Daddyless

Monday

Yesterday Daddy went out of state for a conference. It will be interesting to see how Mr N does during therapy this week. This morning he woke up in a good mood after a great nights sleep, he helped me pick up toys in the play room, then had breakfast outside with his sister and played a bit. Now he's cuddling with Mommy and watching a movie.

Mommy, on the other hand, is really missing Daddy. I didn't sleep well last night, I didn't get to spend yesterday with my man, I didn't get to cuddle him, I have only gotten to talk to him on the phone for a couple of minutes last night and again this morning. I miss my honey.

My little E fell off the patio chair and scraped up her knees, elbows and hands. Somehow owies are much worse when Daddy isn't home.

Recently, Mr N has started being bothered by tags in shirts. Thankfully most of his shirts are tagless, so it's not a huge issue, just another thing I've noticed. He's been bothered by button up shirts for a long time, I'm not sure if it's the buttons or the motion of putting his arms into the sleeves. They seem to be less bothersome if we slip it over his head.

Mr N is sitting beside me playing a spelling game on his iPad, where he matches the letters up on sight words and then it spells the word and says it. He just did "blue" then he said "blue". My heart soars when he says new words and learns things.

We cancelled therapy for Monday, both kids had  fevers and Mommy felt lousy.

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Tuesday

Hopefully today goes better, by yesterday evening we all seemed to be feeling better.

OMG! The kids are watching Leap Frog: Numbers Ahoy and they count a bunch, Mr N just said "eight" a few times as they were counting! Yay! I recently got them Leap Frog: Amazing Alphabet, too, in hopes that these two movies will help him learn the alphabet and his numbers. They are far more entertaining than Mommy singing them and playing with blocks, not that I'll stop; but I figure this will reinforce counting & alphabet learning.

Mr N was excited when his therapist arrived for therapy. The first task involved playing with play doh. I found a set of tools the other day that has rolling pins and stamps, the kids both loved them. While playing with the therapist he said "roll" a bunch of times as he rolled out the play doh! He said a new word for his therapist!

After play doh time wrapped up we went outside and played, Mr N did touch tree a few times and we caught a caterpillar and an ugly bug. Mr N wasn't super interested, but E loves bug time.

We returned inside and Mr N immediately started playing with the play doh and tools. He fell asleep towards the end of therapy and slept for 30ish minutes before waking up cranky. He wanted to go in the car and get buckled in his seat. He refused to wave good bye to the therapist. He sat in the car for 20ish minutes, he kept trying to say something. It breaks my heart when he's looking me in the eye saying something and working so hard to say it and I don't understand. He has to be so frustrated, he works so hard to make these words come, I wish it wasn't so hard for him. My poor baby boy. It makes me that much more proud when he does say words, knowing the effort involved.

Mr N did amazing at meeting, Mommy had a part and Mr N sat in the car with Tonya while Mommy was on stage. When I got back out to the car he was laughing and giggling, Tonya said he wanted her to play with him. After meeting, Mr N ran around and played with E and another little girl. It's the first time he's ever engaged in appropriate play with another child. He was holding her hand, sitting next to her, following her around, giving her hugs, etc. Just last week we were at the park and there were other kids there and while he didn't hit or push them away, he didn't engage them. It was such a beautiful thing seeing my little boy act like any other little boy, I kept watching him with tears in my eyes thinking "where the hello kitty is my son?". He played for 20-30 minutes without ever coming to me, he'd make sure I hadn't left but he didn't need held or cuddled like he usually does. This is huge, he's progressing. His social skills are improving!

On the drive home I tried to hold back the tears of joy. Thinking the entire time, he's gonna be ok, he's gonna be ok, he's gonna be ok. He has to be ok, I can't accept any other future for him. He will succeed, he will be independent. I have to believe!

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Wednesday

Daddy comes home today! In fact, he should be home earlier than usual since he's not planning on stopping at the office on his way home from the airport. The kids are excited, I'm sure I'll hear "what number is he?" 100 times today from E, she always wants to know how many miles he has left. I'm thinking I should tackle the griller/smoker project and get it put together and set up so that I can grill for dinner.

This morning we took the recycling to the recycling center, and then stopped at the store for bananas. When we first got up this morning Mr N grabbed his iPad and went to the flash card app and found the bananas and said "nana" a few times. I figured that deserved bananas. While we were at the store he picked out Ritz crackers, one of his favorite foods. He just doesn't like giving his treasures to the cashier to ring up, when I gave them back to him he said "good boy?", I said "yes, good boy" then he said "I know" pretty clearly. It was clear enough the cashier laughed and said "I think he said 'I know'". People are understanding him.

E's new black cat is scheduled for delivery today, it is a black cat with some white marking on it's face. I asked her what she wanted to name her new cat, she matter of factly said "black and white, that is his name, black and white". There you have it, that was easier than I expected.

Mr N just said "milk please". This is the first time he's said "please" and while "milk please" doesn't sound anything like "milk please" to anyone else, it's the way he says it and it counts, it's communication, it's verbalization, he's talking, he's requesting, he's stringing words together. He has said "thank you" since long before he regressed, it was just much easier to understand before the regression.

I wonder what makes some of his speech so much clearer than other parts. Why is "no more", "good boy", "car", "eat" so easy to understand but "milk", "banana", "head", "nose", and "mouth" so difficult to understand?

Today is a good day, I'm feeling more positive about Mr N's future, more certain that he'll be ok, more sure of what we're doing. Progress is such a beautiful thing.