Bumper bowling with "Friends!"

Thanks to Theo's awesome grade school Circle of Friends, my littles got to go bowling last Friday morning. Theo, Zhen, Ralph, Ruby and Jordan all got to bowl and enjoy a pizza lunch, each with a young adult helper.

Zhen was more than a little overwhelmed and overstimulated in this noisey place. His poor helper had her hands full! Theo was a rock star as usual. Ruby had a giggly time and Jordan was happy to have the morning off of school yet again.

But Ralph. Ralph OWNED the place!

Can you see the swagger in his step? Yeah!

WOW! I love the ball return too. Amazing!

Ready to go again!

Thank you, Circle of Friends!! If you have a chapter of Circle of Friends at your school, won't you lend them your support? This program is a winner for everyone.

Miracles Part 2

I'm in love with Theo. He's just super special and everyone seems to know it. My children understand this and share my view of him as extra precious without displaying a hint of jealousy.

But he is so delayed. Way delayed. Take a child with Down Syndrome and throw them into low quality institutional care, add four years of neglect and near starvation and that is what you get. Major delays in all areas of development.

From the day I met Theo I've been trying to just pour love into him. I've been trying to make up for those four years of nothingness. It's slow going.

Theo is obsessed with food and water, and spends most of his time at home trying to get into the kitchen to get a fix. If someone leaves their cup too close to the edge of the counter he impulsively grabs it and dumps it directly on his face. We had to get a new refrigerator with a locking water dispenser because he had learned to stand under it and make the water run.

Theo will eat until he throws up. He has no concept of being full or satisfied when it comes to food. He attacks any food placed in front of him. If you get to close he will snag your plate, even if you are just walking by. He's fast and his arms are suprisingly long!

But on the bright side...

Theo is now walking. I thought he might never do it.

Theo is now signing "more." I thought he might never be able to communicate.

I swear that Theo is learning to wave "bye-bye" to his school bus when he comes home in the afternoon. It's still not clear to me if he's really waving or not. The ladies on the bus swear up and down that he chews on his shoe and says "EAT!" all the way home each day.

Each evening after getting his growth hormone shot and before bed I like to spend some time just cradling Theo in my arms. Holding him this way feels as sweet and nurturing as if I were nursing him. We look into each others eyes and just "be" together. Does that sound corny? It is totally corny...and wonderful!

It might be my imagination, but I think I have noticed that Theo's rapid eye movements (nystagmus) settle down when we are making intense eye contact. Silly, right?

When I'm speaking to him, I catch him watching my mouth. Every few minutes he will give me a quick head nod and sometimes make a vocalization at the same time. Sometimes a "bah!" or an "uhhhh!" He loves when I blow in his hair. Recently he has started to copy me by making kissy lips, as if he is blowing in my hair.

I often say "say mama, maaaa-maaaa." Sometimes I say it with my lips on his cheek, or on his forehead, or right on his sweet lips. I often move his little chin up and down with my hand while I say it. He allows me to do this. He trusts me.


Tonight, as I was cradling Theo, he suddenly whispered, "mama." I couldn't quite believe my ears. Was I imagining this? No need to get excited, it was just a fluke. As I was talking myself out of believing, he whispered it again.

Theo said "mama."

Thank you, God, for the privilege of being Theo's mom and witnessing these miracles in his life.

Miracles Part 1

I've seen more miracles in the past five years than I can count. And each time I'm amazed. Why am I amazed? I should be expecting them, right?

You may not understand these, unless you have a child with learning delays. I wouldn't have understood before Ralph. Let me just tell you these are big. BIG.

Last week I was attending an activity at church with all the children. We were eating a meal and Ralph was unusually restless. He just couldn't or wouldn't sit in his chair. He's normally such a good boy and he listens to me, so I couldn't understand why he wouldn't sit still.

And then it happened.

Ralph stood up and with both of his hands he pointed to his behind. Ever so softly he said, "poo."

I snapped to attention and quickly peeked down the back of his pants, fearing the worst, but there was nothing in there. I snagged his hand and we ran to the nursery where they have toddler sized toilets (so cute!).

He told me. He made it in time.


I think I cried happy tears.

Ralph is becoming increasingly verbal. In some cases he is refusing to sign, preferring to talk. If only I could understand him 100% of the time! He is always willing to work hard on his speech skills, so it's just a matter of time now. My prayers for him and his ability to communicate are being slowly answered.

I consider this a miracle.

Something about Zhen

By now you surely know that with me, tomorrow means sometime this week or next, right?

Poor Zhen. From the moment we busted him out of his orphanage he has had nose issues. Among other things. First thing in the morning, virtually every morning, he would sneeze or cough and a HUGE, green, mega-booger would fly out of his left nostril. Easily the size of my pinky finger, this snot snake would often be licked clean before I could even grab a tissue! ICK!

Concerned about sinus infections, Zhen went through several series of antibiotics. The green snot always returned. Eventually.

Early in December, 2011, the odor arrived. Oh my goodness, the odor. I would wash his hair, brush his hair, but someone was going on inside. I suspected the nose, as it was running green and heavy again.

I couldn't wait to have his tonsils and adenoids removed! I thought that there might be rotting food hiding in tonsil pockets. I even told the doctor that I wouldn't be surprised if he found something stuck up his nose, considering the monster boogies that only came out of one side.

Well, guess what?

During Zhen's surgery, the doctor found a piece of upholstery-type foam stuck up in his nose. When I say stuck, I mean adhered to the tissues of his nasal passages. He tried to flush it out, but that didn't work. He had to go after it with instruments. Eek!

