Quieting Down, Chillaxin and About 9 Other Things

Everyone seems to be experiencing New England weather as of late.  It was 17 degrees this morning and the snow was still covering many roads.  As school was canceled yesterday and Josh was out of town, I set out to shovel snow while Nate and LJ created a snow slide in the backyard.  Then yesterday afternoon, Anna the Great came to my rescue and took LJ and Nate sledding (my fave part of the below video, is Anna apologizing for almost bulldozing another kid walking back up to the top! That and LJ's happy laugh.).  The kids had a ball.  This morning schools had a delayed opening. Short week for the boys as Monday and Tuesday were off as well.


LJ and Anna Sledding_Woodstock from Jenn S on Vimeo.

Like every other challenge in life, your circumstances become your reality.  And you just deal.  It's honestly been so long since our little accessibility project started, we forgot what it was like to not have plastic sheeting hanging everywhere and hammers going to work.  We also forgot what it was like to not have LJ sleeping in the guest room with one of us (but usually Josh was delegated to the task).  But I'm happy to report that things have quieted down and LJ is digging his own bed again.  We're pretty much all done with the exception of stuff on the punch list.  LJ also can rock the automatic door opener for his ramp entrance.  Your child's independence is one of the most beautiful things.

We've been working on LJ's IEP Meeting, his Re-Evaluation Meeting for "reevaluating whether our child is still a child with a disability who is in need of special education and or related services" (insert here: protocol and just going through the motions. Though I get why its there) and touring different neighborhood schools' Kindergarten classes for LJ next year.

I had a long meeting today with LJ's wonderful school speech therapist and teacher. We conferenced in an augmentative communications expert who is helping us order an Accent 1,000 through Lew's insurance.  It is basically like an iPad but more durable and sophisticated.  We ruled out the Dynavox and eye scanning systems through separate trials earlier in the year.  We hope that the Accent will provide the most success through building on language acquisition via a motor planning method (think muscle memory here but with icons and words).  Theoretically, it will go with Lew Bug wherever he goes and as he grows older and travels around his school and community setting, having it mounted right onto his power chair for ease of access (between his wheelchair and the communication device, he's get up costs about the same as a small car).

On Tuesday, January 28th, LJ will have surgery to replace bilateral ear tubes.  He'll be having an Auditory Brain Stem Response (ABR) at the same time since he'll be under anesthesia.  The last one was here.  Don't think there is hearing loss, but we've never caught a clear picture of whether there is any.  So this will be good to have some closure.

That's it for now.  Trying not to be overwhelmed by it all....For now.  I'll just flip upside down to change perspective.  Thank you to my yoga practice.

Photo of me Taken by Red Portrait