IEP Meeting

Ok, so last week Dawson had his evaluations with the city school system for special education services since he will be turning 3 next Sat and Early Intervention stops when the child turns 3. We actually had to leave him alone with the evaluator for over an hour. Yes, drop him off with a stranger and leave....she got the deer in the headlights look from us, not expecting to leave him and then the but he has behavior issues and what if he has a seizure, yada yada yada. So we left him, hesitantly, but he did great. Did not fuss or cry or act out at all. Just played and cooperated and was a sweet boy.

Wednesday was the IEP (Individualized Education Program) meeting. Jeff was unable to get off work so I had to go alone...bummer! I sit down and when we get started, she slides over the comprehensive report sheet and starts explaining what the numbers mean and it sinks in and BAM hits me hard... Dawson is officially labeled as Developmentally Delayed...I start crying right there. I knew this, I knew he was delayed, I knew he is not like the other 3 year olds out there, intellectually I knew this...but emotionally, in my heart, I was somehow unprepared, it broke my heart..is still breaking my heart, I am crying right now as I type this. I can't talk about it without crying (David and Jenny, this is why I didn't mention it Thurs.), I can't even think about it without tears streaming down my face. I am not in a good place with this yet. After I pulled myself together, we continued on and, long story short, he will start out by going 3 days a week for 1 hour and 30 min each day. We can go back and change the plan and add or take away as needed. So, this is great in that he will be able to receive help and hopefully catch up. He is doing better on what almost seems like a daily basis right now as is, so with the added weekly services he should really bloom.

I don't have any beautiful words on this or some sort of uplifting comment, because I am not there yet emotionally. I am, however, thankful that he will be getting special therapy 3 times weekly...so much better than every other week. He is such a special little boy who deserves so much...

Dawson's 2nd year

Blogger Buddy Award

Deb ( from one of my favorite blogs) has passed the blogger buddy award torch to me. I think the rules are that I am supposed to say 7 things about myself and then pass it on to somebody else.. Its much easier to talk about Dawson, but I am a good sport and will play along.

Debbie, thanks for thinking about me.

1. Im afraid of bats ( there are several night fishing stories that coincide with this)

2. I am an outdoors freak. I would rather be outdoors than anywhere

3. I am very musically inclined and play acoustic guitar as well as piano

4. My wife is 10 years younger than me.

5. Im a huge MMA fan

6. I have a bad track record for picking out pets. ( the ones I have picked out are either extremely dumb or have horrible emotional issues)

7. Two years ago I knocked over our Christmas tree trying to show a 10 year old how to do a cartwheel. ( Allison has yet to forgive me for the ornaments I broke) I guess when your 6'5 and weigh over 200 lbs,doing cartwheels in the house is NOT a god idea.

I am passing this on to Heather. She was actually the first person I got to know on here when I started doing this about two years ago. I have watched her beautiful daughter Zoey grow from a little baby into a beautiful little girl. Her story is amazing and I consider them as part of our extended family. So Heather, your up next.

This week has been a busy week for us. We had a neuro visit in Huntsville, we have started Clobazam, and Dawson has been evaluated this week to see if he qualifies to be in the special needs school in our area.. I will give a full update on all this before the weekend is out.

Hope everybody has a good one and we love you all

Jeff

The Shark

Interesting that Dawson found one of Madison's books that has different animal masks you can put on that coincide with the story line... Even more interesting that he chose the shark mask as his to don... Mind you these pictures were taken several weeks ago but the story line fits with whats been happening around here this weekend.

There is a shark in the house. Teeth sharp and shimmering, sleek and perfectly designed for swift destruction... Quietly swimming in the depths waiting.... lurking... waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And when that strike does happen the surface of our waters violently erupt, over and over until the kill is finished.. Sound a little dramatic??

well maybe just a little... but still...

Yesterday was an awful day for the D man.. He woke with those shark teeth showing and he attacked all day long. There was very little peace around here. He was having these horrible violent outburst. Attacking, attacking, and then would come back for more.. He would snuggle and settle momentarily and then out of nowhere, while cuddling with you, he would attack again. Reaching up and trying to hit and pinch whomever he would happen to be sitting with. Trying to bite things in half... You could just see the frustration. By days end my nerves and wits were completely shot. You can't help but feel badly for him. God only knows whats happening in his seizure riddled brain, scrambled by multiple seizure meds. The chaos that he must feel has to be unbearable to him at times. Yesterday was NOT a good day!!! As always, my prayers last night included prayers for peace for my son. As always, God knows exactly what our limits are, and blessed us with a much better day today. Allison had to work all day and Dawson was chilled and laid back as can be. He spent the day dragging stuff all through the house. Everything he could get his hands on. At one point I tried to pick up the mess but found that he was much faster at scattering stuff than I was at picking it up.. ( I must be getting slower in my older age HA ) Eventually I gave in and just let him be.. The house is a wreck but he had a good time.

Allison had to work today and the minute she walked in the door this evening the shark surfaced again and it was round two until he finally fell asleep just a few minutes ago.

Not sure what were going to do about all this. I know he can't help it. We have tried every form of encouragement, punishment, you name it and we have tried it... Ultimately we do whatever we have to do to help him get through the moment but I gotta tell ya, Im very nervous as to what the future my hold regarding these violent outburst.. I know he is fixing to turn 3 ( can you believe it!!) but what about when he's 5, when hes 9, what about when hes 17??? Will he still have these kind of issues??? Will we be able to " handle " him??? Once again, I know it sounds a little dramatic, but I think about these things because it is possible that this may be our reality regarding him. I think it is SO important during this time for us to continue to focus on the fact that we have zero control..... and God has ALL control. The prescription???

Trust, have faith, and lean hard on him. Repeat as necessary

In the meantime, the littlest angle has started kindergarten. Hard to believe that she is old enough to be going to school. The pics are from her first day last week and she is loving it and having the best time!! Very proud of her.

Thanks for checking in. Continue to pray for us please.

Jeff

Tee Tee NOT in the potty

When your ,not yet potty trained, two year old takes off his diaper and Tee Tees on whats on the second picture.........


Whats showing on the first picture is what you get....

Heading to comcast tomorrow to see if i can ahem.. exchange HD DVR boxes for one that hasn't been whizzed on yet...


Oh Dawson, what are we going to do with you???

Jeff

A Good Day

Today has been one of those remarkably good days. He's been good all day. Seizures have been present but for some reason every once in a while, despite those nasty things, he has a good day in spite of them. Today has been one of those days for him.

Hes been jabbering and talking up a storm. Mommy this and Daddy that. Sissy sissy sissy something or another. Love you's, miss you's and anything else he can think up to talk about. We ventured out this evening to the splash pad and he had a ball playing on the playground there. Yes indeed, its been on of those days. Just a regular day with a happy little boy. Thank you God for that.

We cut a watermelon the other evening and made the mistake of going off and leaving it unattended.. As with most things left unattended around here....... Well you get the picture

So this evening we sit and bask in the wonders of one of those good days with Dawson and pray for many more down the road.