David has been seeing a behavioralist for a few weeks now, thanks to Cherry Creek School District and the State of Colorado. He's made progress in leaps and bounds!
Over the course of the month, David has begun to do more than just point and grunt - he is starting to communicate, which is exciting! Abby (his behavioralist) has been working on simple signs, such as "more" - he has done that one to me a few times this weekend.
Words Sarah has heard from him this week:
yes
please
outside
We'll add more if there are any others Sarah can think of. We'll try to make quick blurbs going forward to keep track of his progress.
I just wanted to add to what Sarah has been saying about all the help the kids have been the past number of days. David has tried to be a helper too!
A couple days ago, our little man toddled over to the couch, got Sarah's dinner bowl and fork, walked them over to the sink, reached way up and pushed them into the sink! Unfortunately, I don't have a picture or video, since I had no idea what he was about to do - I thought he was just stealing her bowl. :)
Anytime he sees one of us loading the dryer, he scurries over to help. The other day, he actually came over and helped me load the washer - he stood in the laundry basket and handed me clothes one at a time. Took a while, but was much more fun! I have a video of David helping load the dryer:
Today, right about 5pm, David decided he was going to feed the dogs. It was uncanny - as 5pm is their usual dinner time, yet none of us had yet mentioned it. I could be wrong, but I don't think our 15 month old knows how to tell time! :) -- He came into the living room where I was working, and grabbed both dog bowls. Then he walked over to the laundry room to get some dog food - Sarah had one of the other kids help fill the bowls. Then, David came back to the living room with two bowls full of food and made the dogs sit (at least I think so - he had his pacifier in his mouth!). As a reward, he helped himself to some of Peanut's food.
This evening, I spent a while roto-tilling another area in our yard to plant grass. David came up a couple of times and held onto the handle, as if to help me. He looked up and smiled, with a very proud look on his face.
Sarah and I talked about it today - we cannot believe what a big boy our David is already! He certainly has a personality unlike any of the other kids. The way he nods his head or even his whole body when he
"approves" of something we do for him is a crack-up! I will try to get it on video one day soon.
I want to start off by saying thank you to those that have been there for us the past 6 days. It has been an exhausting week, and we really appreciate all of the prayers and help we have received.
Day 6 has been all about sleeping. I don't think I have been this tired since the night of surgery. Last night was a hard night filled with pain, so neither Paul nor I got much sleep. Paul had to take the day off from work because he has been so exhausted from wearing so many hats. I am so happy he took the day off because I was no help at all today with the kids. I have been asleep more than awake today. I was so out of it that the kids didn't wake me up, even though they were playing right next to me. I still haven't made the transition upstairs, and my bed is the couch.
For those that are wondering, the recovery time is usually 4-6 weeks. But can be 8 weeks. I can't drive for 2 weeks and won't be able to lift more than 5-10 lbs for 4-6 weeks. Even though my surgery was laparoscopic I had major surgery and if I do too much too soon I can tear the stitches that are inside of me. I had everything removed except for my left ovary and both tubes. I guess the recovery is similar to a c-section. I have never had a c-section before. After childbirth I am usually up and back to taking care of things in a matter of days. The most help I ever had with having a baby was when my mom was here and I had Elizabeth. I am pretty much use to being on my own and just having the support of Paul. I am not use to having so many restrictions on what I can and cannot do. There is not a whole lot that I am allowed to do besides sit on the couch. I thought it would be hard to be restricted from doing things, but the pain and exhaustion makes it very easy to follow the dr's orders.
I am grateful to have found a website/discussion board for women going through what I am right now. I have a group of ladies that I check-in with each day that all had their surgeries the same week as me. It is great to go through this with other women and have support from people that are experiencing this at the same time as me. I can also ask question of women that are further along in their recovery than me. I have also read stories from women that ended back in the hospital having surgery from tearing things inside from doing too much too soon. That is a major reason why I am taking things slow.
Tomorrow will be my first day outside. I plan to walk Elizabeth to the curb in front of our house to get Elizabeth on the school bus.
Now for some fun info!!! Since I began sleeping on the couch, David has begun waking me up in the morning when he and Paul come downstairs. David comes right over to the couch and wakes me up by opening my glasses and sticking them on my head. He has done this every single day. Paul finally recorded David in action this morning after David's morning nap. It is too cute.
Ethan has been learning how to play songs on his recorder at school. They are doing a program his music teacher calls recorder karate. Paul has a video of Ethan playing Mary had a Little Lamb. He really enjoys leaning to play, and he is dedicated to practicing. At the beginning of the school year, Ethan begged to join band, I think we will have to figure out how to put it into the schedule this next year. I don't know how it will work with swimming, but we will make it happen somehow.
After all of this writing I think it is time to spend some snuggle time with the kiddos before bedtime. Ethan should be home any moment from practicing with the Jacks swim group!!
I completly forgot that I wanted to brag about Elizabeth this evening. She surprised me today with wanting to help with so much!! The boys were not interested in helping mom out tonight while Paul gave David a bath, but Elizabeth did. She has done so much today. She brought me diapers and wipes when I needed to change David, but that is normal stuff. Elizabeth helped clean up dishes around the house to go into the dish washer tonight. She even went upstairs to check for sippy cups. Then she cleaned up all of David's toy messes in both the play room and the family room.
Elizabeth cleaning the bathroom mirror
She made the play room look spotless and put the little chairs where they belonged. I praised her so much she just beamed with joy. Elizabeth also helped with David a lot this evening and asked her daddy several times how she could help him. So, besides earning an extra $1.50 in her allowance today,she got a glass of milk and some Oreos before bed. The boys were not happy to see that, but neither one of them helped when asked today. I am so proud of my little girl!!
Today was so much better than yesterday!!! Praise the Lord because I needed a good day after all that happened yesterday. Paul has kept me on a pretty strict schedule for the medication so that has helped tremendously. I slept a lot better last night, and skipped coffee so my body was much happier. Paul has been a huge help even though he is trying to work from home. Oh, and David took 2 naps today!! So other than making dinner tonight, I pretty much sat on the couch. Before anyone freaks out, I sat at the kitchen table while preparing everything to be cooked, and Paul was gone when I did it. If he had been home I would have been in trouble. So, while I helped Ethan with homework I made mini hamburgers and deviled eggs with a salad.
David and I played a lot today so that was fun. He enjoys bringing me items to put on my head. He then laughs as they fall off. We looked at some books, and snuggled on the couch. Ethan snuggled up to me for awhile while he played a wii game. This was a treat, as my 8 year old is too old for snuggle time with mom. I got to watch Isaac and Elizabeth play wii for awhile too today. Elizabeth and I also worked on writing her numbers.
It was a good day. I didn't take but one 20 minute nap all day and felt just fine.
I can't believe I don't have cabin fever yet!! I have spent a lot of time thinking about all of the things I want to do with the kids when I am all healed up! After being in so much pain, I look forward to a summer filled with lots of fun. I hope tomorrow is another good day. It would be nice to sit outside a bit and watch the kids play if the weather is nice.
