Thursday, October 29, 2009
Road Trip!
I love road trips. Call me crazy. I love my Jeep, the way it rides, the comfy seats, my moonroof and Sirrus Radio. I look forward to 3pm when Dr. Laura comes on. Sanity for my insanity. I'm usually driving down the road, yelling at the caller. Phew....rabbit trail... Ah, yes, road trips. So, referring back to the insanity comment made earlier, I buckle my kiddos up and set out for my parents' house. Alone. With kids. It's about a 6 hour - ish drive and usually pretty uneventful. The drive is pretty and mostly interstate, thankfully since Ariel gets car sick easily. So after many are-we-there-yets and a few disagreements from the back seat, we arrive safely. The good thing about coming here is the mini mom-vacation. Of course all they want to do is hang with the grandparents and vice versa, so I'm left with little to do but, well, blog. We've been here for about an hour and already the girls, including my mom, have hit the hot tub. I volunteered to get dinner going while dad is napping, like all grandpas do around this time. Nothing much changes here in this tiny town they live in. My mom grew up here and they live in her parents' house. Good memories for me are everywhere. Seeing my kids doing things here makes me think of all the fun my brother and I used to have. I hope that my kids can make lots of memories here and carry them with them like I do. So even though the ride seems long to come here, it's always worth the trip, even when the when-are-we-gonna-get-theres are waiting for the return trip.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Bad, Unobservant Mom
The beauty of this blog is that I have two people that read this. I feel like I can journal my heart out and it can go pretty much undetected. So, please allow me to beat myself up a bit and then pour out my heart.
Belle, my sweet baby, is growing up. It's hard at times to come to grips with the fact that she is not a baby and that since she is my last, I won't do the baby thing again. Bittersweet. So that said, when she started talking a bit later than big sister, I didn't give it much thought. The baby talk began and it was so stinkin' cute. We mimicked her and didn't call too much attention to trying to correct her. Over the past year I have changed my ways and have started to help her talk more like a big girl. I thought that her issues were, in fact, non-issues, just normal speech development that would resolve itself in time. Hubby and I discussed it on many occasions, but always came to the agreement that she is such a smart child that it would be fine. When we started school this fall at home, and I have to thank the Lord that maybe this was His whole reason not to answer our prayers and have a Pre-K at school this year, I realized that there were sounds that she could not make even when I tried coaching her through it. The week that we were doing the letter S, Sandy Sunfish, and she could not, though she tried so hard, make the S sound properly. I called up her ped and made an appointment for later that week. We were referred to a speech therapist and went for the evaluation last week. Belle tested very well, above average in most categories, for language development. Her vocabulary is right on track, if not a tad higher, for her age group. But she scored as having a severe phonological disorder. Severe. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. Severe. I didn't hear much after that word came out of the therapist's mouth. When I pulled my thoughts together, I had her recap for me, taking notes furiously. She was so kind and very positive. I had told her before the testing that I wasn't sure if she had issues or not, but we were still having trouble understanding her at times and thought we'd be better safe than sorry. She told me she thought we hard work that the problem could be corrected in 9-12 months with 2 sessions a week for a little while and getting down to one as soon as possible. On the drive home, I fought tears. I feel like I knew there was a problem a long time ago and passed it off as age appropriate. Hubby and I had time to sit down the next morning and go over what the therapist said and we both agreed to sacrifice to make this happen. One of the things we discussed at length was to not make Belle feel different or uneasy about what was going on. I have approached the whole thing by telling her that Miss Sarrah is going to help her talk so that people won't have to ask her to repeat herself. Belle seems good with the whole thing, taking it in stride and not being too effected.
Today was our first session with Miss Sarrah. When we got into the car after an hour of her being out of my sight and parenting (this was very hard for me!!) she didn't want to talk about what she did or what was taught. I knew from Sarrah that they had worked on the "s" sound. It took a bit of riding and bribery with hot chocolate from Tim Hortons, before she opened up to tell me. She sounded like she didn't mind it too much and that she had a good time. The therapist was young and pretty and got right down on Belle's level when she came out to meet her for the first time.
It is all about perspective though. Hubby says, hey, she has a speech problem, it's not cancer. Wow. Talk about perspective. I'm thankful that finally I took her for an eval and that we are working on correcting this, even though I'm a bit mad at myself. But thinking that this is something that will be over and done with in a year and not something like cancer was just what I needed to get my brain straight! So next Tuesday morning we'll head back over to see Miss Sarrah thankful all the way that my kiddo is not sick. And knowing that I'm one lucky momma.
