ahhh...my children

this post is from a previous blog, posted yesterday(March3,2010)
more on that in another March 4 post to come

I am a mom therefore I worry. or something like that.
I love my children. all three of them. they are the joy and the frustration of my days. They are my job.

Josey will be starting Kindergarten next fall. I am not sure why I use capital letters on Kindergarten except that it feels like that…it feels all proper and important. And big. Really really big. It has been a fast 5 years. She is doing well. Loving preschool and the friends she makes there. I just got a reminder call from the University where she had her cranio surgery at 4 months old and it is time for a re-check. in the earlier days I was calling to schedule these appts. and this time I was a little surprised. She is doing so well that some days you can almost forget she ever had her skull reconstructed so young. Almost…quite a bit happened around that time and although she is healed and well I can seldom talk about the surgery without crying. Not all out sobbing or anything. Just tears of a mom who feels incredibly lucky to have come through something like that with her kiddo intact and healthy. Sometimes I wonder if all that oxygen her brain was exposed to did something to it…like accelerate growth. She is smarter than I am I think on some days.

Lucey…techinically our second born since she was the first twin out of the gate. She is only a minute older than her brother but I am fairly certain that will be a detail she will not let him forget as they get older. She is talking all.the.time. these days. She ask about things. Lets us know when she “toots” or “poops”(for the most part). She loves to play with her big sister. She still sleeps with a paci, known as “paa-ie”, but knows when she gets up she needs to hand it over. Lucey eats just about anything and everything. No exaggeration…no lie. She is an awesome eater. She loves our boxer Oscar and lays with him while he is sleeping. The cat is also intriguing to her, she loves the sounds he makes when she pulls his tail. *small chuckle* We are working on teaching nice touches.

Brady…my youngest and only boy. ahh Brady. I was so scared to have a little boy. I did not think I would know what to do with him. I am here to tell you that little guy came out holding my heart in his hands. I love my girls but there is just something different about a boy and a mom. He is all over this house these days. He is active and moving. He LOVES cars. LOVES them. The movie, the toys…anything with wheels. He has a couple larger ones that he leans on and just pushes all over the house. Full of energy and love.

It is him I am worried about right now. It is Brady that consumes my thoughts and fears right now. He is not talking. Please understand when I say not talking I mean it literally. I don’t mean that he is hard to understand or that he is not talking as much as other kids. I don’t mean that he does not want to talk and so is choosing to be silent or that he gets everything handed to him so he does not have to talk. He really does not seem to be able to form words.

I called Early Intervention in our area 2 weeks ago. We met with them for the first time last Tuesday, Feb 23. The case worker was very nice and spent about an hour and a half here that morning. She did some developmental tests with him to see where he was at, she did say she would score him another time as well to make sure to get a more complete view of him. He scored very low in communication skills; at 27 months he scored at a 16 month level. Have you any idea how hard that is? To hear that your child is almost a year behind where he should be. He was behind in all other areas as well. He basically scored between 16 and 20 months.

A speech language pathologist, SLP, is coming this Friday, March 5, to meet with us and evaluate him as well. Where we go from there I am not real sure. She also bringing a test that will alert us to any red flags of autism spectrum disorders, ASD. again…kind of scary. I will blog more about my own thoughts on my other blog.

I am eager to meet with these professionals and move on to whatever the next steps are. I am so happy to have Brad to walk this with me. He is a wonderful person to lean on. I am grateful to be able to check things with him as well and watch him watching Brady. I know that whatever comes of all this we can walk this together. We always have been able to walk these tough roads together.

Well…smells like I need to get back to work. The girls have been playing for a little bit after getting up from nap and I believe that Lucey has made a lovely package for me in her diaper…oh the joys.