It's been a long time!! ~ Some Random Thoughts

I was thinking about this blog today, and when I logged, it I noticed that it had been over 18 months since my last post!!! Life has been crazy!

First of all I'll update about Garrett. He started kindergarten this fall. He has an IEP because he is still behind in pretty much everything. One thing I have noticed though is that he loves to learn, and right now, he is right on track with what a kindergartener should know. I don't know how he will do when they start learning sight words, but he knows a lot more than I would have guessed he would know by this age considering his disabilities.

Garrett now needs glasses because he is near-sighted, and that is ever so fun to work with him on. He hates wearing the glasses!!! I have accomplished 30 seconds at a time before he rips them off his face! I can tell he notices a difference when he has them on, but he doesn't like them. He has never liked wearing sunglasses, so I'm not surprised about this.

Garrett's little brother, Rylan, has been good for Garrett. We didn't have Rylan to help Garrett, but it has been a nice bonus that Garrett looks up to him and wants to do what Rylan does. It has been the best therapy so far! :-) I don't make Rylan do things to help Garrett. I just let them play together. I think Rylan knows Garrett is different, but he's not old enough to really understand what all is going on.

And now news about our family...I am soon to be divorced. It looks like my last blog entry was just before things turned bitter. Their dad just isn't a family man, and I got tired of it. He wanted to live the single life, and he hung out with the college crowd. It got old and obnoxious. I asked him to leave in April 2007. I tried to work things out. He didn't. It has been a long year of trying to get the divorce finalized. He stalled it several times. It's a really long story. I'll leave it at this: I am much happier without him in my life. We did not have a marriage from the point I got pregnant with Garrett. He couldn't ever come to terms with having a family it seemed. It wasn't always bad, but overall, my life is better without worrying about where he is, who he is with, and what he is doing. I am now dating a wonderful guy that does want to be a family and respects and appreciates me.

The boys have done well with all of the changes in their lives. I had to go back to work full-time and put them in daycare. That was really difficult for me. I really miss them! I also had to cut out all of the extra therapy we were doing. I only have 2 hours a night after work and before bed with them, and I didn't want to spend an hour of that each evening at therapy. I wanted to be able to enjoy my time with the boys instead. Garrett has continued to make progress even without the extra therapy. It helps that he was in therapy for 4 years and that I knew a lot of things to do with him anyway.

I think I've said this before, but Garrett's hypotonia isn't really all that concerning to me anymore. He can do most gross motor things a 5 year old can do, but he's just a bit slower. He can't jump with both feet or stand very well on one foot, but he can get around really well without help. That is HUGE!!!!! I don't really worry about the things he can't do yet because he has come so far. I really don't care that he can't jump rope or stand on one foot very well. I know other 5 year olds that don't have any disabilities that can't do those things. What I do worry about is his cognitive abilities. I hope he will continue to impress me with what he can learn. He seems to learn things more quickly than he used to, so we'll see.

I'm really happy with where Garrett is right now in terms of the progress he has made. There were times when I wondered if he would ever walk or talk. The talking still needs work, but it's coming along. He'll get there. At least I feel like he understands everything I'm saying now. He can follow through on 2 or 3 step commands. That is also HUGE!!!!

Garrett still needs to be potty trained. Ugh! That is frustrating. He seems like he is almost ready, but he can't seem to physically control it. Maybe he can and he is just being stubborn. I give it a good try for about 2 weeks every 6 months. I thought we had it this last time, but it was me that was trained, not him. I did get Rylan potty trained right before his 3rd birthday. I was hoping Garrett would want to do it do, but no such luck. There are just so many people I need to get on board with it now...daycare, kindergarten, and dad. I need a time when I can really focus on him for a few days. I think that next opportunity will be over Thanksgiving. I'll have 4 days in a row off from work, and my family is only an hour away, so we won't have any crazy travel plans. I'll try it and see what happens.

That's my update for now!