Thankful Thursday -- Jefferson

The last two weeks, I've been very aware of just how special Jefferson is.



Last week, we were doing some pretty intensive potty-training sessions, and, at times, I was about to lose my mind. In just one morning, he wet 5 times on the kitchen floor and had one bm on the kitchen floor as well. Nothing in the potty seat! Ahhhhhhhhh! We've taken a little more relaxed approach for this past week.

When I was cooking for him last week and bringing him his food, he grinned at me, and I was overwhelmed by love. He is a lot of work, but he is such a blessing to us as well. I was reminded of what happened a little over a year ago.

I was eating a banana and offering him some of it. He took too big a bite and it became lodged in his throat. After turning him upside down and beating him and then trying to reach my fingers down to pull it up (not a good idea), I screamed for Ryan, who was working from home that day, to get downstairs. He did the heimlich on Jefferson, and it was just enough to dislodge the banana and allow him to swallow it. During that time though, Jefferson had turned blue, his eyes were wide with terror, before rolling back into his head, and he had blood all over his mouth, probably due to my digging in his throat. It's still hard for me to write this and remember it.

With all his disorders/developmental struggles, he struggles with chewing and swallowing. It's not that he can't, it's that he needs to exercise his tongue and jaw more than others and it's not easy for him, so he just swallows food whole. So we get a lot of choking and gagging. Every time he chokes or gags, my heart speeds up and jumps in my throat and I start yelling, "Chew it up, Jefferson. Chew!" Most of the time he will.


This past Tuesday however, he had put so much chicken in his mouth, that he couldn't chew. And, apparently, he doesn't know how to spit it out either. I tried that. Finally I reached in to start pulling out the chicken in front, and then he started throwing it up. He choked, gagged and coughed for about the next 10 minutes, trying to clear his airways. I sat in the rocking chair, holding him and crying -- again.

He is a joy. He is lively and happy. He loves people. He loves his siblings, and he loves his mom and dad. He loves talking on the phone (even though nobody knows what he's saying). Cooking for him is often worse than cooking for the rest of our family, and I cook almost entirely from scratch, so that's saying a lot. But none of us can imagine life without him.


So for this week, I'm so thankful that the Lord has given us Jefferson. He is truly a special gift from God.

Update on the Family

I'm so sorry that I haven't posted this week at all. It's been a busy one! We had our last day of VBS on Tuesday. Our church does it one day a week for an entire month. It's worked out better for us that way. I was in charge of teaching the Bible lessons which were a particular challenge in that I wasn't using a canned curriculum. I needed to prepare them -- from scratch! That is always a situation in which I am stretched as I feel quite inept. I enjoy the teaching but not the preparation. The Lord helped me through it and the children seem to have retained quite a bit, so I praise the Lord for that. That Tuesday, Evelyn was sick though, so she and Jefferson were unable to stay for the water party afterward. James stayed with a friend, and we picked him up later that night. He had a blast!

I started Jefferson on green beans again on Wednesday. So far so good -- I think. We had 7 dirty diapers in a 24-hour period from Friday to Saturday. His little behind started getting quite raw, and I was a little nervous since we had had an issue about two weeks ago that took me awhile to clear up. But he seems to be okay now, and I'm not ready to attribute the bowel issues to the green beans -- yet. We'll have to see how it continues to go! He's starting not to like the chicken. Honestly, I can't blame him. His diet is still so limited at this point, but he has to eat it. I'm going to look into turkey options for this week. He turned his nose up at turkey several months ago, so I haven't given it to him since, but maybe he's ready for another change.

He also enjoyed his therapy session on Thursday, and I did too -- amazingly enough! I now have hope that his therapy may accomplish the intended goal of encouraging him to speak. Along those lines, he continued saying "Mama" and "Bapa" for Grandma and Grandpa, but he added "Roro" for Nana. We all laugh because we don't know where he got it, but it's either "Bapa" and "Roro" for Papa and Nana, "Bapa" and "Mama" for Grandpa and Grandma, or "Dada" and "Mama" for Daddy and Mommy. He's also getting a little better at saying water. I think it's finally sounding like "wawa". Ahhhhh, progress!

