Explosion of Words

 It's been so long since I've done an update on Jake. 

Life has been a whirlwind of activity. It always is, especially when he has six hours of ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis). 

We're fighting insurance, and have been for months now.  Despite the fact that ABA is clinically proven to be effective for those with Down syndrome, insurance only wants to pay for those who have Autism. But six hours per day of ABA would mean nearly $2000/week in fees without insurance. 

Our doctor has given a diagnosis that insurance has said qualifies him for ABA, but they still won't pay for it.  It's been months and we're still fighting them. I'm not going to lie. I'm beginning to sweat. Any moment, I can get a phone call from our ABA provider cutting us off. 

I've tried to get a second opinion, and they're 18 months out for appointments. 

I have only one more person we can call.  We actually made an appointment with them four months ago, but they changed their registration proceedures and took us off the appointment list. So now we're starting all over again. 

Add COVID to the mix, and everything is getting done at a snail's pace. It's brutal. 

But do you know what isn't brutal? 

Jacob's recent explosion of words. 

Yes, so many new words!

Words like 'thank you' used to be signed by blowing a kiss. Now he says, 'dank you.'

Today, as we watched Abominable before bed, I heard words like "home" and "Buddah" "fish" "baby" "water" "whoop" "snake" and a few other words. He's actively using and practicing words. And he delights in seeing my reaction to each new word. 

Plus, he's beginning to see the power of words; telling me what he wants to watch rather than being forced to choose between two movies of my liking. Counting, and asking for ten more minutes before going to bed, or asking to play with his big brother. Asking for (chicken) "nuggets" when he's hungry, or a "smooth"(ie) if he wants something different. 

Last week, my husband and I went on vacation alone for the first time since Jake was born. Jake didn't like it. Our adult son was watching Jake and his sister for the week, and said that several times, Jake would come to him and sign simultaneously while saying, "you, me, drive, mom, dad, now." He wanted Nathan to drive him to get us from wherever we were. Right NOW. 

When I came home late Monday night, Jake was already asleep in bed. In his usual fasion, he stirred late in the evening, so I crawled into bed, and put my arm over him. He rolled over, opened his eyes, and looked up at me. A grin washed over his face and he said, "Ahh, Mamma." Then he wrapped his arms around my neck and hugged me until he fell back asleep. 

Life is good. 

Speech, when we hear it, is amazing. 

It's hard to believe Jake is no longer a child. He's an eleven year-old man-child with meaty hands, and mischevious grin.  And I love him to death!

Kindergarten? Already?? Where Has Time Gone?

How can it possibly be a year since my last post?  I know life has been crazy busy around here, but seriously?  I sit here scratching my head wondering where time has flitted off to and I'm ashamed.  So many wonderful stories I could of shared, but I haven't.  So, let me glaze over some of the highlights of the past 12 months. 

Speech:  Jacob is making progress.  Not as quickly as I'd like, of course, but there is progress.  He's beginning to say words like bunny, ball, bubbles, peaches, there is it, this, dad, juice, etc.  He is attempting to say prayers at night, and speech has progressed from learning sounds, to emphasizing words.  Do Jake and I have conversations? No.  But I can see marked improvements since last year, and I'm happy with them.

Physical Therapy:  Jacob has spent months in the pool with Craig, our physical therapist.  Not necessarily because Jake needs to learn how to swim (although he does), but because he is so incredibly strong, that the water is the only place that Jake doesn't feel comfortable. Craig needed Jake to learn to trust him and follow instructions before he could teach him anything. After several months in the pool, Jake has finally graduated to "dry land" and is now learning how to follow instructions rather than flopping on the ground and trying to overpower us.   Jake has calmed considerably in the last several months.  And, although he isn't perfect, I don't have to worry about him running into traffic any more either.  This summer was the first summer I didn't have to follow around behind him in the backyard for fear he'd try to climb the fence and run for the streets.  Thank goodness!  He is finally beginning to calm down and be a boy who follows instructions...about 30% of the time now. 

Our family has been on many adventures to places like the park, Yellowstone, go-carting, and other stuff.  

 We were sure Yellowstone would involve lots of running after Jake, or making him wear some sort of harness or leash, but he was perfectly happy holding someone's hands, or on our shoulders discovering with the rest of us.  It was in-cred-i-ble!!!

Is he perfect? Nope.  There are still days when he flops.  Okay, he flops just about every day.  But it's not all day, every day.  Now it's once or twice a day.

His personality is beginning to blossom too.  He loves to laugh, and play, and discover.  His  brain is always absorbing and learning; processing.  One of the most enlightening things I experienced as a mom was when I let him run free with the hose.  I never knew something so simple as a hose with running water would be so remarkable to Jake, but he played with it for hours.  Not just filling the kiddie tub, but spraying the dirt, and seeing the cause & effect of the water stream, and how changing the flow of water changed what happened to the dirt, or  how hard the water was when it left the hose.  He discovered how to make mud, made puddles in the grass and jumped, and how pouring water into the air conditioning fan made all the water fling back up into the air like rain droplets.

Bubbles were a big thing this year too.  He's mastered the wand, how to adjust this blows to make big bubbles and small bubbles. Catching them on the wand, etc. Bubbles are one of his favorite things to do. Oh, how I love to watch him learn and grow. And to be a little boy.

He LOVES his big brother, and spends as much time as he can with him.  They play a hunting video game and Jake helps him find the Moose, or Nate adds a hunting dog to the game that runs around on screen while they're walking and Jake loves to watch the dog and point at him.

I love watching Nathan signing to Jake during church, or wrestling with him on the living room floor, or even when he falls asleep next to him at bedtime.

These boys make my heart swell!  I am one lucky mama.

Jacob has changed so much over the last year.  Much too much to describe in one blog.  But I can tell you this much:  Kindergarten will be the year of CHANGE.