Dry as a bone

Rhys seems to be recovered fully now. Best of all, he has almost completely stopped drooling. His chin has been dry for three days now. This will be a big boost to all of our quality of life.

Oh NO! Water!

There is a buffet here in town. Only one. It was open for a few months and went out of business. It is back open now. It has a very nice Italian feel inside, and lots of Chinese food. We took the boys there for dinner tonight.

I had gotten Owyn a plate of food, fruit mostly. He was eating away, very content. As he stood on the seat next to me he was looking around the restaurant. He realized that there was a fountain in the middle of the dining room. He looked, pointed and said, "Oh No! Water!". He said it about twenty times. Mama was over the cuteness of it by the time he was done.

Once he had spotted it nothing would do but that we had to go over and look at it. There were gold fish in the bottom bowl. It had three bowls total. Both boys were fascinated. They would have been content to spend the rest of the night there.

Commando kid

This weekend the boys were playing in the back yard. They have a small play house. It has a door and windows on each end with shutters. The longs sides are both open. Owyn and Rhys were sitting in the house.

All of a sudden, out of no where, Owyn jumps up, yells, runs to the window, throws open the shutters and jumps through the window. He is only two, but it is a small house.

Both boys thought this was great fun and did it several more times. Each time they ended up in a pile of arms and legs under the window.

Rhys

Rhys is finally getting back to normal. Today was the best day since the surgery. There have been some rough ones.

He is in summer school for eight days this summer. Two days last week, two days this week. He has a two week break, then two and two next month. It is for kids they were afraid would regress over the summer. Good and bad news there, I guess.

Rhys loves going to "two schools". He was disappointed when his "two school" was different than the one he was in all year. He has the speech therapist from his normal pre-school there with him so that has helped him to settle in. He had a great day today.

Swim lessons were not so great. He was tired, for starters. He has gotten used to having a nap again so going without on "two school" days is rough on the little guy. He was not listening and not doing what he was supposed to. His new teacher seems to like him though. She is especially supportive of him when he does something well.

Both boys were pleasant tonight. Owyn has really opened up a lot in the last couple of weeks. Rhys was speaking better and listening. He also, and this is huge, barely drooled all day. Normally his shirt is a mess. Tonight he wanted to wear his tee shirt to bed and it was clean enough that he could.

I'm very glad that the pain seems to be worth it.

Owyn Speaks

The surgery has made a huge change for the better with Owyn. He is speaking a lot more often and using a lot more words. The words he says are more clear. He likes to repeat the things we say. He is interested in the words that he hears.

He is also sleeping better. He is not nearly as restless and he doesn't seem to be waking up to play in the middle of the night any more.

I'm chalking this one up as a Win.

Falling Behind

I have not been keeping up to date very well this month. I started a new job. The boys' schedules have been keeping us hopping and I have just been tired.

I'm sorry.

Doctors, Dentists and McDonald's

Today was NOT a fun day. I worked for seven hours, meaning I will have three hours to make up tomorrow, after two days leaving early to pick up Rhys from summer school. I picked the boys up early, they were both still napping and had to be awakened. We went to the Dr for their three week follow up on their surgery's.

There was NO parking at the hospital. I had to use valet. It is free but I didn't have any cash on me. Oh well. I got the boys out and inside. Rhys loves the elevator but the woman riding with us pushed the buttons. How can someone do that? Weird.

We got to the office exactly at 1415, the time of their appointment. It turns out I could have taken a nap in the parking lot while I waited for a spot to open up. The waiting room was full. Completely full.

We checked in and the receptionist gave the boys each a graham cracker. That was very helpful and kept them content for ten minutes or so. Too bad we had to wait half an hour.

Finally, the Dr called us in. We did not see his nurse or assistants. He saw us directly. Owyn was crying and unhappy. Rhys was looting the tongue depressors out of all the drawers. The Dr checked them both, ears, nose and throat. Everything looked great. He gave us referrals to get their hearing tests.

It is NEVER a good idea to take both boys to the Dr with only one parent.

Digital Drawing

Rhys has three things he can do on his computer. He has two games and he has MS Paint. Last night he walked into my office, turned on his computer, turned on the monitor, selected Paint, selected draw and started drawing. All on his own. He was changing colors and he even saved his drawing. When he was done he turned it all off and went to play cars.