Poor sweetie. I suspect that that foam had been there for a LONG time. Zhen was a hurt puppy the whole afternoon and evening after the surgery. The nurses and I had to force liquids on him with a syringe. Same with his pain meds. He just laid in his crib moaning all night long.

Thank goodness he turned the corner overnight and was happily sucking down chocolate milk the next morning. He even willingly took his Lortab medicine, which tastes AWFUL. He's been in great shape ever since.

And no more monster boogies!

I was a genius.

The boys are doing great! After all three had their tonsils and adenoids removed on the same day last week, the first night was dicey, but after that it was a piece of cake.

We had two rooms with "name alert" stickers on the sign. Don't want to mix those boys up!

Thank goodness Chip came to help me! He took care of Theo the entire time since I was busy next door with Ralph and Zhen. Theo would NOT keep his gown on. We switched to jammies after this because you know the place was chilly! Doesn't Theo look big?

Ralph was ready to play after sleeping for a few hours. He charmed all the nurses.

Zhen was the BIGGEST whiner after the surgery. He just whined with every breath for the entire first night. He may have been hurting a bit more than the other two...tell you why tomorrow.

Looking good and feeling fine today!

Going to Kansas City

What a week we had last week! Phew!

Between the orthotics fittings, eye doc, family doc, birthday, therapies, event planning, and 2 IEP meetings, I was totally exhausted.

Tuesday was Zhen's birthday. He's five years old now! Wow! He gets to eat his cereal in this red bowl every morning. Dad was out of town, so we baked a cake and had it without frosting for a little party after dinner. The kids were so surprised that cake tasted good without frosting! Ha!
Wednesday had to be the highlight of my week...Theo's IEP meeting. If you have never had the pleasure of looking forward to an IEP meeting I'm sorry. This is just one of the ways I am blessed by Theo. Watching him blow expectations and goals out of the water is so exciting! Working with a team of professionals that have fallen in love with him is rewarding. This deserves a whole blog post of it's own.

Friday I finally got Ralph to the eye doctor. The kid wants glasses. He needs them for reading but I wasn't certain that he would be compliant. Since he keeps stealing Zhen's glasses, I think he's ready.

Later that afternoon was Zhen's IEP meeting. Even though his skills are scattered from 18 months to 4 years, the magnitude of his growth over the past year is impressive. He was basically untestable this time last year. He's transitioning into an FAA (functionally applied academics) room for next year.

I wonder how much Zhen will grow over the next year. I wonder if he is full inclusion material. The school psych says no, never. I like her, but I would love to see her proven wrong.

My mother came to visit yesterday, and dad is home again, so we had another birthday party last night. Mom and I both bought the same gift for Zhen! Actually, they were slightly different versions of the same noisy siren trucks. That turned out great for Ralph!

Tomorrow is the BIG day. Ralph, Theo and Zhen are having tonsils and adenoids removed in the morning. We are getting this over with in a big way. I'm either crazy or a genius. I guess I will find out which one tomorrow!

Since trying to get the three boys to sleep in a hotel room sounds like more of a pain than getting up at 2am to drive to Kansas City, I'll be an EARLY riser tomorrow morning. Chipper is going with me to help out. He's great with the boys. If you think of us tomorrow, say some prayers for the doctor and the boys to recover quickly.

Oops! Umm...Happy New Year!

Oops! Happy New Year!!!

I just realized that I totally missed Christmas! haha!

Let's just say that blogging is taking a back seat around here lately. I have lots to share...funny stories, kid craziness, my off-the-wall plans and schemes. I've just been trying to BE with my family as much as a write about them. I was a mom long before I ever owned a computer.

With that said, here are some photos from our Christmas. Hope you enjoy!

I was dreaming of a muddy Christmas. How do you like this Christmas scene?
Richy was home, so plenty of Guitar Hero battles took place.

Grandma Linda came to see us. Ruby was in beauty shop heaven!

The girls dressed up for Christmas Eve but I couldn't get a nice smile out of Rose, until...
...she covered up Ruby's face.
These boys provided quality control for Santa cookies. The cookies were approved, I'm happy to say.

Some sort of record was set as mom and dad were in bed before 1am. Even after a battery run. I guess we will never learn.
Here is the whole crew, minus Wesley who came for New Year's. They are all waiting for the action to start after we got all the little ones to the potty.
No trouble getting smiles on Christmas morning!
The BEST gift, hands down, that was received this year. Zhen has an obsession with vacuum cleaners and this little beauty was just the ticket for him.
Theo enjoying the good vibrations.
Ralph liked it too!
My little drummer boy! This conga drum sounded awesome.
Jordan and his new puppy, Rufus.

Thomas never disappoints with his duct tape creations. He made Chipper his first Superbowl trophy. Oh man did we laugh!!
Leroy got a duct tape sword that say "I AM THAT IS." He loved it! Brownie points if you can guess where this saying comes from!
My little dolly with her new cabbage patch dolly.
Theo working hard on unwrapping.
I think it's love.
Yep. Delicious!
Rose and her unicorn, Cornelia.
I got a nifty new, heavy duty colander. You know what those are good for, right?
What do you think of this ribeye? A great friend gave us this tasty hunk of meat. We cut it up and put it on the grill. Mmmmmm.

January is shaping up to be a stress filled month for me. Four surgeries, two IEP's, scads of doc appointments, birthdays, anniversaries and event preparations. If you think of me this month, will you shoot a quick prayer up for me? Thanks!