Belle, my sweet baby, is growing up. It's hard at times to come to grips with the fact that she is not a baby and that since she is my last, I won't do the baby thing again. Bittersweet. So that said, when she started talking a bit later than big sister, I didn't give it much thought. The baby talk began and it was so stinkin' cute. We mimicked her and didn't call too much attention to trying to correct her. Over the past year I have changed my ways and have started to help her talk more like a big girl. I thought that her issues were, in fact, non-issues, just normal speech development that would resolve itself in time. Hubby and I discussed it on many occasions, but always came to the agreement that she is such a smart child that it would be fine. When we started school this fall at home, and I have to thank the Lord that maybe this was His whole reason not to answer our prayers and have a Pre-K at school this year, I realized that there were sounds that she could not make even when I tried coaching her through it. The week that we were doing the letter S, Sandy Sunfish, and she could not, though she tried so hard, make the S sound properly. I called up her ped and made an appointment for later that week. We were referred to a speech therapist and went for the evaluation last week. Belle tested very well, above average in most categories, for language development. Her vocabulary is right on track, if not a tad higher, for her age group. But she scored as having a severe phonological disorder. Severe. I felt like the wind was knocked out of me. Severe. I didn't hear much after that word came out of the therapist's mouth. When I pulled my thoughts together, I had her recap for me, taking notes furiously. She was so kind and very positive. I had told her before the testing that I wasn't sure if she had issues or not, but we were still having trouble understanding her at times and thought we'd be better safe than sorry. She told me she thought we hard work that the problem could be corrected in 9-12 months with 2 sessions a week for a little while and getting down to one as soon as possible. On the drive home, I fought tears. I feel like I knew there was a problem a long time ago and passed it off as age appropriate. Hubby and I had time to sit down the next morning and go over what the therapist said and we both agreed to sacrifice to make this happen. One of the things we discussed at length was to not make Belle feel different or uneasy about what was going on. I have approached the whole thing by telling her that Miss Sarrah is going to help her talk so that people won't have to ask her to repeat herself. Belle seems good with the whole thing, taking it in stride and not being too effected.
Today was our first session with Miss Sarrah. When we got into the car after an hour of her being out of my sight and parenting (this was very hard for me!!) she didn't want to talk about what she did or what was taught. I knew from Sarrah that they had worked on the "s" sound. It took a bit of riding and bribery with hot chocolate from Tim Hortons, before she opened up to tell me. She sounded like she didn't mind it too much and that she had a good time. The therapist was young and pretty and got right down on Belle's level when she came out to meet her for the first time.
It is all about perspective though. Hubby says, hey, she has a speech problem, it's not cancer. Wow. Talk about perspective. I'm thankful that finally I took her for an eval and that we are working on correcting this, even though I'm a bit mad at myself. But thinking that this is something that will be over and done with in a year and not something like cancer was just what I needed to get my brain straight! So next Tuesday morning we'll head back over to see Miss Sarrah thankful all the way that my kiddo is not sick. And knowing that I'm one lucky momma.
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
SHE sounds like a NICE mom....
We are reading through the Little House on the Prairie Books right now which I am enjoying way too much. I love to read to my kids, not only to give them an adventure through the pages of a book, but to escape into my childhood and see these books that I adored when I was younger as an adult, as a mom, a different outlook on life. So we are reading Farmer Boy and in the story it was dinner time. The school teacher was staying with the Wilders and was in the parlor chatting with Father. Almanzo was remembering that he was able to eat all he wanted at the table, but he was to be quiet. I think the book even added the old cliche, children are to be seen and not heard. When reading this, I put special emphasis on these words. Sometimes at dinner, I feel like I can never get a word in because of the constant chatter of my kiddos. Trying to keep it all in perspective, works some of the time, but other times, it's just irritating! Anyway, Ariel looks at me and says, Mom, do I talk to much? My response is always, no, honey, I love to listen to you chatter. And I do honestly mean it, most of the time. Most, honest. We all started giggling, but I know that they both took it a bit too personally. Belle had her arms crossed and a pouty look on her cute face until the laughter ensued. The story goes on to say that since Father and Teacher were talking, Mother waited until they finished a sentence and politely (read quietly) told them that dinner was ready. Ariel says...WAIT! What?! The mom waited and didn't interrupt? SHE sounds like a NICE mom!!!! I know that after I roared with laughter, I asked what exactly she was trying to tell me. Ariel's response was that she seemed like she was a nice, quiet, polite mom who wasn't loud. She could not get it all out with a straight face and of course I responded with lots and lots of tickles demanding that she take it all back!! I look back to that time period with fondness, mostly. Thinking of the focus of work on the home and not pressures from outside as much as we do today seem welcoming to me. Since I am not the quiet, demure woman that Mrs. Wilder was, I think I'd have some issues with fitting in and not being labeled as the town crier. I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, but at times I am envious of the lives that were lived way back when. Don't get me wrong, I'm quite content where I am now and I'd be working all day instead of blogging and most likely I'd be half insane with a baby on my hip and 4 more under foot. I'm too much in love with peeing indoors and having a shower every day instead of every week, that I'm sure I'd turn down opportunity given the chance, but it is fun to think about it. So the lesson that I can learn from my dd, is to wait until a sentence is finished before bellowing...DINNER'S READY!! You think I can put that into practice?
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