A short WHAT?!

Today I took Jed to an appointment to be evaluated by a speech therapist/pathologist. Any of you who know Jed and have talked with him know that certain sounds are hard for him to make, making it difficult to understand sometimes what he's trying to say. This problem has not improved with time. The school system evaluated him last fall but didn't consider him bad enough to want to offer their help. I finally got desperate this spring and sniffed out a speech and rehab center in Nashua. And I am one happy mama tonight to finally have some answers and some hope!

At the end of the nearly two-hour evaluation today the therapist shared her preliminary findings with me. What she found makes so much sense! Apparently Jed has a very weak tongue, making it difficult for him to form certain sounds. He can form his problem sounds if he puts his mind to it, but it takes extra effort. And some words, like calendar, come out ca-ender. This is because his tongue is not strong enough to make some of the rapid sounds that most of us can make. Now her belief is that this is due to a short frenulum. I'll be impressed if any of you know what one of those is! I completed a medical transcription course four years ago and never came across one in my studies. Well, it's that little stringy thing under your tongue that anchors your tongue to the bottom of your mouth. The therapist wants me to take him to his doctor to have it evaluated. If the doctor considers it too short, she'll snip it. Ouch! Once that's done, or that possibility is at least ruled out, the therapist will know better where to begin with his therapy.

Jed has also had difficulty learning to read. Time after time, using different methods, I've hit a brick wall in his mind trying to teach him his letter sounds. In math and other areas he's brilliant, but reading is extremely hard. When I told the therapist, she said there's often a connection between speech problems and literacy problems. Sure enough, another evaluation revealed that he has difficulty with phonological awareness. For instance, she would have him say CAT, then ask him to say CAT without the K sound--AT. He couldn't do it. With about ten words he completely bombed out. Same with other similar tests. His poor little brain just doesn't get it. So apparently this is something they can help him with too. PRAISE THE LORD! I'm not just a bad homeschool mom! There's help and hope!

Pickles and ice cream

When referring to the sometimes odd cravings pregnant women can experience, you often hear about pickles and ice cream. So far I haven't had any bizarre cravings, but last night when we were watching a show, one of the characters was eating a pickle--and suddenly I NEEDED a pickle! The only thing that kept me from jumping into the car was the fact that it takes 15 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store, not to mention it was 9:30 p.m. I managed to squash that longing until this afternoon when I went grocery shopping and grabbed a jar off the shelf of Vlasic dill spears. I had to eat two spears on the way home. Ahhh, happy tummy!

Some of you have kindly asked how I'm feeling. Much better now. For about four weeks I was feeling nauseated almost all day, especially around dinnertime and into the evening. But the worst of it has passed. Tomorrow Baby will be 12 weeks along! One website said the baby is about the size of a fig. The previous week it was a walnut. I'm in that frustrating in-between stage where I'm too big to wear many of my normal clothes but too small to wear many maternity clothes without looking ridiculous. Ah, well, that'll pass soon enough!

If you had dropped in on us at any given time through the day today you would have found Jed riding his new bike or playing with his new toys, Chloe and Tucker running around outside--and me hunched over the dining room table slaving over THIS. Actually, I haven't had this much fun in a long time! When I bought this kit for Jed at his request, I failed to study the package. If I'd known that it came with about 200 unassembled Legos pieces and the youngest age they recommended was age 7, I would have put my foot down. When he opened the box today and asked me to assemble it, displaying four plastic bags full of hundreds of tiny Legos, I groaned. But once I got started I was hooked! The kitchen didn't get cleaned up till nearly 4:30 and the kids had to drag me away anytime they had a need, but it was fun!

Jed's cool new bike and helmet--Daddy rocks!

Happy Narnia fan

Jed's Narnia sword cake...

...complete with Aslan and his right hand centaur, Oreus (sp?).

Happy birthday, Jed!

Jed turned six today! Here he is with his cake. Can you guess what it is?

I think he had a very happy day, which started out by going out for breakfast with Daddy. He played with his new bike, Narnia figurines, army tank, and catapult. We were supposed to go to the park for a picnic but--surprise, surprise--the weather didn't cooperate. At least the rain stopped by mid-morning and the kids were able to play outside. This evening we went to a great restaurant called Bugaboo Creek Steakhouse that has stuffed animals (some real, some fake) all over the walls. Uncle Wesley, Aunt Lindsay, and Miss Amy (Partin) joined us. Good times! Amy gave Jed a disposable camera--a fabulous gift idea! He spent the whole camera at the restaurant capturing pix of animals and our jolly group.

Thus saith the Lord

Dear Chloe has lately become quite attuned to prayer. She loves to pray for her friend Alicia Bright every morning, and last evening as I was fixing dinner she wanted to make sure we prayed before we ate. Well, apparently God has been talking to her too! The other day she informed us that God had talked to her. Wanna know what He said? "Clean your room." We had to laugh, as you can see from this picture how badly in need of cleaning her room is. So far she hasn't taken any steps to heed her Lord's voice, but then she's only three. Cleaning her room is one of the most discouraging exercises in futility imaginable, as it will be just as messy again in two days. Oh, well, eventually she'll be old enough to clean it all herself. At this point all I can do is tell her stuff like, "Put this dress in the hamper; throw this away." It's a start, I guess! Jed was never this messy, so this is a new experience.