He's NOT Wrong...

This week, we took Sir Smiley to be evaluated by a speech therapist, and it was truly one of the funniest hours of my life.  And I wasn't even allowed to laugh.  After texting a few tidbits to some friends, they encouraged me to tell the entire story - because his logic is just so ... so ... well ... you'll see.

A bit of background, in case you're new here ... Sir Smiley had chronic ear infections for the first two years of his life.  By the time we got tubes put in his ears just after he turned 2, he had lost 60% of his hearing.  Because he couldn't hear, he also wasn't able to speak.  After the tubes were placed in, he regained back all of his hearing, but it still took him quite some time to speak.  Combine that with his almost paralyzing shyness, and we knew we were going to have problems.  He's 4.5 now, and his talking has improved by leaps and bounds, and he's starting to open up a little bit more to people - instead of running and hiding.

In addition to all of that ... the older three kids were all early talkers.  All three of them had substantial vocabularies before they were two, and they all spoke very clearly.  With Smiley, I have no clue what "normal" is.  I'm always a bit paranoid that he's behind, because the others were so far ahead, I can't figure out what the standard average is.  And, it isn't so much that I think he has huge problems, but I just wanted to be sure.

Ok ... now on to the evaluation ... we finally decided that Sir Smiley could comprehend that he needed to actually speak to the therapist, and he was big enough to do it.

When we first meet Ms. M, she's Indian and has an accent.  It takes Smiley almost 10 minutes to figure out how to understand her.  It was hysterical.  A text to a friend revealed *this* little gem:  They adopted their daughter from Russian and took her to a therapist that had a thick Southern drawl.  Their daughter now speaks with the same accent.  I think Smiley has developed too much language by this point to pick up an accident, but that would be so funny if he did!!

The rest of the evaluation revealed a bunch of weird unveilings of Sir Smiley's weird logic:

~ She pointed to a picture and asked him to name what it was, and he answered "bunny".  She asked him what another name for it was, he answered with, "Joshie" - the name of his bunny.  She was very confused.  So, I said, "Not the name of YOUR bunny, what is another word for bunny?"  Then he looked at us like we were both morons and answered "Rabbit".

~  Q:  Which one of these things doesn't match: milk, water, orange juice, banana?
    A:  Water and milk.  (Because orange juice and banana are both fruit - duh)

~  Q:  Why do we go to sleep?
    A:  Because it is night time.
     Q:  But why do we go to sleep when it is night time?  And what about babies that go to sleep during the day?  Why do you think they go to sleep?
     A:  Because they're tired, and their mommies tell them to.

~  Q:  Why do we eat?
    A:  Because God tells us to.
       (She didn't follow this one up ... I think she wasn't sure how to lol)

~  Q:  What do milk and orange juice have in common?
    A:  They both come in bottles.

After that last one, she looked at me and said, " ... well ... he has very .... ummm..... interesting .... logic."

Little guy cracked me up.  He giggled the entire time, I have no idea why he thought the whole process was so funny, but he sure did.  I was very impressed with his ability to open up and communicate so well with her.  He wouldn't say good-bye to her, though.  Once the test was over, he was DONE.  But I was proud!!

The result ... in case you're wondering ... actually isn't in yet.  She scored each of the answers and has to send the test off to a doctor to be checked before a final determination is made.  BUT ... what she did say?  He made it through the entire test, and was able to answer most of the questions - something apparently most children his age aren't able to do.  Usually, that is a feat accomplished by children in the first grade or above.  She did notice some s/z issues, but we knew those were there.  Overall, she thinks he's probably right where he should be.  YAY!!!
 

Choosing to Live

The following was from an episode of Grey's Anatomy a few weeks ago.  There was something about these words that really struck me, and in the last few weeks, I've had the opportunity to make some serious decisions about the way I live my life.  