I'm very proud.

Rhys' computer

We gave Rhys his own computer. It was his great-grandpa's, who recently passed away. The background is a picture of Rhys and Owyn and Mama about a year ago.

Rhys saw the picture and said "Look, Mama, Owie, Eese". He was very excited.

Owyn saw the picture and said "Mama, Rhys, Gee!" He was very excited.

Diving

Today was Rhys' swim day again. More of the same, mostly. He is improving slowly. His teacher was a little bit more on the ball today as well.

The last thing they do is jump off the edge of the pool. The teacher is there to catch them. They all started out, weeks ago, needing her to hold their hands before they would jump. Today for the first time, Rhys jumped on his own.

The first two tries were the same old thing, with one extra factor thrown in, for comedic effect. Rhys was standing on the edge of the pool. His legs were bent, to get him closer to the water, don't ya know. He was standing there with his arms out in front of his head, like he was going to dive, then he bent over at the waste and put his arms waaaaay out behind him. It looked for all the world like he was about to swing them forward to get more momentum in his fantastic leap half way across the pool.

He made it about four inches, but there was no hand holding involved at all.

The Great Escape

Owyn got out of his crib today. It is his first time getting out. Tracy took him up and put him in bed, for his nap. She went to grab him a bottle and when she came back he was standing in the middle of his floor.

He was standing there with his hands on his hips, half turned away from the door. He had a huge, proud, grin on his face. His right foot was off to the side on his heel with his toes up in the air.

You could almost hear the "Ta-da!"

Speech, speech and more speech

Today was a big day for Speech for both boys. This morning Rhys had his long awaited second speech evaluation. This afternoon Owyn had his first real session of Speech Therapy.

Two years ago Rhys got evaluated for speech. He was two and a half. He spent three hours in a room with his Mama and the therapist. She decided his problem was articulation. Insurance doesn't cover Artic and we don't cover $250.00 a session therapy on our own.

Since then two Dr's and his OT therapist all said that there was no way his problem was artic. This was enough to get Rhys another appointment. We made a point of asking for a more experienced therapist to do this one. Rhys and Mama went this morning.

This eval was an hour long. The therapist worked with Rhys to get through as many tests as possible, though many were left undone. At the end of the day, she said that his problem is a medical problem and that he will need therapy. Now to get insurance to pay for it.

This afternoon I picked up Owyn, after work, and rushed him home. We had half an hour to wind down and then his speech therapist showed up. Last week she came but it was more of a sensing session then therapy. Today was the real deal.

Owyn shined. He started out a little rough but by the time we were done he was actively participating, repeating words and asking for things with words rather than points and grunts. His words were still mostly only intelligible by association, meaning we knew what he was saying because we had just said it or were pointing at the duck when he said duck. On the other hand he was trying.

It was a struggle to get his Gee away. We were waiting until post-op to try to wean him off it. Sadly, it is now post-op and we have to do it. We are going to start by not letting him have it until after dinner. If we can get that far it is a short step to just at bed time. He already doesn't get it during the day.

Did anyone know that the latest recommendation is that small children hear between 17,000 and 30,000 words every DAY? I don't say that many words in a freaking year.

Occupational Therapy

Rhys had OT again today. It went very well. We started out in the gym instead of his little interrogation room. He got to swing on a bungee swing. he loved that. His therapist sang to him and he got to swing and bounce.

Ever since his surgery he has been holding his spit in his mouth until it is full, then drooling all over himself. he used to just drool as he went. I'm not sure what the deal is there. The therapist wrapped a rag around his wrist so he could wipe his mouth. She still ended up putting a sheet on the mats to soak it all up. We usually put a hair doodle (I don't know the real name, it is female hair gear and, therefore, outside the realm of manly knowledge), on his wrist so he can wipe his chin. We have forgotten in the last two weeks.

After the "big gym" we went to the interrogation room. I call it this because it is a small room with a two way mirror in one wall. There is another room on the other side of the mirror. This room has head phones so you can listen in on what is being said while you watch through the two way mirror.

Today was the first day that Rhys spent the entire session by himself, just him and the therapist. He only asked for me once, then he did what she asked him to do, mostly.

I would love if we were making progress there because OT can be very difficult sometimes.

