A possible answer for Daniel

The other day Daniel speech and special ed. therapist were up here going over his therapy plan for this fall. I was talking to the speech therapist about Daniel and just asking her if she could think of anything that could possibly be the matter why he understands so much, yet he can't really talk. She threw out the word "Dyspraxia" and said that it is a possibility that may be what he is dealing with. She mentioned something about the connections between the brain and muscles and telling certain area what to do. So like any good American who has the Internet i went and looked it up, and i am relating to a lot of what i am reading about dyspraxia.. or in Daniel's case "childhood apraxia of speech" ... this is kinda the difference between apraxia and a "speech delay"

How Is CAS Different Than A Speech Delay?
A true developmental delay of speech is when the child is following the "typical" path of childhood speech development, although at a rate slower than normal. Usually this rate is in pace with the child’s cognitive skills. In typical speech/language development, the child's receptive and expressive skills increase together to a large extent. What is often seen in a child with apraxia of speech is a wide gap between their receptive language abilities and expressive abilities. In other words, the child's ability to understand language (receptive ability) is broadly within normal limits, but his or her expressive speech is seriously deficient, absent, or severely unclear. This is an important factor and one indicator that the child may be experiencing more than "delayed" speech. In the case of such a mismatch in skills, the child should be evaluated for the presence of a specific speech disorder such as apraxia. However, certain language disorders may also cause a similar pattern in a child. A gap between a child's expressive and receptive language ability is insufficient to diagnose apraxia.
-taken from the apraxia-kids.org website..


on another website (which i can't remember from) it was talking about the signs that children with the problem will have...

Children with dyspraxia may demonstrate some of these types of behaviour:

Very high levels of motor activity, including feet swinging and tapping when seated, hand-clapping or twisting. Unable to stay still
High levels of excitability, with a loud/shrill voice
May be easily distressed and prone to temper tantrums
May constantly bump into objects and fall over
Hands flap when running
Persistent language difficulties
Sensitive to sensory stimulation, including high levels of noise, tactile defensiveness, wearing new clothes

anyway... the more i look into it I'm thinking this is maybe what Daniel has... one website was saying that it can look a lot like autism except the child is social and seems more intelligent. I'm excited to finally nail down what it is that he struggles with. On the flip side though he has been doing so well.. I'm so proud of my little man for trying to hard!
Anyway.. i just thought i would update you with the latest on him. Sorry my posts have been so far apart, times are crazy here, and a lot of days recently it takes energy just to do the normal tasks.

life today

Things have been crazy, as you might have noticed from my absence. So here's a few updates.

-Marty, my stepdad, is currently in the hospital and not doing so great. Things are spiraling downhill and not looking good. I don't have time or energy to go into it, but PLEASE pray for him and my mom. Times are tough over there and they could use God's strong arms wrapped around them.

-My little sister is having a little boy! It's exciting to know what she is having so i can pray even better for the little guy.

-Daniel has started talking! Not consistently, but definitely he is saying words and even phrases. Between the jabbering he has been saying different appropriate words for the sitation he is in. PRAISE THE LORD! my little boy is finding his voice!!!!

anyway.. we just got back from a long trip that was a blessing, but very tiring and there is a lot to clean up, more on that later... but before i go i want to share a verse...

The Lord will fight for you: you need only to be still. -Exodus 14:14

Results

Results are back for my stepdad. It is colon cancer that has metastasized to his bones. The doctors are saying that it is terminal and they are giving him 6-8 months without doing chemo.
Crazy emotions flying everywhere. The thing that i cling to is the my God is greater, my God is stronger, and my God knows and holds all of this in His hands and He is mighty to save and heal.
Please keep my family in your prayers...

if only...

I wish there was better news, but there really isn't. To bring you up to speed, this is the basic of what is going on right now.
My step dad Ma​rty has been sick since May. His kidneys were shutting down for unknown reasons and he has been on dialysis. After scans were done on 7/26, it was discovered that his kidneys were blocked. Stents were placed to open the kidneys. The scans also detected masses on his hips and pelvis. These masses appear to be cancer and biopsies were taken. All of the results will be coming back on monday night. If you are a prayer warrior, please keep my dad Marty in your prayers, as well as my mom. This is not an easy time by any means. 7 years ago he was diagnoised with stage 3 colon cancer, so you can imagine this isn't an easy time.
Thank you friends...

What's going on?

SO much is going on ... here's some quick updates.

- Daniel will be going in the first of November for an official day of diagnosis testing. It's a full day thing, and by the end of the day the "experts" give an official diagnosis on what they think your child struggles with. He has been doing really well this summer, verbalizing even more and even imitating sounds.

- It's official... our good friends Maria and Alfie are going to come visit us in October.. I am SOOO excited!

- On a more serious note, things back at home aren't so great. My step dad who recently had kidney failure and has been on dialysis, has a lot of other health issues going on as well and he is in the hospital. Just 6 years ago he has stage 3 colon cancer and God totally healed him, and now with all of the issues he is having they found a tumor on his hip. We don't know yet if it is malignant or not... Please pray for my family in the Midwest. It's so hard being over here while stuff is going on over there. Please pray for strength for my parents, wisdom to the doctors, and God's healing touch to come down and bring health and life back to my step dad. I'm going to be headed there for a quick weekend in a couple of weeks by myself. I'm hoping the boys will be okay without me (last time i left them for longer then a night we had some serious seperation issues with Daniel).

- Hard times seem to be all around but... there is still hope.

glimpses

It's been a fun and tiring two weeks. I've been all over from the very northern part of california to seattle and almost everywhere inbetween. Here is a look into the past two weeks here with my neice. I think she was a little irritated with me with how often i took pictures, so i only posted a few of her. :) what can i say, i'm a proud Auntie and i think she is a very beautiful young lady and i never get to spend time with her!

GOON DAY!

I have a friend. She's one of those forever friends. We met in high school in gym class over 11 years ago. We've been through a few things here and there that could break a friendship (really just things on my end, but she is graceful and forgiving and we've grown to understand each other), but the bond of our friendship is strong. She's been there for me through so many hard times, and i know for a fact that i would have not been able to get through many days unless i was able to hear her voice on the other end of the line. We have lived over a thousand miles apart from each other for the past 8+ years (right now we live exactly 1,756 miles away from each other) ... but it has not drifted us apart. When i went off to Canada she stayed a faithful friend. And boy am i glad she did, because along with meeting my wonderful husband in Canada i met her husband in Canada! When i met him i knew he was the man for maria :) my favorite and pretty much only matchmaking attempt ever. Anyway.. rabbit trail.. sorry.
I can be myself around her. She knows me and understands me and i can call her up and bawl my head off or tell her the most recent hilarious thing my children just did.
Ours is a friendship that will last, we're less like friends and more like family now. She is my closest friend and I will treasure her friendship forever!




Every year around July 19th we celebrate a special day just for us and our unique friendship, GOON DAY. Though we have not spent goon day together since the first establishing on the day... It's still one of my favorite times of the year.
This year Maria sent me a goonday present that i will treasure! I was so excited when i opened the box and i met Hagwick... Now for those of you who do not know, i really like yard gnomes. Yep i know... strange, and i don't even have any in my yard ( i did have two but the boys completely destroyed them). But now thanks to maria i now have a gnome friend... Check out her blog post about goon day and him visiting some of the places that are "ours".

And now Hegwick has made it to Washington...



he barely survived meeting ferdinand, ferdinand thought he was a tasty treat just for him.



Hegwick, meet Katy!


Happy Goon day Maria! Hopefully someday we will be able to celebrate goonday in the same state!