In Bright's World...

At his b-day party (turned 6 on 10-4-11) Bright opened a card. I asked him to read it to us. The look he made cracked us all up!

Our little guy Bright lost one of his front teeth on Sunday! [This is his 3rd tooth to loose, and he's just at 6 years.] He already has a big gappy smile, so losing that front tooth gives him a HUGE empty space on top of his mouth. Is he not so cute? Since Bright really has no concept of money, the Tooth Fairy brings him candy. [The irony is not lost on me!] He was so excited to find a Tootsie Roll Pop under his pillow!

We continue our quest to figure out exactly what is going on with little man (socially, emotionally, academically, etc.). Monday was a big day for him. He went through 2 hours of in-home testing. I'm not sure exactly what they tested him for, but I know it included cognitive and behavioral stuff. I'm hoping to get the results in the next few weeks.

I won the SUPER MOMMY award by totally forgetting about the appointment! As I was rolling out of bed the door bell rings. Since I was up I yelled down for the kids to answer it. They did, and the guy started walking in. Taevy was like, "Excuse me! Why are you here?!" "I'm here to test Bright." Oh crap! I threw on yesterday's clothes, ran my fingers through my bed-hed hair, and ran downstairs. The guy was super nice. Of course the first thing he needed to do (after driving 2 hours to get here) was go to the bathroom. "Um...just a minute." I ran in and picked up the pieces of toilet paper the dog had chewed, flushed the toilet that hadn't been flushed, and prayed that he wouldn't lift up the seat and see what was under there! The sink was adorned with half-dried toothpaste spits and plenty of little hairs (hair cuts on Sunday). Nice. I *think* I grabbed my bra and panties off the entry way table before he saw them. Oh well. This is real life!

After the testing the evaluator couldn't give me any results. Lots of grading to do. He did mention that he thinks Bright could quite possibly have PTSD from all he's been through, but that it's very hard to diagnose in children. He also said that we should have him tested for apraxia. He thinks that could possibly be what's behind his very odd speech.

There are moments with Bright (sometimes hours) that I feel like my heart could just burst I love him so much! I will seriously catch myself smiling for no particular reason, listening to him play or watching him "read" a book. There are other times that I want to duck and crawl away because his stress causes me to go outside of my own window of tolerance. I don't want to scream at him because I know it's not his fault, but I DO want to scream at him because he's driving me crazy! LOL! Thank goodness that those blissful moments are there to carry us through. He's a GOOD kid that has had BAD stuff happen to him. What a survivor he is. How blessed we are to be given the opportunity to parent such a survivor!

Love,

Anita