Progress Report, A New Therapist, and New Friends

Progress Report:  The kiddo attempts to communicate with us a lot more.  His newest favorite words are Didi for Disney and Dididi for Dvd.  He's really into Pixar movies lately: Cars, Monsters Inc and Toy Story and so I hear those words often throughout the day. ;)

He also has to tell me what color everything is.   Everything.  A conversation we often have goes like this:

Kiddo: Gee.  Tee.  Gee.

Me: Yes, the tree is green.

Kiddo: Boo. 

Me: Yes, that's right, the sky is blue. 

Kiddo: Boo.

Me: Yes, blue.

Kiddo: Ba.  Re.

Me: Yes, the ball is red.

Kiddo: Re.

But, notice I said conversation.  He's sharing with me things he notices.  Before I had no idea what went on in that little head of his.  And apparently colors are a very important part of his world.

Gee!  Ewo!  Re!

A New Therapist: Since today's the first day of school, he started with his new speech therapist through the county.  He worked really well with her and didn't want to leave her office full of toys when it was time to go. We will be discontinuing speech at the private clinic.  We had used up our 20 sessions covered by our insurance and we did not want to continue to pay out of pocket.  I wasn't that impressed with the therapist anyway.  So we will be continuing with services twice a week through the county and twice a month with Ms. Blessing.  I'm excited about the progress he will make with two great therapists working with him.

New Friends:  I got involved with a mom's group when we moved to the area about a year ago as a way to meet people and find out where all the kid-friendly things were.  I haven't had many opportunities to be involved with it, because frankly our lives revolve around therapy and doctor appointments, and occasionally I do like a day at home to just feel like a normal mom and catch up on laundry and other housework.  Plus, I have to be honest, it was discouraging hanging out with moms whose kids were younger than mine and having entire conversations.  The mothers would complain about how their child wouldn't eat their vegetables and I would jealously think I wish that was the biggest concern I had about my child.  And so, I stopped going to the play dates for a while.  As in several months.

But, last week I decided to join them for a play group at the children's art museum.  Kiddo LOVES this museum, and I debated if I should go or not, but felt like I should.  While we were there, I was watching the kiddo and little brother play and I saw another child who was about 3 1/2 and he was just staring at me.  I said hi to him, and he just continued to stare at me, like the kiddo does when you ask him to say something he has no idea how to even attempt how to imitate. I watched him for a while and he didn't make a sound while he played with the other kids. So I went over to his mom, introduced myself, and then I asked her, "Is your son talking yet?"  She looked at me surprised and told me "No, we're working on it.  He has a speech disorder."

She and I talked for over an hour.  Her son has severe apraxia just like kiddo.  He also has sensory processing disorder and issues with gross motor planning just like kiddo.  She just moved to the area two weeks ago and is still in the process of finding therapists.  We talked long after all the other moms had left.  We exchanged email addresses and phone numbers and planned a play date for next week.  We both admitted that the other was a total and complete blessing.  It was such an encouragement to my soul and I have been praising God ever since for bringing another mother into my life who can relate and share tips and just be a friend.  God is awesome and provides in unexpected ways. :)