hings here are finally starting to settle down a bit.

Firstly, we decided that we aren’t moving for another year. We just want to have more time to find the perfect home to buy, and that was proving to be more difficult than we thought.

Secondly, we are starting to make some improvement with baby A. Quite some time ago his pediatrician recommended we get him some speech therapy because he just hasn’t been talking much. At his speech evaluation they recommended an occupational therapy evaluation also, because they thought he may have sensory integration dysfunction. After that the pediatrician also recommended we get him tested for autism. Our autism test has gotten pushed back until the end of April, but we have done all of the other things. The good news is that I really don’t think he is autistic. The reason his doctor wants us to check is because speech disorders (they think he has receptive and expressive language disorders - I don’t think he has any trouble receptively though) well the speech problems and sensory problems are a big part of autism, although he doesn’t seem to have any social impairment which is the defining factor in an autism diagnosis. Getting too medical for ya? Well, I must explain what sensory integration dysfunction is also.

Your senses are like a scale, if you get too much with one you don’t get enough with some others. My son A is very visual. Because he is constantly processing so much visual information his body is lacking in what he gets through touch, or just how his body responds to his movements. Basically, when we would start to run for example our body would feel that pressure and exercise. His body has a hard time feeling that, so he continually is in motion, always trying to push himself further so that his body gets the stimulation it needs. With occupational therapy his body will start to get what it needs (through lots of rough and busy active play). Already I have seen that once we get his body satisfied with movement etc. he clams down so much and is able to pay more attention to books, toys, and speech. It’s funny that it’s such a cascading effect, because he is so visual, his body feels less, which constantly keeps him searching for stimulation for his body, which keeps him from being able to focus on things like speech.

So, I am hoping with this therapy, and working with him on speech, and helping him to do the right activities to get his body on track, all his problems should work themselves out. I do hope we can improve very soon. I would love for him to not have to deal with this once he gets into school. Finding the right school for him will also be more difficult.

So much to say. Have you ever seen a dust cloud or a sandstorm? Here in Georgia this week I have seen clouds of pollen blowing across the landscape. Before living here I had no idea that there were places in this country where you were warned not to go outside if you have allergies, or worse warned not to leave home when the city pollution is so bad that you have smog warnings. Thank goodness we kind of live in the country anyway.

Soon I will be getting back to normal here. There are SO many things I have been wanting to post, so many photos and videos to show everyone. I will be updating my websites also in the next few weeks and get my photography back on track. Anyway, I apologize for the downtime and hopefully it won’t continue much longer.

Hey, I almost forgot - it was just our 4 year anniversary!

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Just three of the many faces of our trip to the zoo. Click the thumbnails to enlarge. Oh, and that is popcorn he is eating, stale zoo concession popcorn.

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Actual size | 1 year, 11 months, 1 week and 4 days old

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n unfortunate resemblance to a semi-daily event in my home (unfortunate that it happens so often, and that for me - not me exactly, but my son A - that it involves a different bodily substance, a smelly smelly substance - “People Order Our Patties”, A quote from SpongeBob SquarePants)

dooce: I resolve to eat more leafy green chocolate
“In classic Armstrong fashion our new year began when we walked into Leta’s room yesterday morning to find that she had decorated her body with puke during the night. Red twizzler puke. With chunks of refried beans and a glaze of Sprite. A festive quiche of holiday vomit. It was in her ears, in her hair, up her nose, wrapped around each knuckle, lodged in the zipper of her pajamas. Her right hand had been covered in puke so long that when I finally washed it off, her fingers were so swollen with wrinkles that she couldn’t even wiggle them. They were frozen in place. Stuck. Five little rigid reminders of what can happen when someone lets a toddler go to bed with gum in her mouth.”

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What it looks like to fall asleep in a highchair.

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