Dear Noah:

I have been thinking. Another blessing about your diagnoses is the fact that I doubt you would ever have to be drafted should that ever come up again in the future. I worried about that ....that one day you would perhaps have to serve in a war..etc. No mother wants their kid to end up like that....although some kids SIGN up for it. However...with you I doubt that will be an issue and I am thankful to GOD for that. I could be wrong..but I doubt it. So to me that is a HUGE blessing in disguise! I wonder if you would even have to register? I will have to check it out.

Love you more than ever!

Mommy

Dear Noah:

Snowing and very very cold today. Icy roads...really bad driving conditions. I watched you sleeping last night and you look so much like a little angel. I call you my little "Angel Boy" all the time. You are so sweet and loving.

Today is Friday...."EAT OUT DAY" as it has come to be known in our home. You have chosen CiCi's Pizza. We actually saw a commercial for them on tv last night. I guess we can head there. They do have good pizza.

Not much else happening right now. You have a sore mouth today. Your arm looks a lot better from the blood draw.

Today your cousin Audrey has her tonsils and adenoids? removed. We will have to pray she does well.

Love you to the moon and back again forever and ever and ever!!

Mommy

Dear Noah:

This is an E-mail I sent to all your family one day about your trip to the doctor. Rather than retype things as addressing to you personally I am just going to copy and paste!


Well..we took Noah to the doctor to have his leg checked as he has been complaining about it. He did well for that visit and in fact ran up to the nurse and was hugging all over her and he likes his doctor like that too. SO that went well. They think it is a hamstring pull/sprain but he needs to start some physical therapy now. So they made the referral again for that or added it to his LONG list of things he will need. His muscle tone is so low that it will help to get him to stretch and warm up before going out to ride his bike and things and he needs to do physical therapy to strengthen his muscle tone. LARGE MUSCLES which he has not ever had before. They only worked with him on fine motor skills before or SITTING.

So...since things were going well........we decided to pay a visit down to the lab and see if he could do the blood draw today. He was almost excited about it and ran into the lab when they called us and did well at first. I explained to the woman how the turniquette (sp?) would bother his arm a lot more probably than the needle stick. I asked about the butterfly needle instead of a regular needle. She said they only used butterfly needles for kids...which is good but that also means it takes longer for tubes of blood to be filled up as the blood has to travel through a tiny tiny tube first. Anyway...I looked down and they had EIGHT (yes you read that right) 8 tubes on the table!! I said EIGHT TUBES??? She said well we asked for the smaller/shorter tubes which to be honest did not really look much smaller or narrower than the regular tubes. I could only pray this was going to go well as I figured it would take TOO LONG.

So I was holding him and another lab tech came and helped hold his arm and I think he got more nervous....and then they stuck him and Keith had to come over and he was crying and upset and wanting to move but he sat good for the first 4 tubes or so...then he got antsy and did not want to sit still yelling HELP HELP...and then to Keith " I don't want them to pinch my arm anymore" and on and on. It was probably even more upsetting to US than Noah but he had a very hard time. They have to make sure to get ENOUGH blood in the tubes too as these are genetic tests and they require a certain amount and if they don't get it they have to get more blood (which we would NOT do again). BUT....I guess they are going to run a Fragile X test...a FISH 15 deletion and I am not sure what all else. It was on the other paper we had from the other doctor at the Child Development Clinic but I think they added some more labs to that list. So anyway...................he also had to pee in a cup. At first he was starting to cry and did NOT want anything to do with that either.....but then I told him it was like peeing in a container like he did one time in the bathtub and he was FINE with that and was able to put some urine in the cup in the bathroom for other tests. Thank goodness this was BEFORE the blood draw as he would NEVER have done it afterwards.

Man......we had to take him to the bathroom and get some cool wet wraps to put on his arm. They said he would probably have a bruise as he was moving around so much and making the needle move around too much. I put cool wet cloths on his arm and it looks a lot better now. I always try to do that right away after shots or anything he does to himself or when he gets hurt and it looks pretty good. I think it must be sore the way he acts though. In the bathroom he was crying and said "Mommy I am sorry but I don't ever want to go back to the lab again". I told him it was not his fault and that he did a great job in the lab. I had to get FIRM and practically YELL at him a couple of times but he finally started to calm down. The tears were rolling off his cheeks and I felt so bad about it all and part of me wished I did not have the tests even done. BUT the doctor said it is good to know whether or not he does or does not have other things going on too. SO who knows. Does not really change the outcome any...other than if he had something more specific on top of his current problems I guess they can sometimes treat him differently. Fragile X was something I asked his former pediatrician about a long time ago as he had many of the characteristics of that....though he was not mentally retarded and most with that are to some degree. The FISH 15 deletion test is to see if a chromosome is missing that can sometimes cause different syndromes, mental retardation or hypotonia like he has or perhaps even autism itself. Not sure.

