EEG

Last week Jax had an EEG

Jax was thrilled when we told him that EEG was an abbreviation

For Electroencephalogram.

The kid is OBSESSED with abbreviations.

It's hilarious.

So of course he was fine with the whole thing cause well...

it's an abbreviation after all.

He had a couple episodes a few weeks ago that had us worried

Once at school and once at home before getting onto the bus

his teachers said he had something that resembles what is called a stare seizure

He sort of got really still, had a blank stare and was unable to snap out of it. It lasted a mere 15 seconds or so.

It's a type of seizure that usually goes unnoticed because it's so brief

but it can be harmful if not treated.

Jax is constantly complaining about being tired and sometimes these types of seizures can be a possible reason- children with stare seizures usually seize at night time and sleep suffers.

Well the good news is Jax's EEG came back normal.

It still does not rule out that something could be wrong- it's just highly unlikely.

So now we are trying to figure out what is going on when he has these stare episodes.

And why he's so tired when he usually gets a solid 12 hours at night.

I dunno- but we have an appointment coming up with the pediatric neurologist at the U to talk more about it.

Jax will be thrilled to go and see a "Ped"

Because it's an abbreviation for pediatrician after all :)

Bon Jovi ROCKED!

I can't tell you how much fun I had last night rocking out to Bon Jovi. It was such a fun concert. Pics to come (hopefully- Jared took some on his phone so we'll see how they turned out).

interesting moment

Ally is Rapunzel, Jax is the 80's rocker :)

Today Jax had his best friend over. Ally is an adorable 5 year old with an amazing imagination and she's a little chatter box.

She is an important part of Jax's life right now.

She is neuro-typical.

I am grateful every day for her because she comes over here all the time and wants to play with her "Jaxie"

She is an expert at "playing"- meaning she's a typically developing 5 year old.

Jax and Tyce are both novice "players"- they don't always know how to play. Imagination? turn-taking? accepting others ideas? being able to tolerate intense bursts of excitement and noise? pretending to be a super hero? Having a balanced sensory system that allows play to happen naturally?

Not for my two little boys- not yet anyways. Jax is starting to improve ever so slightly in some of these areas.

Anyways...

They were up playing in the playroom but after a while it got quiet so I went upstairs to see what Jax and Ally were up to.

They were both looking at books and their cute little voices were just chatting.

I looked over at Jax and watched him read a brand new book.

"Building a House" by Byron Barton.

He only needed help with the word "electrician"

He is reading at a 2nd grade level.

I looked over at Ally.

Ally was over flipping through a cute book called "Louder Lilly".

Ally can't read. Instead she looked at each page and made up an elaborate story about what she was seeing on the page.

" This girl is feeling jealous and the other girl is being rude"

next page

" So this girl is getting the animal out of the cage-oh look how cute that is Laura!"

I was looking at these two amazing adorable little kids.

Both doing what seems like the same thing.

But one is doing a typical thing and one isn't.

It's typical for kids Jax's age to look at a picture and tell a story in their own words.

It's not typical for a child to simply read each word and not be all that interested in the picture.

Jax is learning to do what Ally was doing so naturally in his speech therapy sessions.

I sometimes look at what neurotypical kids are doing and just marvel that I am seriously witnessing a small miracle!

Some parents might not see it that way because well...it's their normal.

My normal looks a little different from day to day and from many other's day to day.

I looked at both kids and they were both....

Happy.

I was so content at that very moment.

All I want for my kids is what any parent wants: a happy child.

And Jax is SO happy.

He is unique and has so many strengths.

He is an amazing child.

All children are.

I know...my boys look NOTHING alike!

You tell me: Do you see even a single feature that they have in common? I don't and I've been looking at these two handsome kiddos for a while now :)

Ride

I am so proud of Jax. He has become quite the biking enthusiast and this is a big deal- 6 months ago he lacked the leg strength to pedal a bike and didn't want anything to do with it. His core muscles are not as strong as they could be and his wonderful Occupational Therapist has told us to really encourage Jax to try things that are hard for him and not to give up so easily. This was no easy task. I first had to play games with him where he would run over and just touch his bike. That would last weeks. Then I got him to the point that he would go and simply sit on his bike. I had to make it fun and relaxing for him to ease his anxiety. Then gradually he felt comfortable sitting on it while I pushed him around. The first time he pedaled and made forward progress I almost cried. I was so proud. Now he loves it so much we head out every day for a ride- even if it's cold out he'll bundle up in his coat and snow bibs if he has to- he just loves to ride. And watching him brings me so much joy.

Finally!

A picture of Tyce actually SMILING!!! If you were a fly on my wall to see all the various attempts at this you would hear the same angels singing as I hear.

Sweet!!!

chillin tonight

I rarely have time to watch TV anymore, but tonight (Sunday) Jared is out of town and I am watching the boob tube.

And tearing up big time.

The first show I watched was "Secret Millionaire". Yep, I got choked up.

Then I watched the 25th Anniversary of Les Miserables - a broadway that is near and dear to my heart. I love it more than I can say. I was in awe after "Bring Him Home".

Chills.

And the mazing final scene with the most beautiful words:

To love another person is to see the face of God..

Chills again, followed by tears. LOVE IT!

HANDSOME!

I don't know about you but I LOVE little boys dressed in Sunday Best.

Tyce looked adorable too but threw a fit the second he saw the camera so I couldn't document his cuteness on this particular day.

Jax however was more than happy to cheese me.

He "buried" his testimony today at church (he he). Volume control was an issue as he spoke very- very loudly.

He woke up a few nodding heads with his loud and perfect message.

He loves his family.

He loves Jesus.

Is there anything more perfect than that?

Nope.

We missed Jared today. He has been gone. A lot. I mean...really a lot. Like crazy a lot.

But soon he'll be home to see this happy handsome face.

We laminate a lot around here

Jax is funny with the things he gets excited about. Take our Cricut machine- the kid LOVES IT! I mean he could seriously help me cut out letters and shapes all day long. He also loves to laminate things. I wish we had a fancy laminating machine but we just buy the laminate roll from Office Max and go to town. We laminate rule charts, paper board game pieces, and this fun weekly printout from this awesome website. (thanks Em;)

The other day we made this simple math game. With a dry erase marker Jax can do any math question (he doesn't like to call them math problems cause well, that just doesn't make sense to his brain ;) . He loves math and therefore loves this game.

You know all those Scholastic book order forms your kids bring home from school? Well we had a couple lying around as well as an old parenting magazine so I got out my scissors and made my own "i-spy" place mat and laminated it. Jax thought it was the coolest thing ever and asked me to play this with him for a good hour. I liked helping him naviage the page, playing hot and cold, playing "watch my eyes" to have him look at my eyes to see where I'm looking. You can also do a type of pin the tail on the donkey type game with this- you can get really creative and it's fun for Jax. Tyce thought it was the dumbest thing ever and just told me "NO" when I brought it over to play with him. He didn't want to look at it or touch it. His stubbornness made me laugh. So like any good parent I just chased him like I was gonna "get him" with it which of course made him more mad. Finally I got a huge laugh out of him. He knows I'm a crazy goofy momma :)