Non-Update

I have a great deal to say but don't have the heart to say it all. We've had another 5-day hospital stay, critical dehydration, a trip to the metabolic geneticist, lots and lots of labwork and tests. No real answers.

That, my friends, is why you haven't heard from me. Samuel's poor body just doesn't function properly! Poor, poor little baby boy!

Timothy's Homeschooling

We homeschool Timothy. It's probably not perfect, but we do the best we can under these circumstances.

The first thing that we remember is that learning takes place everywhere. When we have to take Samuel to doctor's appointments (which is extremely often) we always look at the charts of the human body and identify organs. We sign geography songs in the car. We talk a lot about moral choices. And that's okay with us.

When we're home, we try to keep as much structure as possible. Timothy has a responsibility chart he does in the morning that instructs him to make his bed, brush his teeth, etc. After that, we do center time. Right now, he spends ten minutes at each center. We haven't unpacked all our boxes yet so we're missing some of our educational "stuff" -- this week he's done:

1. Literacy Center - Match magnetic letters to letters we write on the dry-erase easel
2. Math Center - Do patterning mats to work on color/shape patterns
3. Block Center - Build & Create with blocks
4. Science Center - Do a scientific experiement (with mommy & daddy)
5. Art Center - Do an art project (like painting a rock, playing with Play-Doh)
6. PE Center - Play either wii fit or Nickelodeon fit for exercise

Timothy does really well with the structure of the centers and they're easy enough to get ready each day! In addition, he still has 6 more lessons of the Preschool II from Time for Learning.

While Timothy does his centers, Samuel normally takes a nap. If he's not napping, we can sit him down in from of the TV with a bowl of ice and he'll be happy. That child loves his ice, especially since they've taken him off of all food. We are so thankful that we have an icemaker hooked up to our fridge!!

After center time, David normally takes the kids outside. He pulls them in a wagon. They walk around and explore. They generally have a great time.

We plan on starting My Father's World again after Spring Break....maybe. Our lives are so complicated right now that we're not sure we need to add anything else in. We want Timothy to have the best education possible, but he's learning even if we're not sitting down to work on vowel sounds.

Musing on Samuel

Samuel was a miserable baby. I tried to tell you guys....and I tried to tell my doctor. It was awful. Trying to get him to nurse was like trying to rope a runaway bull. Samuel would flail his head all around, absolutely refusing to latch. In the beginning, especially, when he lost so much weight and I had to use a lactation consultant and even she couldn't get him to really nurse that well...he was really awful.

I don't think that Samuel's hospital confinement and antibiotics caused all of the problems he's having now. It might have made it worse, but I'm 100% sure there was something wrong with Samuel from birth. How unfortunate it is that we had to wait a full year before we found answers for him.

Anyway, Samuel's still sick. We're waiting on the appointment with the metabolic geneticist. I can tolerate his constant unhappiness better now that I'm looking at him as a "sick kid." He really is a cutie.