If Not For Your Grace

I found this simple but very lovely worship song at my friend’s blog. Truly, where would I be if not for HIS grace. HIS amazing, amazing grace.

You can get details and lyrics of the song here.

Have a blessed Sunday.

Freaky Mommy

Yes that’s me, freaky mommy. I may be an “in tune” mommy but I’m also a freaky mommy. It’s been so evident of late. On Monday we had to bring Hubby-jr for a CT Scan to determine if his hearing loss is due to EVA (Enlarged Vestibular Aqueducts).

(Flashback to week before…)
CT SCAN! ENLARGED VESTIBULAR AQUEDUCTS! Hearing those words was enough to freak me somewhat when I was told the week before. But that wasn’t all… “they” (the establishment!) would have to sedate Hubby-jr for the scan as he’d have to lie perfectly still during the “procedure”. (Lying still would be impossible for my 4-yr old… meanwhile my freaky measurement rises…) First “they” would try oral sedative but if it failed (i.e. he’s not knocked out!) they’ll have to insert a stronger dose (think its anesthesia) through an intravenous line (IV). IV! Freaky meter reached dangerous levels! Beep! Beep!! Beep!!! Only prayer brought the levels down.

(Back to Monday…)
Stepping into the hospital and “checking in” to Day Surgery Center made my knees shake (I don’t take to hospitals very well). Tried my best to stay normal for my son, thankfully hubby was also there. When we were told they’d have to insert the IV thingy into Hubby-jr’s hand, I asked hubby to go with him. I had to sit it out. I KNEW he would SCREAM throughout and he did. I froze when I heard his screams from out of the room. Yes, it totally freaked me out. Totally.

He came out all shaken and in tears hugging tightly to daddy who was lying with him in bed. I hugged him and comforted him as best I could. My poor son. Next was to wait for him to fall asleep. The nurses started pushing him to the radiology section while my son looked just like a frightened rabbit wondering what would be happening next. I was by his side holding his hand. They pushed him to a corner supposedly to let him fall asleep but in just a minute or so they pushed him to another corner and minutes later, another!

That’s when all my freakiness disappeared and the mama bear in me took over. I FIRMLY told the nurses, “Stop moving him around. He’s frightened. Let him settle down first PLEASE! Otherwise he’s not going to fall asleep!” We were finally left alone … just then another nurse pops up and suggested moving him to another spot! (Can you believe it?!) I just SHOOSHED her and waved her away. No one is coming near my son until he sleeps! NO ONE!

Sleep he finally did. They completed the CT Scan in a jiffy and without any glitches (he didn’t stir halfway so they didn’t have to insert any extra sedative or whatever!). I heaved a huge sigh of relief. An hour later he wakes up and I was dancing (in my head and toes). After that the specialist came and told us Hubby-jr doesn’t have EVA and I was giddy! Praise God! I won’t have to stop my active son from jumping, swinging, etc. Hallelujah!

So, they can’t determine the cause of Hubby-jr’s mild hearing loss in his right ear but they’ll be monitoring his hearing every month. Meantime hubby and I decided that we will start him on formal speech therapy sessions and see how that goes. If his progress is less than acceptable then we’ll arrange for him to wear a hearing aid.

Phew… I’m so glad the hospital check ends there. I could do with being less freaky and more in tune!

WFMW - How I Got My Son To Feed Himself

I know it’s not quite the example that’ll make it to best practices for parenting, but I’m still proud (not to mention glad!) to have finally gotten my four year old to feed himself dinner within 35 minutes! Yes! And he eats everything in his plate including VEGETABLES without fuss! Woo Hoo!

(for the time-challenged skip the rest and read “Success!!!”)

Initial Non-success… 

My initial wonderful, perfect parenting plan was to get him to feed himself for all his meals before his baby sister came (he was 2 then). But it wasn’t as easy as anticipated. I found pieces of vegetables on the floor… my silly boy would sneak the “v” pieces in his finger and discreetly “let them go” without realising that mommy would spot them strewn all over the floor below! He would also take forever just to complete a meal.

As I was pregnant, suffered three months of morning sickness and hormonal you can imagine it almost always end up with me yelling. So I half gave up. He’d feed himself lunch and halfway when I couldn’t take it anymore, I’d end up feeding him. And I’d feed him dinner. It was just so much easier. I thought to myself, I’d give it another go later…

Later it was… a year and MORE to be exact! Talk about procrastination, eh? Well when baby sister arrived last year, it was such a huge adjustment for him and me that I put it off completely for the entire year and it became a bad habit (for him and mommy)! So when things settled in more this year and his tantrums subsided drastically I decided to try again (God forbid that I should still be feeding him when he reaches 5! And I’ve to set an example for his little sister).

Some success…

As he just learnt some basic time telling skills, I told him that he had to complete his dinner by 8pm (he starts at about 7pm) and if he complete it by 7.30pm he’d get to eat some potato chips (his favourite snack). The first day he ate reaaally slowly, past 7.30pm and at 7.45pm he was still plodding along. I had planned to just use the “carrot” without the “stick” to motivate him but at 7.50pm I was losing my patience and I said, if you don’t finish by 8 o’clock in 10 minutes time, you’ll have to go to your naughty corner! Lo and behold he chomped down whatever remaining food in 5 minutes!

Success!!!