I was supposed to have my homeschool supplies ordered by this weekend, but that did not happen. I'm not even sure it's going to happen by this weekend, but hopefully by the beginning of next week. Once I order, I'll let you all know my big plans for the school year, but I'm too methodical in this process, so it may still be awhile!

I'll quit for now. I'll try to update more frequently with shorter posts this coming week. :-) We have doctor's appointments on Monday and Tuesday and therapy on Wednesday, and Ryan and Evelyn leave for SC on Friday. Busy, busy, busy!

Jefferson

Just thought I'd include a picture of the little guy with the health problems. Audrey (my sister) bought the shirt and vest for him at The Children's Place outlet for $1.99 each! I thought he looked absolutely adorable for Sunday church that I snapped a picture. These are definitely his colors!

Thanks, Aunt Audrey!

Jefferson Update

Well, we started green beans on Saturday and...the jury's still out. Yesterday, after breakfast, Jefferson's lower face and forehead was completely broken out in hives. The same things happened after lunch and then dinner. With the breakfast incident, I thought it was my fault. You see, Evelyn dropped her milk glass and it shattered, spilling the milk inside. I had to clean her up thoroughly. In the meantime, Jefferson finished his breakfast and was making it quite clear that he wanted to get down! So...as soon as I finished wiping up the spill, I rinsed my hands, grabbed his washcloth to wash him up and got him down. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to THOROUGHLY wash my hands with soap. I only gave them a quick rinse, and Jefferson is HIGHLY allergic to dairy. So, I figured the hives were my fault because he had come into contact topically with them. Why then did he break out after lunch and dinner?

This morning, I gave him green beans. He still broke out. So, for lunch, I did not give him any. He was still broken out after lunch but less so. So...the jury's still out. See what I mean?

On a more positive note, he started saying "Grandpa" this morning. I think he's also saying "Grandma". It just happens to be "Mama"! Grandpa seems to be more of a "Bapa", but he often says "Mama" with it. He did it all while pretending to talk on the phone. I would ask him if it was Grandpa, and he would nod vigorously. When he said "Mama", I asked if it was Grandma, and he said, "Ohhhhhhhhhh" in his "Oh, I see" voice!

Always happy for little improvements! He has his first speech/feeding therapy on Thursday. I'll try to update everyone!

Jefferson Update

I'm going to start keeping up with my blog a little more since people have been asking about our family and often about Jefferson. I'm not going to go into his history here, but as I write about him, I'm sure that details will come out such that you'll soon be able to piece the entire story together.

Along those lines, I cooked his chicken today. I have to cook an entire chicken about every other day. Most weeks that means that I cook 3-4 chickens! I either roast them or cook them overnight in the crock-pot. If I cook them in the crock-pot, I don't bother making broth because the chicken falls apart. Also, I have more chicken broth than you could probably imagine in my freezer. :-)

Today, as I "stripped the chicken" (my description of my frequent activity), I became rather discouraged. This is the same bowl I use most times, but, usually, the chicken almost overflows the bowl. Sometimes, I even have to get a second container. Not so this time. In other words, Saturday night, I'll be cooking more chicken. :-(


Today, I still have to bake some squash for him and steam cubed zucchini. He's been getting better at eating asparagus and mushrooms. In fact, often he'll eat those before the meat! He really prefers his vegetables over his meat. I guess that's good -- just more cooking!

I'll start him on green beans tomorrow. They were listed as a sensitivity on his blood work. So, I will need to keep a closer eye on his physical condition. I'm excited though to add in more green veggies!

Here's a video of Jefferson saying his newest words, "Dada" and "Mama". Especially since he's about 1 year behind on saying these words, they are very precious to us.