OK, I will

I'm sitting here shocked. Michael and I have both been sick for the last few days. He's on the mend, I'm not doing as well. Steve was upstairs checking on some things that he needs to do before going to a meeting tonight when his dinner 'dinged'.

I asked Michael (who is feeling well enough to be sent on errands) to go upstairs and tell him his dinner is ready. Immediate answer "OK, I will" and off he went. He delivered the exact message I asked.

I've never seen such cooperation as we have the last few days. Could it be the fever? Is it that he's on his second week of enhansa? We haven't had any side effects from the enhansa (unless they've been covered up by the cold), but wow. I'm speechless, and it's not just my lack of a voice!

"Are you alright Daddy?"

I guess it's been a good evening. Even though Michael didn't want to do his homework, he eventually did. I was surprised that he understood the different between goods and services, and volunteering versus working. He's also getting really good at his math work. I'm pretty happy!

Afterwards, Michael was in the family room playing his wii, and Steve was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner. Michael was fairly absorbed in his game, but did hear Steve say "Ouch!" when he hit something. Michael immediately asked if he was OK. I was so shocked - situational awareness and empathy! What more could you ask for during Simms Kingdom?

A good day all around

Have you ever noticed that when your child has a good day, you have a good day? And when he's having a rough time, your whole day just seems to go downhill? Today was definitely a good day. We kept Michael home from school because he was scheduled to get an updated Auditory Processing and OT evaluation this morning. It was so nice to sleep in those few extra minutes and have an unhurried morning!

My husband took Michael to the exam, and I waited (not so) patiently by phone in case they needed my input for anything. The appt was scheduled for 10:00, and by 12:30 I was getting concerned. But, then the phone rang and I started to get a summary. Michael has made amazing progress in several areas: auditory figure/ground, dichotic listening, and even visual motor integration. It's a lot of technical words, and I'm not sure I understand it all, but one thing really stuck out: he had improved his handwriting by more than two years since the last eval one year ago!

Despite all this wonderful progress, Michael still has a long way to go. I've long suspected that he understands almost everything he hears, but it's so nice to have it confirmed! I've also been concerned that even though he does great with reading, he doesn't seem to understand math concepts as well. Spatial awareness and body control also seem to be weaknesses. We talked with the therapists for quite a while about all this and decided to change our focus from auditory comprehension to body awareness. This will mean a mini loop sometime before the end of the year, and trying to get in with a good OT.

I'm excited and overwhelmed at the same time: it's so nice to hear good news, and exciting to pursue a new path, but overwhelmingly difficult to get there. It's so hard to find an OT near us, and none of them take insurance. So, I'm committing us to even more expenses, paperwork, and scheduling. But, hopefully, the results will be worth it. Then, I look over at Michael, and see a happy kid playing appropriately with toys, and KNOW that he's worth any effort.