with all the craziness of Jovie’s Autism and now Rett Syndrome journey, I must admit that I wasn’t ready to face possible challenges that Jasper might have. sounds a bit slack, doesn’t it? yeah i think that too.
a couple of months ago, i sorted myself out enough to find a speech therapist for Jasper. his speech, at 4 and a half, is still unclear to others, he repeats himself alot to get a sentence out and there were just a few other things that I wanted to check on before he heads to kindergarten next year.
he’s been diagnosed with a mild language and speech delay, and is working hard every day to improve his skills. our homework for this fortnight is practicing ‘in front’, ‘behind’ and ‘next to’. and we’re still trying to keep his tongue back in his mouth, so he doesn’t lisp as much when he speaks.
i still wonder how much of it is ‘just Jasper’, how much of it is ‘normal’ and how much isn’t. whether having a non-verbal sister has effected his development, whether he’ll just grow out of it. i still have a referral for Jasper to see Jovie’s developmental paediatrician, because there’s a tiny part in me that wants to be cautious. but there’s another part of me that says that he just needs time and support.
so maybe i’m right and he’ll be fine, or maybe i’m wrong and will be called into the principal’s office next year. but i think he’s doing the best he can, so i’ll keep doing what we’re doing because it’s all for him, and we can’t forget that.
it’s been a tough month but i’m ready to get back into our regular routine!
i didn’t mention it before, but Regan has been away for the last month – he flew back to visit his family in the States at the end of June and returned safely to us yesterday morning
it was a trip that we’d been planning for a while, Regan hadn’t been back in 5 years (the last time he was over was when I was pregnant with Jasper) and as strange as it sounds, I was looking forward to taking care of the kids & the house on my own – just to know that i could do it.
of course we know that all went to poop on about day 3 when I came down with the flu, which turned into pneumonia, and has ended in this week-long all body rash & itch. the kids and I ended up staying at my parents house for about 2 weeks, because I was just not able to look after Jovie while she was sick also. so the whole month has been a right off for me, but i’m very very happy that Regan had a chance to get home and see his family 🙂
Jasper is so excited to have his daddy back home, and I can tell that Jovie is happy to see his handsome face again too. she’s been very upset over the last few days (Rett related stuff..), so it’s really good to have our family together at home.
today, i’m sorting out my photoshop issues (hasn’t been working.. grr) and getting back to blogging and organising some things for Jovie (speech therapist, new wheelchair/stroller, communication systems). if anything, this last month has opened up how i think about where my life is going – stripping it back has been clarifying for me, but i’ll write about that soon …
July hasn’t been very kind to me.
first it was the flu, then pneumonia quickly followed. today, it’s an allergic reaction to something we can’t figure out. i didn’t want to post this on instagram… but have to show you how gross it is.
and this was after taking an antihistamine. it started with ‘oh my face is so itchy’ at 3am, checking it to see basically nothing so i thought i just had dry skin, and then asking my dad if my neck was red at about 8am. he saw welts. red raised blotchy welts. it’s all over my face, chest, forearms, behind my knees and on the top of my back, and is ITCHY AS CAN BE.
it’s not something i ate, it might be the bed i was sleeping in at mum’s, i haven’t had anything new.
luckily, i had my pneumonia checkup at the dr this morning! lung is doing good as expected, check up again in a month (hooray, no twice-weekly checkups for me!) and no more antibiotics. but he prescribed me 3 days of steroids for this rash.
i’m happy that it hasn’t closed my airways, because that has happened to me before (scary). it’s just made me into a walking proactiv commercial for a little while.
i don’t know what is going on with my body & i know things could be worse, but i’m ready for a break from all the poking and prodding …. please.
after consulting twitter & dr google (i know, i know), it looks like a penicillin allergy rash! will have to keep an eye on this one… it’s still itchy but i’m otherwise ok & will stop googling this stuff
