Monday, November 17, 2008

Looking Ahead


Again I've been tempted to erase some of my comments from my last blog, however I feel that its important to document the intense feelings that come with being a parent in general, not just he parent of a special needs child.

Lately I worry about Manny's low muscle tone more than anything, and spend a lot of time researching. Again, I am not very hopeful that he will not end up requiring some sort of early intervention. I have my eyes peeled.

This weekend we had some very special guests. A lady that I have been friends with for 3 years, but only online and through yahoo IM. We had not even talked on the phone until last week. Jake and I picked them up at the airport and he had a grand time there. She brought her youngest daughter with her, who is close to Jake's age and they had a heckuva time together. He asked about her tonight because he went to school and did not get to say goodbye. After I explained that she had gone he said and signed, "Bye bye, Lauren friend airport." It is the first time I've seen him sign "friend."

Today Jake's notebook from school said:

"Jake talked a lot today. He used more than one complete sentence "I don't want to do puzzles." [smile face] He really seems to enjoy school. I would keep trying to get him into St. Marks- if not this year, next year. He would love it."

I am hoping that this means that Jake's teachers are seeing Jake as having potential to perform in a more "typical" preschool environment. I met a few of his classmates at the fair fieldtrip and did notice that there were many children who seemed to have more severe disabilities than Jake seems to have. Bless the children that I met who are going to have a harder go at it, but I can't help but hope that this little note means that Jake might be "graduating" a bit from special education. He would still be able to receive speech therapy and we would continue Occupational Therapy as long as needed. Or.. maybe I'm reading too much into this little note :-)

Anyhow, I'm looking forward, and the future looks bright.