Still I wasn’t satisfied with this so called “success”. Then I remembered the timer idea. I bought one that looked somewhat like a clock, explained it to Hubby-jr and set it at 35 minutes and put it in front of him. If he finished his meal before it rang, he’d get his chips, otherwise no. And if he didn’t complete his meal by 8pm he’d have to go sit in his naughty corner. It worked! It’s been a week and he’s been finishing his meals before 35 mins! He feels a sense of accomplishment and is very happy to get his chips! Me? I can’t tell you how happy I am to not have to feed him anymore!

So using a timer and a carrot-stick approach worked for me! For other ideas head over to Rocks In My Dryer.

Hmmm…

Plotting to overthrow mommy…

Mei-mei (little sister in Mandarin) I’m thinking…

That sounds like a plan but…

Hearing Loss - Confirmed.

An update. Yes it’s confirmed, Hubby-jr has mild hearing loss in his right ear. We went for his second test yesterday. He will now have to go through some checks by an pediatric ENT to try and determine its cause. After which he’d probably be fitted with a hearing aid on his right ear.

Well having grieved openly about it, I’m feeling much better about the whole thing, 95% of me is okay. The other 5% is unsure of what to expect next… not looking forward to having more checks and probably formal speech therapy sessions. But as hubby says, Just Trust God. Worrying is NOT going to help.

I’m also feeling much better these few days because Hubby-jr has shown small but significant improvements in his speech. Just working with him at snippets of time throughout the day is paying off and is a huge encouragement for me. It is true then, what a speech therapist told me, the few minutes we spend each day stimulating his speech goes a longer way than the one-hour per week speech therapy sessions.   

This has impressed and reminded me of the significant impact we have on our children’s lives. So stay home mommies, take heart. What we do, does make a difference.  

Can you read this?

I found this through a friend at Facebook and was absolutely amazed that I could read it. Can you?

fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too.Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs forwrad it.

Totally weird huh?

Wordless Wednesday

This is a mime performed by my hubby (yes, my very own other half!) to the song - So You Would Come

The song can be found on the CD - All Things Are Possible: Live Worship From Hillsongs Australia.

Click here for more Wordless Wednesday.

Backward WFMW - Speech Therapy@Home

Since I’ve a speech delayed four year old I’ve been doing some DIY speech therapy at home. So far I’ve worked on some ideas given to me by a speech therapist and my own thought up ones and I’m sharing some of these ideas here today.

In, On, Under

Introduce the concepts of “in”, “on” and “under” using a huge box. Put your kid into the box and say, “You are in the box”. Flip it over and let him sit on top of the box for “on” and cover him with the box for “under”. After you’ve introduced the concepts, ask your kid to go “in” the box and see if he knows how to climb in. Besides giving him the task as you direct, also ask him questions. For example, place him under the box and ask him where he is. Intersperse between giving him directions and asking him where he is.

I was also told a good focus was to teach the basic What, Who, Where, Why and How questions. Knowing these would empower a child tremendously in communicating.

What, Who, Whose

First start with “What” as it is the easiest to grasp. Ask your child “what” questions at every opportunity. Storybooks are a good way to introduce the difference between “what” and “who”. Point to a person and ask, “Who is this?” and then point to the shoes or shirt and ask “What is this?” 

A game I innovated on the spot while playing with my kids was the telescope game. Looking through a long cardboard tube (hey, it’s a telescope!) I wave it around and stop to focus on my son and ask, “Who is this?” Then I move on to things for “what” questions. I also introduced “whose” (ambitious huh?) by focusing on his lips, ears, etc. Actually he found it very fun to stick his mouth at the other end of the tube and that’s when I started asking, “What is this?” and followed by “Whose mouth is this?” You’ll have to provide the correct answers in the beginning if your child hasn’t grasp the concept yet. After a while they will, then you can prompt them to reply.

But folks I’m running out of ideas and have not had any luck locating specific ideas over the internet. So for this week’s backward WFMW I would like to know of any interesting simple play ideas for DIY speech therapy at home. Any activities you know that can help stimulate speech for a four year old would be helpful.

Useful websites I found so far:

I Can – Talking Point (A UK based First Stop for Information About Communication Development and Disability)

Starfall.com (Great website that teaches children how to read. It has helped Hubby-jr pick up phonics and reading words.)

Resources I found reviewed on the internet but am having problems finding in Singapore:
Teach Me How To Say It Right by Dorothy P. Dougherty
Baby Babble - Speech Enhancing DVD for Babies and Toddlers 

(If you’ve read or seen any of these let me know what you think of them. I’d like to know before ordering them on Amazon.com)

Thanks in advance to those of you who’ll be sharing your ideas with me. Don’t forget to check out the burning questions of other moms and see if you can provide them with some insights over at this week’s Backward WFMW at Rocks In My Dryer.

Please Don’t Grow

Yesterday I stared at the empty playpen, where my 18 month Little Missy sleeps, for a good five minutes. A tinge of sadness swept over me. Soon, yes very soon, I’ll be packing it up for good. In a matter of months Little Missy will move to a bed…

You see, my little baby girl can’t wait to grow up.

I on the other hand wish that time would slow down… and let me have her as a ”baby” at home for as long as… I dunno? Forever maybe? (grin)

I don’t plan to have another kid. IF things go as I plan, she’s my last baby… and oh sweetie, please don’t grow up too quickly.