting it seems that once he really has a new learned skill down he stops doing whatever he was doing.  Like now that the weekend is here I can't for the life of me get him to sign all done at the end of a meal.  Oh well we will keep encouraging!

Le Butt Scooter

Most of my posts on here are regarding Isaiah so today I will say a little note on our favorite 7 month old.  Noah is such an active baby!  He never really sits still.  If he is sitting his arms are waving, or he is scooting.  The picures above are one that were taken after I had walked into the bathroom to blow my nose ha.  I put him sitting down in the boppy, and when I came out he was halfway across the living room!  He is trying to crawl but is doing a lot of face planting right now....poor thing.  His favorite hobbies these days are eating anything he can get his hands on, screaming, moving constantly, smiling, laughing, and saying dadadadadadadadada.

It's Hard Being Two

Here we are in the midst of a bad battle of colds with our kiddos and it seems that Isaiah's sensory issues seems to be rearing their head especially frequently.  Luckily, with prayer and concentration I've been able to keep my patience over the weekend!  Here are a few examples of things Isaiah has been having troubles with over the weekend:  Yesterday afternoon after cleaning and doing laundry all day I decided to place a pillow on the floor (strike one mom), and lay down on it (strike two and three).  Poor Isaiah was so bothered by the pillow on the floor that he started his temper tantrum and ran crying into his room.  Finally after working with him for what seemed like forever he calmed down.  After Isaiah's diaper had leaked during the night I had to wash his crib sheets.  That was way too much change for him.  His bed was not the same!  Luckily...what do you know?!?!  The sheets came OUT of the dryer!  Wow!  Isaiah's clothes didn't feel right, his diaper bugged him, and the list goes on.  It's honestly surprising easy to remain calm even with the tantrums sometimes allllllll day long because I just feel so bad for the kid.  On top of everything he is feeling he just can't tell me how he feels right now and that has to be tough.  I often put myself in his shoes and yeah I would be frustrated too!  I also know that him not feeling the best due to his cold is not helping things.  Well it's back to our therapy schedule this week so time to clean the house and pick up the other tiny thing that is protesting in his jumperoo!

Practice Makes Progress

Oh Lordy this is the last post of the day I swear.  While this is probably serving as a complete nuisance to most people it's a good journal for me to track Isaiah's developmental progress.  We seems to have made some communication progress this week after eight weeks of therapy.  Isaiah seems to be getting the hang of "up" and today while climbing onto the couch and onto my lap he said "UP!"  He also has had a breakthrough with sign language.  Just when his therapists thought he would never pick it up, he signed "all done", "open", "please", and "more" at one point this week.  He also is pointing to w hat he wants and will say "this."  This tells us that he at least KNOWS the signs.  Tonight he ate dinner in his high chair as usual and started fussing when I knew he was done.  I asked him..."All done Isaiah?"  while signing to him as I always do and he looked at me and signed "all done" right back at me.  I immediately started cheering Yeaaaa!!!!!!   Isaiah!!!!!!!  you signed all done!!!!  Good work!!!!  Mommy loves your signs!!!!!  It just warms my heart any time that Isaiah is able to communicate with me without tears.  Isaiah's words and signs are still very inconsistent.  He might go days and even a week or two without repeating a word or sign but we are seeing clues that he is becoming slightly more consistent.

I finally did hear back from Illinois Masonic regarding Isaiah's clinical evaluation which has been set for May 16th in the city.  We are very much looking forward to this to see if there is a clinical diagnosis for Isaiah. 

One area that Isaiah's occupational therapist is so helpful with me on is Isaiah's sensory difficulties.  For instance Isaiah acts like he is being lowered into hot lava any time I brushed his teeth, cut his hair, washed his hear, combed his hair, trim his nails, got him dressed, changed his diaper....etc.  It's so hard seeing him screaming and crying when I try to trim his hair even though he he is in his high chair with with some fruit snacks in front of his favorite cartoon.  We have mastered the teeth brushing thanks for our friends at Crayola who have invented a light up tooth brush and he now opens his mouth for me to brush his teeth where before he writhed on the ground crying when I tried to brush his teeth.  It's been baby steps.  Lots of positive reinforcement and love.  I'm so grateful for the program that we are in and for the professionals that are helping Isaiah.  Still praising God for our two handsome blessings, and thankful for their health.

Hip Hip Horay Noah is Seven Months Today!

Today I am officially on blog overload since I've been behind.  Anyway today Noah turned seven months old and decided to ring in this special day with FINALLY rolling over!  Even though he has been sitting up for a month he hadn't rolled over.  Our Pedi said at his six month check up that she wasn't worried and that within a month he probably would roll over and he did!  He popped his first two teeth on the bottom five months earlier than his older brother did, and the top ones don't seem to be far behind.  He is turning into quite the dramatic baby.  He has learned to scream....oh the screaming.  I think he does it for attention.  If I ignore him he gets louder and more persistant.  He eats food like it is going to run away from him.  I put him and his brother in high chairs and we eat meals together the three of us, and before I even get him fully lowered into the chair he has already got a handful of whatever is on the tray and is shoving it into his mouth.  I do have to be careful the other day he snatched his older brother's grilled cheese out of his hand and started eating it!  Sorry buddy...too early for wheat and dairy!  Noah is very vocal.  He might actually be our good talker?  On Wednesday Isaiah's developmental therapist remarked on how many sounds she heard out of Noah.  She was amazed at the sounds that he tries to make.  He is making many attempts to reach things out of his reach causing him to face plant.  He is also scooting around on the floor to reach things.  I cannot believe that seven months have gone by.  This teething time is rough but nothing lasts forever.  Still praising God for our blessings and forever thanking him for our health!