Swimming

Rhys was back at swimming again yesterday. It was his first day back after the surgery. His old teacher, who was a pro, has a new job now. His new teacher is still getting the hang of things. She spent about half of the thirty minute class adjusting kid gear.

Rhys' name is pronounced "reese". The most common mis-pronunciation is "rice". Yesterday I heard a new one. "Rie-ess". When asked if that was how his name was pronounced he just nodded and went on playing in the water.

He loves swimming and doesn't care how you say his name.

Breakfast of (small) champions

The boys are still not eating all that well, post-surgery. I'm pretty sure they have both figured out how to metabolize air into nutrients. It should help immensely when they are teenagers. My hippie parents signed the papers for me to join the Marine Corps when I was seventeen so that your tax dollars could pay to feed me. We'll come out way ahead with the boys living on air.

This morning I made Owyn a piece of toast. It is always fun to watch Owyn eat toast. He picks it up and starts chewing on the center. He eats his way out from there. I could just cut the crusts off, like I do for his brother. This is much more entertaining though.

Pre-Father's Day

My folks will be out of town on Father's day. They had the family over today for a BBQ. We also, incidentally, got to move their play structure from one side of the yard to the other. There was plenty of food, of course. It's the way of my people.

The boys were wild. Four of their cousins were there. Five little kids running all over the back yard. The play structure was a hit, but Rhys was also doing his best Barney Rubble impression. Nana and Grandad have a little car. The bottom is empty so the kid can use his feet to push it, exactly like the Flintstones. He was pushing that car all over the yard. At times he had to stand up and drag it behind him, while he was inside it.

He drove the car into Nana's garden. Grandad saw this and told Rhys to get his car out of the garden and drive it somewhere else. Rhys stood up, put his fists on his hips, and scowled menacingly at Grandad. I hope Grandad learned his lesson.

Owyn had great fun with the slide. He would grab my hands and pull me over to it. I would help him walk up the slide. He would slide down face first, braking with his shoes. When he got to the bottom he would realize that he would have to put a hand in the dirt to get up. He would put one hand down, grimace in disgust, pull it up and put the other one down to push up. At that point, of course, he had two muddy hands. He would come back to me and start the whole thing over. I think he was at it for an hour.

All of the kids played well together but they are not yet at the point where we can let them go and just enjoy adult company. The dream lives. Some day.

Speech Therapy

Owyn started speech therapy today. He gets six months of it through the school district. After that they will evaluate him and see if he needs more. They think that he will be all caught up by then and he will not.

Owyn has had ear infections pretty much his whole life. He has probably been suffering hearing loss the whole time too. Now that he has tubes in his ears they are hoping the speech therapy will get him caught up to where he should be.

The lady, Miss Vicky, will come to our house once a week for an hour each time. Today the little monster would not participate at all. We used the time to get to know each other and figure out how we want to go forward. Towards the end Owyn was playing a little bit and trying some words and sounds.

Miss Vicky comes at 1630. Owyn is tired and grumpy then, so we will have to hope for the best.

Post surgery blues

Rhys is not healing very fast. It has now been a week since his surgery. We had him in day care yesterday but he was hurting too much and they can't give him the good pain killers. We have taken him out for the next two days. Hopefully he will be ready for prime time by Thursday. Fortunately Nana has been willing to come down and watch him. We are very grateful to Nana.

Owyn is doing much better than his brother. He has not had pain killers today and is doing fine. He is his normal self. He is still sleeping more than usual, but other than that he is back to normal.

Rhys has not be sleeping very well. He has woken up every night, crying. We dose him when he does and he gets back to sleep, but it would be great if he could sleep through the night again. He gets very whiny when his six hours is nearly over.

I wish I could take his pain for him. He is very brave but it is a lot to put on him.

Landscaping

We worked on the yard this weekend. Back breaking labor. We got weed cloth and mulch put in all around the garden. It looks great.

We also got the grass pulled up around one tree and cloth and mulch down there as well. We are hoping that the tree will do better if it is not competing with the grass for water. It worked for our neighbors at any rate.

We started on mulch around our pine trees. We ran out of cloth and mulch, but what we got done looks good. I'll get pictures taken when the rain stops.

Rhys helped the whole time. He is a very had little worker. He carried mulch and helped dig up grass. He even pulled clay off the bottom of the sod and put it back in the holes. He is feeling better, but not well.