Sunshine & Rain

January 10, 2008

Sunshine & Rain

I took Oliver to the therapist today for an evaluation. Due to his hearing impairment he will likely need speech therapy. We thought it best to have him evaluated at around a year to see what we need to do. We received wonderful news. Thanks to his very early diagnosis (7 weeks old he had his hearing aids), he is only slightly delayed on his speech. The therapist gave me some additional pointers to help him begin to copy speech sounds and said we could come back in about 5-6 months to have another evaluation. She was really pleased with his attention, focus, fine motor skills and sociability. It was wonderful to get some good news.

Update: My grandfather has had a stroke and is in the hospital in Florida. We are still waiting for a prognosis from the doctors. Please continue to pray for him, my Nana, my Dad and the rest of my family. Thanks.

Comments

Mike and Sarah said…

I'm so glad to hear the encouraging news about Oliver. I've said a prayer for your grandpa... I know it must be hard to be away from your family during a time of crisis.

January 10, 2008 at 10:36 PM

Welcome to Holland

By Emily Perl Kingsley

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel. It's like this......When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland.""Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.