Trials

So an update on my blog is way past due.

Jake's teacher had a meeting with us regarding his speech progress. The good news is that he is progressing and learning new words, but he isn't caching up with his age group, which is making him fall further behind.

Jake has officially been diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech. His language is considered empty.

I have learned a little bit about apraxia to help me understand what Jake is going through. 1 in every 1000 children have apraxia. Basically what apraxia is.... is where the brain is has a hard time taking transporting the information from his brain to form words in his mouth. Children understand what is being said to them they just can't communicate at their normal age level.

When a normal kid hears a word about four times he can repeat it. Jake has to hear the word approx 400 times before he can repeat it. And it can't be in the same time frame. I can't just drill the word over and over or repeat it 400 times. . . it has to be within a time span for him to pick it up. Last week Matt and I were teaching him the color red. Every single day we drilled it into him. After a week we would say to him "this is the color red, now tell me what color is it"? Now a normal kid could just say red, but Jake has to take a few seconds and sort out all the pathways in his brain find the right word and then make his brain send it to his mouth. Some times it takes more than 15 seconds for him to repeat it but we are proud of him still the same. It is interesting to watch him because you I can tell he is thinking really hard, his lips want to say "blue" but he knows it isn't blue so he has to spend that extra time to get his mouth to say red. Kids with apraxia struggle to say words with 2 or more syllables. These kids know that they don't sound normal which makes them self conscious. Some kids get frustrated and feel disappointed that they choose not to speak. Also apraxia kids becomes overly stimulated when they are touched. Jake only gets this way when I wash his hair-thank goodness because I love when he want to cuddle with me. Although when he was a toddler he hated to cuddle.

I guess in a way I feel cheated because I don't get to hear those cute things that three year olds say. Most of our conversations are us trying to figure out what the heck he is trying to tell us. The other day we were driving in the car and Jake kept saying toast. "Toast, toes", ???? what he heck are you telling me kid. "No mom toast whoo whoo." OH GHOST. "ya toast mom."


"I am looking forward to the day
when I can hear my little boy tell me about his day,
what he dreams at night...
what makes him grins sometimes."


I know that we are born with different trials and this trail will pass. Jake is making progress and I am so proud of him for not giving up on me. He is smart, loving, a wonderful big brother and I love him so much.

I think things will get easier for me once Aiden is older and starts talking more. He can already say many things that Jake can't say. He talks more like a gremlin, slurring his words together. It is so cute.

Sorry if I put you to sleep:) This is what has been on my mind so I thought I would share it.

Santa 101

Note to self: unless child asks to go see Santa don't even bother

I have been prepping Jake to go see Santa. Every time I ask he would get all excited and say " YAAAAH".

So on Christmas eve day I was feeling guilty for not taking Jake to see Santa. He is almost 4 and really seems to understand this year.

So I take my boys to the mall and the line to see Santa isn't to terribly long. But Jake has to pee, so by time we got back Santa was gone for lunch. So I take my kids to get something to eat and then we go get back in the LONG LONG LINE to see Santa. We waited in line for about 45 minutes and not one child cried. The entire time Jake was off by himself looking at the gumball machines or the display of stickers. Then he would comeback to me and then wander off. The closer we got to Santa the farther back Jake would stay. When there was 2 people ahead of me Jake wouldn't come by me and then I realized that he was scared. OH and did I mention Aiden is crying to:) So I run and grab Jake and he is in full out Freak out PANIC mode. So he escapes my arms and it is now our turn to see Santa. Aiden is screaming because he knows whats next and I am thinking "ARE YOU KIDDING ME. I waited all this time someone is going to sit on Santa's lap and its not going to be me.

By the way Jake is still screaming in the back by the gumball machines and so Santa's elf went to grab him and I am sure everyone in the long line is just starring at my panicking children. I put Aiden on his lap, he turned into a wet noodle with arms stretched out and tears rolling down his cheek. Sorry no pictures this year. I didn't want to spend $18 on a terrible picture. Jake never made it within 10 feet of Santa. On the way home I was frustrated and said. I thought you wanted to see Santa. Here is his reply "NO RARRRRRR"

Christmas Stocking

For Jakes first Christmas I bought three Christmas stockings for our family. After we had Aiden I have looked and looked for a stocking for him that was the same size, colors etc. I couldn't find anything and so last year poor Aiden had to go without a stocking. So this year I decided to make one because I really wanted it to be the same style as the others. I am really please with how it turned out.

Deck

I am so excited that Jake is finally starting to really show improvement on his speech development. I noticed the improvement about three weeks ago which is when I started to watch a new boy in my daycare. So I really don't know if it is his preschool or the boy at my house that is contributing to motivate him. He has also starting doing a weird thing like when he says the word "what" he says "what t t t t".

Matt has been working like MAD on his deck. I keep telling him to just wait until spring but he really wants to get it done. You can see that it snowed this Saturday and he made him self a shelter from the snow. I think he is doing an amazing job.

Mouse in the House

So yesterday night Matt came into the kitchen and saw a mouse run across the stove. I know YIKES!!!! We set out all our mouse traps and hoped that we would catch the little varmit. Latter that night we were in bed and Matt got up to get me a glass of water he saw the mouse on the COUNTER!!!! All I heard was stomping and wrestling and a loud thud. Note: you animal lovers might not want to read this. Matt said that he chased it across the stove then to the end of the sink where all my clean dishes were and then it dashed back to the stove from where he came out of. Just as he was crawling into the back of the stove Matt grabbed his back and threw him against the wall. Who needs mouse traps when you have a husband!

New Words

Jake learned TWO new words the other day. Which is huge for him because I can't remember the last new word he said. And to have him say 2 on a single day just made my day. He said TWO and CUTE ( or toot) is how he says it. Jake is loving preschool, and I think it is helping a little. Jake is also teaching all my daycare kid" word that he made up like "hey D", and "no day." They repeat it exactly like he says it and think it is so funny, and I don't know what they means and I am sure they don't either.

Aiden has picked up a few of the things that Jake says like "ah ah" which is for-Curious George. Baby is for his blanket, he also is in love with the word no. I can ask him any question the answer is always no.
Mommy- Do you want a treat
Aiden: NO!

Mommy Do you want to go bye bye
Aiden: no

Mommy: DO you want curious george
Aiden: no

He doesn't realize the difference between yes and no. I am just waiting for the day when Aiden is the one teaching Jake how to talk.

Happy Halloween

Jake LOVED Halloween. He got a ton of practice before Halloween with all the parties and Trunk or Treat so by time Halloween came he knew just what to do. He loved painting his carved pumpkin, he loved the candy, his dash costume. He loved to knock on all the doors and he even learned how to say a new word, well I will let you hear it for your self. It seemed like this year I could really see Jake get really exciting.




Aiden on the other hand HATED his costume. He threw a huge fit and didn't even want the candy at the first three houses that we went to. But then I guess he realized that the tiger suit wasn't coming off. I had to hold Aiden the entire 2 hours that we were gone. So by time we got home my arms were dead tired. The video at the bottom gives you a little idea of how much he loved it.




If you cant tell Jake is Dash from the Incredibles. I gave him a couple options from the internet and that's what he picked. I even had little leather gloves like Dash has but by time we got home the gloves came off.



I love fall. Here is some pictures that we took on a little hike up the canyon.




One of my favorite traditions is carving pumpkins on Halloween. Jake loved painting his pumpkin. And Aiden loved trying to eat the paint off of it. I have to say this is the first Halloween that the kids really enjoyed.




Here Aiden is sharing his sippy cup with Mr. Pumpkin Head