Those reading this post title today would likely think this post was going to be about last night's momentous election. Last night the USA elected Barack Obama to a second term in office. As another friend said in her blog, it will be interesting to think about this time years from now when we are likely reading the post in book form around the Christmas fire. :)
Alas, no politics in this post. The Hooray! is because Ben had his first speech therapist session today and it was wonderful. Cathy (and it might be Kathy) was young and warm and great. Ben seemed to like her very quickly and had fun playing with some of the toys she brought. The first couple of sessions will just be about getting acquainted but I'm already incredibly excited about some of the tools Cathy gave us and to putting them to use.
I might discuss some of them here and you know I will let you know how things progress. For now, I am sighing a very deep sigh of relief that his therapist is great and that Ben will be getting some support. I hope and pray that two years from now I'm thinking, "why again did we want him to talk so much?!?"
It's an amazingly gorgeous fall day here with temps in the mid-70's and we spent the morning on a great walk. Something tells me Ben won't complain if we cap this day with a visit to Bonnie Brae "I-meem" before Mother Nature comes to and remembers it's November.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
sleep on it
Dearest Ben,
The term sleep on it is one you will hear a lot in life.
"to sleep on it"
Most often you will be told to sleep on it when you have a large decision to make but sleeping on it can also help when someone has hurt you or you are frustrated by a decision. I know there are lots of things you won't listen to me about, but when your Dad or I tell you to sleep on it-take our advice. It almost always helps to clear your head and calm your nerves so you can make the proper decision or deal with whatever problem you are facing.
Love you SO much,
Mom
The broader point of this post is to fill you in on some steps we've taken for Ben to help with his speech. I just needed some time to sleep on it because getting to this point has been more than trying. We've questioned for many months whether to have Ben's speech evaluated as we have known he is behind for his age. Colorado has a wonderful early intervention program for any development need and we knew that if Ben qualified we could have services at no-charge if our insurance declines to pay. A good friend who works as a physical therapist in this system warned me that it can take 2-3 months to begin services so that if we waited until Ben was 2 and a 1/2 he may not have many months of therapy.
This along with some other things caused Ryan and I to make the call and at least have Ben evaluated. "It can't hurt," has been our mantra throughout this process. The process happened very quickly for us and was completed in 3 weeks rather than 3 months. Ben was evaluated last week and did qualify for services. We will have a speech therapist come to our home for one hour each week until Ben is 3. I am elated that there is help like this available and although my overall concern for Ben is minimal, "it can't hurt," is more than true. We meet his therapist this week and I'm excited to get some tools to help Ben's speech progress. Of course, his words have nearly doubled since we began this process as well as his repeating of words and sounds we say, but hopefully that will make the tools easier and the improvements all the greater.
I took several days of sleeping on it before this post because the evaluation meeting for Ben was by far my most trying hour of parenting. Opening your child up for criticism is difficult beyond belief and I was so distraught going in that I had even planned an extra long run that morning to calm my nerves. I will spare many of the painful details but the gross unprofessional-ism and hurtful comments were horrible. Our service coordinator has been amazing and went up to bat defending Ben more than once during his evaluation. Our evaluators were older and clearly at some point in their careers have lost the compassion that is necessary when dealing with parents and our littlest humans. It makes me sad to think they are there doing this every day and often meeting with parents without the self-confidence to stand up for themselves and their children. There will certainly be follow-up on my end and I have to hope it might help change something. I knew Ben would be criticized and demeaned at some point in his life, and that it would be painful to endure as a parent, I just never dreamed it would be by people who were supposed to be helping him.
On a much brighter note, his on-going therapist was not at the meeting and sounds amazing! I am eager to meet her and get started using her tools to help Ben. I am also thankful for this lesson in the end and the reminder that we are our children's only advocate and many times there will only be one chance to stand-up for them.
The term sleep on it is one you will hear a lot in life.
"to sleep on it"
to postpone a decision in order to allow some time to think about the decision
to allow your subconscious to process a decision or problem during sleep
Most often you will be told to sleep on it when you have a large decision to make but sleeping on it can also help when someone has hurt you or you are frustrated by a decision. I know there are lots of things you won't listen to me about, but when your Dad or I tell you to sleep on it-take our advice. It almost always helps to clear your head and calm your nerves so you can make the proper decision or deal with whatever problem you are facing.
Love you SO much,
Mom
The broader point of this post is to fill you in on some steps we've taken for Ben to help with his speech. I just needed some time to sleep on it because getting to this point has been more than trying. We've questioned for many months whether to have Ben's speech evaluated as we have known he is behind for his age. Colorado has a wonderful early intervention program for any development need and we knew that if Ben qualified we could have services at no-charge if our insurance declines to pay. A good friend who works as a physical therapist in this system warned me that it can take 2-3 months to begin services so that if we waited until Ben was 2 and a 1/2 he may not have many months of therapy.
