Dyspraxia Awareness

This week is National Dyspraxia Awareness Week and I couldn't let it go by without adding something here on our family blog, because it is a part of our lives, like it or not.

We don't talk about dyspraxia alot. In fact, I don't even know if Evan knows what the word means, or its meaning in relation to his life. This is not to say that Evan doesn't know he is different, or that we don't recognize his struggles. Its just that we have never formally labeled his disability for him. I guess I felt that giving it a name didn't make things harder or easier in his life.

The fact is, no one really talks about dyspraxia alot. Its known as the "hidden disorder" because most children go undiagnosed and struggle their whole early childhood with the disability. Evan nearly went undiagnosed as well. We had multiple evaluations and consultations done before we finally pinpointed (with the help of a neurologist) dyspraxia at 5 years old.

It astounds me now that it took 5 years to diagnose Evan because when I read the 12 early childhood signs of dyspraxia Evan had nearly all of them (irritable and difficult to comfort from birth, feeding difficulties, milk allergies, colic, sleeping difficulties, delayed motor development, no crawling, toilet training delays, avoidance of constructional toys like jigsaws).

But what amazes me the most is that after a proper diagnosis, the effect proper treatment had! Evan has come so far in just a year's time, with hard work, dedication and his ever present perseverance, as well as some FABULOUS therapists and service providers. Evan has effectively made up YEARS of lost motor skills, muscle tone and balance in just under a year's time! He has built up his self esteem (low self worth is a huge issue that dyspraxics deal with in life due to daily struggles), confidence and motor skills. Its amazing the transformation he has experienced.

Im extremely hopeful for his future and that is something I could not have said a year ago. I am grateful for our wonderful neurologist who pointed us in the correct direction by diagnosing Evan properly. I wish for all parents of children with undiagnosed dyspraxia enlightenment so that they can pursue a path of therapy and treatment for their children.

You can find out more about dyspraxia here: http://www.dyspraxiausa.org/

Misc. Fun in Photos

Justin's fabulous birthday cake - Angry Birds theme. Made by my awesome mom. She should be in business!!!
Nathan knows just what Halloween candy is all about. While trick or treating he was snacking the entire time.My cute ninjas. Can ninjas be called cute?! Well, they are :)
The cousins all ready for trick or treating. Not pictured here: one cute monkey still getting ready.

Trick or Treat by Nathan

I bribed Nathan with some candy corn today to get him to say Trick or Treat for the camera, because its so darn cute.

Everything is Fine Except for a Few Library Fines

My little crazies!!! Preparing before the storm, three sets of jackets, pants, boots, gloves, hats...oh my.
Nathan's new snowsuit, thanks to my mom!!! So cute and fits him perfectly.
They boys hanging out together. They are so sweet, they really do love spending time together and are best friends.
A Halloween party at my friend Amy's house. Nathan in his kangaroo costume in the yard. I love this picture of him bending over to pick up a bat with his tail in the air.
Eating an apple at the Halloween party. The upside to food allergies during the holidays is that Nathan eats very healthy in comparison to his peers :)
In the yard. G and the boys rolled this giant snowball. It was taller than Nathan!!!!
A downed tree in our culdesac.
Our road was never plowed on Sunday. The boys were sledding on it!!!
Hot cocoa. Something you would never think you would serve in October.
Justin was hot? He is nearly always undressed these days. It must be a boy thing :)
Nathan feeding himself cereal with milk! He is getting so good with his spoon!!!
Happy Halloween!!!
Baking with no oven, in small batches in the toaster oven :)

Out for dinner for Justin's birthday. Nathan ate jelly as an appetizer. Right out of the plastic container.
The big boys had pizza. Yum.
Happy 8th birthday Justin!!!!

Hello Out There!!!! Its good to be among those with power, Internet, cable and phones once again. We survived the Halloween storm and thankfully had very little damage to our yard, none to our house. Our generator gave us heat and some electric capabilities while we were without power for over 4 days, which was great! The boys missed three days of school, which they were delighted about, and G missed two days of work. I racked up a total of $6 in library fines (three DVDs overdue by two days each) which Im sure the library is going to waive in light of the fact that the whole town had no power during the due dates.