We're all going to die.  We don't get much say over how or when, but we do get to decide how we're going to live.  So do it.  Decide.  is this the life you want to live?  Is this the person you want to love?  Is this the best you can be?  Can you be stronger?  Kinder?  More compassionate?  Decide.

Breathe in.

Breath out.

And decide.

Learning to forgive the hard stuff

 Lately, in our lives, we’ve been facing some big issues.  Issues that have been difficult for us to contend with, things that have caused some major upset in our family’s every day goings on.  I’ve been struggling with how to deal with situations that seemingly have no end or resolution.  I’ve debated for quite some time on how I should write about this because I don’t want to get on my soapbox and scream that so-and-so did such-and-such and now I want to kick that person in the teeth.  Not only does it call out that person’s idiotic behavior, and turns people against them, but then I’m a jerk for doing it.  At the same time, I know that I need to write it out … maybe let go of some of the storm inside my heart.

Ok, so, I’m going to speak in metaphors.  Those are fun, right?

Hubby and I have a favorite football team.  We love our football team – lots of fun, awesome teammates, cool uniforms, whatever.  The coaches are wise and encouraging, great leaders.  But lately, it seems like they’ve been letting the quarterback call all the shots, and we’re not sure why.  The quarterback isn’t in charge, right?  The quarterback’s job is to be a leader on the field, but communicate with the coaches about what is going on and let the coaches make the final call.  And, when the defense is on the field, the quarterback needs to rest and give somebody else a chance to utilize their leadership skills.  But, apparently this quarterback is playing iron man football and is going to be in charge and in the center of attention all the time.  But not one person can do that, which is why teams are divided up the way they are, right?  I mean, there’s stupid stuff going on over in special teams, the kicker is mad at the cornerback, the cheerleaders have ganged up on the offensive linemen, there’s chaos.  And the fans are just sitting back, confused, scratching their heads, and wondering why they even showed up at all.  At some point, the fans may leave … then what happens to the team? 

As fans, there is nothing we can do for the team, except hope that somebody fixes it soon.  Either the coaches need to regain control, or they need to start making trades, or even just recognize that there are problems and do what they can to change the attitudes of the players.  In the meantime, we’ll keep showing up to the games in our shirts and face paint and hope for the best.

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There’s a teacher that truly loves his students.  He sincerely loves to teach, and he’s that guy that stays after school to tutor, he heads up fifteen different clubs and teams just to spend more time with the kids.  He’s the teacher that all the kids form bonds with and turns to when they’re in trouble.  He’s the one that knows when there’s drama in their lives – often even before their own parents. 

He’s formed a bond with one kid in particular – the kid is funny, bright, and good-natured, but not very well-liked by the other students.  The other kids think this one is a bully, or entitled, or just a jerk.  But the teacher?  He stands up for the kid, because he knows that underneath all of his bravado there is a heart of gold. 

The kid grows up, graduates, and starts his own life.  He ends up getting a job as a staff member of the school his teacher works at.  Some of the other teachers complained because they never took the time to get to know the kid, and all they knew is that the kid was a jerk and the other students hated him.  But the teacher defends him, tells the other teachers that things will be just fine.  Except, they’re not.  Before the kid even takes on all of the full responsibility of his job, he has a fight with the teacher.  The teacher tries to talk to the kid, but the kid doesn’t want to listen.  Instead, the kid goes to the principal and tells her that the teacher was inappropriate.  The teacher loses his job.

The teacher hops on a roller coaster of emotions, but ends up at pity.  He pities the kid.  He’s heard that the kid is having a tough time with his responsibilities, and none of the other teachers or students respect him at all.  In fact, most of them refuse to work with him outright.  This makes the teacher very sad, because deep down, he knows that the kid is trying; that the kid just wants to make a better school.  But at what cost?  What’s the payoff?  Everybody gets hurt.

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Mercy.  Forgiveness.  Consideration.  Resolution.

Letting go.  Moving on.

Why are these so difficult?  And why must they cause so much pain?