Battles of the mind

So all along throughout this journey with Isaiah I find myself racking my brain with the "what ifs and the should haves."  For instance, while I was pregnant with Isaiah I kept a caffeine chart by my side at all times and I very strictly kept track of how much I drank during the day.  I kept my intake below 200 mg a day.  Most days I maxed out at 100mg.  At the time I was working full time...most days leaving our house in Noblesville at 4a.m. to go to work downtown.  I also worked two jobs...one downtown manging the hotel and the other at the horse barn.  Did I overdo it?  Is it because we placed Isaiah in childcare for the first 10 months of his life?  I constantly kill myself with asking my conscience these questions hoping to find a magical instant answer as to why he has such delays in his development.  Is it my fault?  What did I do?  And then I hear stories like the one Isaiah's speech therapist told me this week.   She has been working with a 10 year old boy.  He in 10 years has never been able to drink from a straw.  For a year this therapist had been working on and offering him a drink with a straw in it.  One day this therapist went with this boy and his mom to a restaurant and they ordered him a drink with a straw like they had been doing for the past year.  On this day...the boy actually drank from the straw!  The therapist started screaming and cheering...so loud that the poor boy peed himself!  And it's stories like this that make me truck on and think I don't have it that bad at all!  This week we were fortunate to have Mark home from work for two days in a row and on the second day Mark walked into the kitchen, gave me a hug, and said "I don't know how you do it...stay at home with the kids...but I'm greatful that you do."  I'm so blessed that I can stay at home with the kids.  I'm blessed that we can afford it, and that I have a husband who appreciates what I do at home with the kids and the house.  I told Mark that when things get tough at home with the boys I just think about those parents or moms that sit up at Childrens every day with terminally ill children, or parents who have lost children and that will snap my mind back to reality real quick and I just have to think "I don't have it that bad at all."   And I don't.  Still praising God for the gifts he has given us and still thankful for our health.

Sleepy Thursday

I cannot believe we are almost halfway through April where is the time going!?!? Now that Isaiah is officially set in his four therapy sessions a week I'm finding myself and the kids very busy. I'm also finding that my kitchen has overtaken me and for some reason my vow to declutter the counter tops always goes unfulfilled. I've always wanted an island in my kitchen and now that I've got one at the moment I've realized that they really only serve one purpose and that is to collect crap. I always call it the "crap collector." I don't know how any woman with small children can keep a house tidy. For some reason the laundry and the kitchen are always my biggest challenges every day.

Anyway Isaiah is coming leaps and bound with his Occupational Therapy. Just today his therapist was saying that he is completing some tasks way beyond what a two year old should be able to complete, and she always comments on how "smart he is." Of course after that being said he immediately threw himself on the ground in a fit because he didn't want to clean up the activity he was doing before moving on to the next one. It seems that he wanted to remind us that he is still two years old. What isn't coming along however is his ability to pick up on any sign language. I asked his speech Therapist about why that might be and she said that it might not be his thing and that he might not pick up on it. None the less we are still using it and I am still signing to him all day long every day. Even if he can't sign to me it might help him to understand what I am trying to communicate with him.

We are still waiting to hear when Isaiah will have his clinical evaluation at Illinois Masonic. I'm hoping that the Neurologist on the team will help us with the big question of why this language development just isn't "clicking."

Meanwhile I've been smiling to myself (smiling is too kind of a word) about how quickly we forget little stages as parents that our infants go through and yet how quickly we are reminded of them when we go through them a second time. I'm talking about teething. Noah just popped his first two teeth on bottom five whole months earlier than his older brother did. You can't help but feel so sorry for the kid with all of the screaming and crying and drooling and needing to be held. So on top of therapy 4 times a week, a very destructive two year old, a teething almost 20 pound 6 1/2 month old leech, and myself trying to get to the gym every now and then I guess I'm just glad I have a husband who doesn't mind a messy kitchen when he gets home from work! Shoo...and why I tried to cram the Children's Museum, running an errand, therapy, and the gym into one day today is beyond me. At least I had time to feed the kids!

Up

Ladies and Gentlemen I think we have a first word out of Isaiah...."Up!" During his therapy sessions Isaiah's therapists usually stack blocks or cups and with each cup that is placed on top of the other we all clearly say "Up....up.....up!" Now every time he stacks something he says "up!" We are now trying to teach him that up can mean more than just stacking cups up, it can mean "up" as in hold me mommy or "up" because I want what's on the counter...etc.

We have also continue to notice Isaiah's improvement with his receptive language. I noticed that I can ask Isaiah if he wants some crackers, or fruit (or whatever snack i'm offering) and he will shake his head no if he doesn't want what I am offering him. Huge step! Either that or he will smile and reach his hand out if he does want what I am offering him. Isaiah is also consistantly waving both hi and bye.

Each little milestone Isaiah makes is so exciting for me right now, and what is even more exciting is that Noah is so interested in Isaiah's therapy sessions that it has to be good for him as well. I'm still thanking the Lord for the health and safety of our family. Even though we face challenges with our two year old I am forever giving thanks that God chose me to be Isaiah's mom, and for Isaiah's good health. I'm also forever thankful for an amazing husband who not only works so hard to support our family but who is an amazing father to our boys.