We actually managed to sneak in some fun despite the fact that Halloween was cancelled and the roads were impassible for a day or so. Justin celebrated his eight birthday in the midst of all the craziness. We took him out to probably one of the only restaurants in town with power, luckily it also happens to be his favorite! And we had cake and presents for him. Im a planner so all this was done well in advance of the storm luckily. The boys had a blast playing in all the snow. We got over 18 inches of it all told. We had 3 play dates with friends who were also stuck home with no school because of no power. We made cookies in very, very small batches in our little toaster oven, made shrinky dinks, did crafts, played with alot of toys we havent used in a long time, read, played family games and enjoyed eachother's company without alot of distractions!

And tomorrow its back to the routine....

Fabulous News All Around

This week was quite an amazing week in our house. First and foremost, Evan graduated from physical therapy this week! We suspected this was going to be the case, but, I didnt want to blow the surprise just in case. A couple weeks ago his physical therapist had indicated that Evan had met all his goals we set a year ago when we first started therapy. He was at or above Kindergarten level for all his gross motor skills! She suggested we take a week off and come back to make sure that Evan was maintaining his skill level without therapy during the week. And sure enough, we came back on Tuesday and Evan was doing just as fabulous. Our physical therapist is confident that Evan has built up enough muscle mass and acquired enough balance skills to see him through! We could not be more pleased with this news!!!! Evan is such a hard worker. He has patience and determination and never quits. This is evident in how far he has come in such a relatively short time period. Physical therapy was HARD for Evan. It was an hour workout every week where he would be sweating and exhausted at the end. Of course our therapist made it so much fun for him, but, still it wasn't easy. He is very proud of himself to say the least, and so he should be. I was absolutely beaming when I heard the news. Evan has already decided that he wants to take karate now that he is done with therapy and we have a free morning! I havent signed him up yet, but, I feel like my strong, coordinated boy deserves a shot at something he loves!!!

Secondly, this week we confirmed that Nathan is no longer allergic to milk! A month back now Nathan accidentally ate something that had milk in it. And he had no reaction. But, the milk content was so low that I just wasnt sure. Then over the past couple weeks we have been introducing things like yogurt, which is a "safer" milk product. Or things containing cheese. And yesterday I gave him straight cheese with no issues at all. All that is left is to give him milk in a cup. This makes cooking/eating/shopping for food so much easier for our family. Now all we have left is to outgrow the egg and nuts allergies!!! Fingers crossed.

Nathan's Two Year Pictures and the Boys' Fall Photos

We haven't been to get the boys' pictures done in 11 months! I once would not let a single holiday escape without a trip to the picture studio. However, with three boys its really, really hard to manage a photo shoot. I always feel bad for the photographer because not a single one of the boys likes to get their picture taken. At all. Today G and I went together to the studio and the boys were very cooperative (a little bribery never hurt anyone) and we managed to get a few decent shots!!! Happy Fall!!!

Photo Dump

The week's random photos:

At the park with Nathan, Justin and Evan. Nathan insisted on bringing sock monkey who got to swing too!
Playing hide and seek. What could be cuter than a group of 5 year olds playing hide and seek together?!
This is "brotherly love" at the park.
After the park there was the farm. Evan was clearly very tired and decided the pumpkins made a good place to rest.
Justin with the pumpkins.
Nathan wanted to lift ALL the pumpkins and got mad when he could not lift the larger ones, I tried explaining that only ants carry more than their body weight but he wasn't listening.
At the farm with our friends and their two boys Tyler and Brayden.
Nathan on the hay maze at the farm. He was really proud of himself.
Nathan ADORED the goats.
He could not and would not do anything but feed those goats once he saw them. It was true love.
At a playdate at a friend's house, tracing eachother on the driveway.
Afterwards it looked like a crime scene with all the little bodies outlined around the driveway.
Running around in our friend's yard.

Nathan tried really hard to blow bubbles, but, he still needs to perfect his technique.I love this picture of Nathan contemplating the bubbles.
At our favorite library, isnt it so beautiful in there?
Wondering what this beautiful flower is? From our yard.
Evan playing football in the yard.
Nathan and Evan playing football together in the yard. Please ignore the mess in the background while we finish our shed project.
Blueberry bushes! For my birthday my parents bought me 12 blueberry bushes for our yard!!!! We replaced some of the flowers and bushes near the fence with the blueberry bushes in hopes of having a huge crop in the coming few years!!! YUM.
A newly rediscovered toy, a hotwheels track. It took Nathan watching us show him how it worked ONCE to mater the technique.
My crazy boys.