Monday, August 14, 2006

Lots Of Thoughts

Yesterday was the four year anniversary of my mother's death. I had a cramp in my heart the whole day. Four years. Seems like forever, and yesterday, at the same time. My son Phoenix said to me, "I'm the lucky one, because I knew her for two whole years!". Yes, my son, you were the lucky one indeed. Keegan knew her for only three months of his life, and Ty, not at all.

We went to the cemetery to visit her grave, and I did my little update monologue and shed many tears. The kids came and gave me a hug, and gave their updates too. Pretty sweet. Ty was fascinated by all of the markers, and decided that it was a great green space to run around in. We also took the opportunity to visit my grandparents, who were recently interred together in a wall niche. My grandmother passed away in 1991 and my grandfather in 2004, and you might think that I had my grieving process well in hand. But seeing their names together; it made it suddenly real. I was surprised at the rush of tears that came. I looked at my husband and just whispered, "Oh my God, it still hurts!"

Keegan came and took my hand, and looked at the plaque and said, "Look Mommy. It says Thomas!" I think he was quite impressed that GG and his favourite train share the same name.

*********************************************************************************

We arrived home on Friday evening from a week at the cottage. The kids were great. Phoenix is now swimming like a little fish, and all three of the boys would have been quite content to stay in the water all day long. Keegs was not impressed whenever I would tell him it was time to get out. Can you say, "TANTRUM!!!"? The weather for the most part was fantastic. The last two days were a bit cool, but it made for great sleeping. Bugs were virtually non-existant. We didn't get any bites until Thursday, when I took the boys blueberry picking in a forested area. But even so, only 2 or three bites each.

We met a lot of nice families and there were plenty of kids for our guys to play with. We took a day and went with another family to Santa's Village, where it's Christmas all summer long. Weird to walk around in tank tops and shorts and listen to Jingle Bells at the same time. I went on 4 or 5 rides with the kids, and they got to ride on the train. Oh, and see Santa and the wife too, which was neat. Having said all of that, I now say, been there, done that. It was great for the kids but very expensive. It was over $80 for us just to get in and that was with Ty being free! Jeepers. Thank goodness we brought our own food to eat, or we would have had to take out a loan to cover the costs!

It's nice to be back home though, and I will be glad to get Keegan back to his school routine. It seems that all that he learned at his summer camp has leaked out his ears. Major behavioural issues, I tell you! Well, as with everything Keegan, one step forward, two steps back.

******************************************************************************
Took Keegan to the pediatrician today for a check-up. Regarding his development, she seems to think that Keegan may have Asperger's Syndrome, which, in layman's terms, is like saying one has a touch of autism.

From what I understand, it is characterized by lack of social skills, or rather, inappropriate social skills. Like when someone says, "How are you, Keegan?" and he responds inappropriately, "Thomas is blue." Kids like this are often obsessed with a particular thing, like cars or trains or parts of objects.

Kids with Asperger's are usually extremely bright. This has nothing to do with intelligence, and actually, many who are diagnosed as such are gifted in certain areas. As adults, they may be geniuses in their chosen fields of work, but may be seen as eccentric, because of their lack of social skills.

To make a long story short, he seems to meet a lot of the critera, and she is recommending him to a developmental pediatrican for testing. The wait list is, yeah, two years long. However, she said that once a positive diagnosis is made, it makes additional resources available to him that wouldn't be there otherwise, like having a full-time EA (educational assistant) at school, if required.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate these freaking waiting lists! Anyway, gotta help with the potty run. Feel free to leave comments. I love to hear from ya!

PS Happy belated birthdays to cousins Hailey and Rachel, and their mom Lori, and to Sophie and Brynn.

No comments: