Yeah, yeah, I know, I've been like the apostatized blogger with how long it's been between this post and my last. I shall make my "I'm really not that pathetic" pathetic amends with this post.
There've been a lot of people doing this 30 days of Thanksgiving thing on Facebook, using each day to jot down and share what they're thankful for. I've been naughty and haven't updated on Facebook in forever either, so I'm doing 'em here. In no particular order that has anything to do with its level of importance to me (yeah, this is pretty much just a brain-vomit), my "Thankful for" 's. They may or may not have an explanation attached:
~ Family
~ Friends (both here at home and abroad)
~ Modern medicine (and, thanks to said modern medicine, pain meds)
~ My Nugget
~ The way the human brain works in perfect harmony with its body's needs. Caden will be 2 in 3 weeks. His spoken vocab at this point is probably no greater than about 10 words. If even that many. Why? Because of his birth. From Day 1 with him, the almost entire majority of focus in treatment for him was centered on the physical; his hands, his feet, his limbs, his joints, fine motor, gross motor, everything motor, all trying to get his little tight body to loosen up, straighten out, just work properly. Babies and toddlers cannot multitask cognitively. If they're trying to master, say, talking, then chances are their gross motor skills - crawling or standing or walking - will take the back seat. With all the emphasis being on the body, this was what my Nugget's little brain zeroed in on, so it was speech that got stuffed into the broom closet so he could focus, undistracted, on moving. His therapists say that this is the reason he is walking without help, walking at all. Now that he has that down pat, his speech is starting to develop because his little brain can bring it out of the cellar and dust it off. We're in so much trouble. He's going to be rattling off the Declaration in a few weeks.
~ Sign language. With his speech delayed because of what's noted in the paragraph above, I've still been able to communicate with my monster because of sign language. He's been able to tell me when he wants to eat, when he's had enough, when he wants more, what he wants to drink (milk, juice or water), when he wants his bath, and 'say' things like Mommy and Daddy and Grandma and Sessie (Aunt Steph), cracker, cereal, book, train (so he can watch Thomas), signing (so he can watch his Signing Time videos), and so much more. Frustration (and thus tantrums) is virtually nonexistent because communication is still possible. All of his needs can be met when they need to be, with me understanding what he needs/wants when he tells me and he can tell me. All of my adult life I've worked with the disabled, and the vast majority of that was with the deaf. Now I know why.
~ Our new house (which I still need to post the decorated pictures of...)
~ A husband that works so hard to give me and Nugget what we need
~ A close ward
~ Technology that keeps me close to loved ones not nearby
~ Lots and lots of blankets
~ Hot chocolate!!!
~ Specialist doctors. I cannot imagine what Caden's quality of life would be like right now if it weren't for doctors like Ponseti who were inspired enough (and in tune enough with that inspiration) to develop the treatments they did. He'd have had goodness knows how many major surgeries by now, all of which would have been painful and would result in even more restricted mobility later in life, if not for the simple method of casting and with those castings moving the foot into proper place.
~ Therapists. Not going to name names, but they know who they are. To give of their time to come to my home and use their talents to help my Nugget a day 2, 3, sometimes 4 weeks out of the month almost swamps me with gratitude I'll never be able to adequately, or fully, express.
~ Knowledge of the gospel
~ Date nights (when we get them)
~ My sense of humor
~ Being able to keep said sense of humor during crappy times
~ Snow (*gasp* I know. But Caden'll actually be able to really experience it this year, and I'm way excited)
~ Clean water
~ A healthy son
~ Stuff to make him feel better for the times he's not so healthy
~ My skills in writing
~ My lack of skills in winter sports (with how much my body, 'specially the hands, hates cold, I can't imagine biffing it into snow from skis and calling it 'fun')
I really could just keep going. It's amazing how the stuff just starts flowing once you think about life from minute to minute, about what you do or have in those minutes from day to day.
I know I don't have any pictures to go with this update (is that even legal in the blogging world?), so I promise to put some up with the next post. Hopefully some of Halloween, and the house with, y'know, stuff actually in it. Which'll probably be....not tonight. Seeing as it's 2 in the morning, I'm going to hobble my way to bed and crash. Which leaves me with a very big 'thankful for':
~ Look, a bed! *claps hands once and dives on*
