Jason's Friend Paula

Paula came to the house to visit with us about Jason. I brought her up to speed about seeing the new Therapist, and what his thoughts are. We had a good talk about starting over from square one. He hasn't wanted to wear his hearing aid for the last few days. I can't tell you how many times I've put the thing back together. So far he hasn't broken it so that's good.

I am a bit teary eyed, because Paula seems to be really upset by this turn of events. It's hard to deal with, especially when other people see the same things I do. Especially when you really don't want to admit that you see them. The speech therapist that visited us last week called Paula to get more background detail on him. She wanted to know if there had been any signs of more going on. Paula was concerned she missed something. Which of course she didn't miss anything that I know of.

She's so sweet, she loves my baby boy. It's amazing how many people love my kids. It's amazing to me how much people want to help my family.

Next week there will be an army at my house to assess my baby and see what he's doing. Paula's going to do all the research that is possible to find out what we need to do to help my boy. She'll be going to Africa in a few weeks so we'll be seeing her every week for a while and then she will be checking in on us through email, my blog, and phone calls.

The other important thing we are going to have to do is start going on dates! Brett and I haven't done much "dating" since we had Duncan. We are going to have to also learn to take care of us and our relationship. This is a stressful time, we need to grow closer not farther apart.

I love my family so much! I am grateful for the support they provide, for our friends, and for people who don't even know us but still want to help my family.

Jason's friend Paula

Jason's friend Paula came to our house yesterday. I almost missed her because for some reason I had decided she was coming at 7:00 and not 6:00. We started discusing the Aural/Oral method of communication that will probably be how Jason communicates, eventually. Since he has the unilateral hearing loss he will speak, someday.

She is so accommodating with my family, she's sweet! I'll explain.

My Dad has been so sweet and concerned about my boy since our trip to Yellowstone/Jackson Hole/Bear Lake. That was really our first experience with my Parents alone. Since my family is so close nit we are always together, which for Jason can be a bad thing. He gets overwhelmed with all 5 of our families, and the noise that is created. My sweet parents of course don't deal with this whirlwind on a daily basis, so trying to explain what Jason needs has proved a little bit on the complex side.

My cousin on my Dad's side was adopted from Columbia when he was a baby and proved to have some communication problems. My Aunt and Uncle went through some of the same things that we have been going through with Jason, so my Dad ask Lorraine about his concerns.

So he voiced what he had learned from Lorraine, which by the way isn't much different then what I've been trying to tell him all along. (smile) So I invited them to the session last night with Paula. She is awesome!! She answered their questions, calmed their concerns, and told them how they could help him.

Basically Jason just needs some one on one time. If my folks want to get closer to the little monkey they need to be ALONE with him. I know, this could prove scary considering the liettle booger's track record. But he sat on Papa's lap, and sang songs with Grandma, while Paula was at my house. It was really encouraging.

So we'll see what happens. He is my sweet little baby boy. He makes me smile. I love him for who he is, his sweet personality, and most of the time his energetic ways.