This along with some other things caused Ryan and I to make the call and at least have Ben evaluated. "It can't hurt," has been our mantra throughout this process. The process happened very quickly for us and was completed in 3 weeks rather than 3 months. Ben was evaluated last week and did qualify for services. We will have a speech therapist come to our home for one hour each week until Ben is 3. I am elated that there is help like this available and although my overall concern for Ben is minimal, "it can't hurt," is more than true. We meet his therapist this week and I'm excited to get some tools to help Ben's speech progress. Of course, his words have nearly doubled since we began this process as well as his repeating of words and sounds we say, but hopefully that will make the tools easier and the improvements all the greater.
I took several days of sleeping on it before this post because the evaluation meeting for Ben was by far my most trying hour of parenting. Opening your child up for criticism is difficult beyond belief and I was so distraught going in that I had even planned an extra long run that morning to calm my nerves. I will spare many of the painful details but the gross unprofessional-ism and hurtful comments were horrible. Our service coordinator has been amazing and went up to bat defending Ben more than once during his evaluation. Our evaluators were older and clearly at some point in their careers have lost the compassion that is necessary when dealing with parents and our littlest humans. It makes me sad to think they are there doing this every day and often meeting with parents without the self-confidence to stand up for themselves and their children. There will certainly be follow-up on my end and I have to hope it might help change something. I knew Ben would be criticized and demeaned at some point in his life, and that it would be painful to endure as a parent, I just never dreamed it would be by people who were supposed to be helping him.
On a much brighter note, his on-going therapist was not at the meeting and sounds amazing! I am eager to meet her and get started using her tools to help Ben. I am also thankful for this lesson in the end and the reminder that we are our children's only advocate and many times there will only be one chance to stand-up for them.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Happy Happy Halloween
Halloween was a fun celebration in the Heimer Haus this year. On Tuesday night we attended the local high school's Trick-or-Treat off the street. Although I was expecting an affair similar to ours in high school that this was far from, Ben had lots of fun running in circles around the gym and stopping every so often to play a game for candy. I was thrilled at the diversity of the students and got a little wrapped up in daydreaming about someday as Ben looked up pointing to the "ball Ball" hoops and the basketball that was wedged in the ceiling. You can't blame a mama for dreaming. :)
MeeMee did a fantastic job on Ben's costume and I'm excited that it's durable enough for him to play in throughout the year.
On Halloween night we headed to the Old Gaylord Street shops for their second biggest event of the year. You can read all about the official scoop here. We left glow sticks in the pumpkins and candy on the porch andwalked ran to the fun. Ben mostly enjoyed the throngs of kiddos and people but did partake in a little trick-or-treating from vendors and on the way home. We ran into neighbor Joey who said over and over how he had wanted to be Super Whyatt like Ben was. His parents had worried that no one who know who he was and we certainly experienced that from adults. Lots of kiddos knew who Ben was and one boy even exclaimed, "oh no! not another SuperWHY!"
We enjoyed pizza and beer at IlVicino and temperatures in the 60's well after dark. There was an awesome sense of community and fun and I'm already looking forward to next year now that I know what to expect and how to plan and to have a wagon full of adult beverages. :)
Tante, MeeMee, Nana and Papa all joined us and made the night complete. Walking to both evenings' events in flip-flops is certain proof of global warming as I can hardly remember a childhood Halloween without snow.
One of our guests even quipped, "this is so fun it almost makes me want to get married and have kids!" I'll leave it to the readers to figure out who that might have been.
waiting for Dada....always!
first try of a tootsie roll-yuck!
MeeMee did a fantastic job on Ben's costume and I'm excited that it's durable enough for him to play in throughout the year.
On Halloween night we headed to the Old Gaylord Street shops for their second biggest event of the year. You can read all about the official scoop here. We left glow sticks in the pumpkins and candy on the porch and
We enjoyed pizza and beer at IlVicino and temperatures in the 60's well after dark. There was an awesome sense of community and fun and I'm already looking forward to next year now that I know what to expect and how to plan and to have a wagon full of adult beverages. :)
Tante, MeeMee, Nana and Papa all joined us and made the night complete. Walking to both evenings' events in flip-flops is certain proof of global warming as I can hardly remember a childhood Halloween without snow.
One of our guests even quipped, "this is so fun it almost makes me want to get married and have kids!" I'll leave it to the readers to figure out who that might have been.
Hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween.
he loved all the Sesame Street costumes he saw :)
With neighbor Joey-fighting crime :)
Tres Generaciones (and a smile to die for)
The Creeper of Gaylord :). His house was awesome and he hid in the street scaring people.
a last minute ghost joined our candy table :)
The neighbors had one pumpkin flaming with kerosene. It looked SO neat!
night-night kissies for Tante :)
One Year
Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of our move home to Colorado. I will never forget sending the boys on the night before with hopes of a good night's sleep and early morning energy to clean Ben and I out of the house the next day. Halloween has never been my favorite holiday but it will always be more memorable thinking of this day as the beginning of our move. Of course we never expected to go back to Wichita so many times after or for so many months, but it all seems like a distant (and sometimes painful) memory now. We are so blessed to be home among family and friends and to hold in our hearts the wonderful memories and friendships we gained in Wichita. To this day the physical thing I miss the most is the decor and smell of Ben's nursery and last weekend with the help of Nana Pat and Papa Jim, we began making Ben's room here just as special......
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