The doctor today told me if they did a scan of Noah's brain it would probably be different than a so-called "normal" brain. Which means he would have been born with his brain different in some parts than we were...which is why he does or does not process some things correctly...etc. WHICH I tend to agree with and believe. There have been many studies that show autistic kids' brains are a bit different in certain areas. Course there have been studies about possible mercury levels and other things contributing to it but he told me they would not run the mercury test as it has not been proven to be too accurate. AND he has had a couple patients go through the chelation process (getting rid of excess mercury in their bodies) only to find out later they are right back where they started from. SO even if autism was caused by mercury overload, autistic kids cannot process or get rid of the extra mercury and are lacking certain things in their bodies to KEEP the mercury from building back up in their bodies. I guess this was from some specific medical journal article he had just read. Sounds interesting....I am not sure how I feel about mercury. I did ask for them to run the test but he said it was very expensive and had not proven to be very effective or accurate so I guess they won't be doing that unless I press the issue. This doctor reminds me of Jeff Daniels? I think that is his name..the actor who played the young doctor on the movie Arachnophobia. I don't think I spelled that right. Anyway...............I asked about some other tests too but in the end I doubt it would make any difference. If the brain is actually developed differently that is something you cannot really change.

The doctor said Noah was a neat kid and I said yes he was but he had his moments. He said well every time he has seen him he is always such a happy/loving child. I said yes he has thankfully always been that way and that of course does NOT usually fit the NORM for an autistic kid. Course I guess in the PUBLIC school setting he was totally different at times. They also did NOT hear the heart murmur on his exam today.

We then left and ran to the bank and the library and playground and then out to lunch.

So....after a very TRAUMATIC morning we are now home and Noah is playing happily with his trains! I am exhausted emotionally but for once I am NOT eating for my emotions. I am really working hard on taking better care of myself and losing weight and all that. SO I am happy I am NOT doing that at least!

Otherwise..it is a very nice spring day today. Windy and nice cool breeze outside. About 52 right now but partly sunny and cloudy. SUPER NICE. Our windows are open a crack. Noah and I will finish doing his school work in a bit. I better go for now. I need something to drink!! NO ..not alcoholic!. I am talking TEA!!!!!! I even splurged and got a nice TEA SET from QVC (Valerie Parr Hill) so I could make TEA TIME a HUGE event and more CALMING ONE. I got some CDs at the library today I am going to play (Native American Flute, Thunderstorm and Frog Chorus. Thought they might be soothing.

Well...Noah wants to record himself using my camera. He has LOVED doing that and in fact we are using it as therapy. He records about anything and everything and himself in different situations and then plays them back on his computer over and over and over after I transfer the files to the PC. He has learned a lot and it really seems to teach him a lot. I had heard about therapy for autistic kids being used in that way especially for the social/behavioral aspect...which is what got me started filming HIM and taking the camera pretty much everywhere we go. Now he is doing it himself and the other day had recorded 134 CLIPS himself. Cute ones....showing like "this is my bed" (for 2 seconds). "This is my computer" (for another 3 seconds)...etc. I had no idea you could put 134 clips on the camera!!! AND this is without a memory card!.

SO..I need to go for now. LOVE YOU ALL

Me

Dear Noah:

Well yesterday we became official members of our church. I decided to take you to the restroom BEFORE church began...your dad was busy. SO I took you inside with me to the women's bathroom. I have heard of women with their kids (boys) being in the bathroom with them before and being verbally attacked as to WHY their sons were in the women's bathroom with them but it had never happened to me before....until yesterday. AND of all places in the CHURCH!

You were already done and washing your hands. This older grouchy woman came in.....was watching you. Not sure why she was not using the restroom...there were available stalls. Maybe she had to use a sink. Anyway....she asked "is he a boy?" I said yes (and thought here it comes). She asked "well can't he use the men's bathroom?" (I thought well can't you mind your own business) but said "well first of all he is autistic. Secondly he is with me and since I cannot go into the men's bathroom and I certainly don't let him go there by himself". (I would do the same if you were NOT autistic!). She stood there for a couple of minutes....and said slowly "well...I guess I can understand that. Times are different than they used to be aren't they?" I said "they certainly are".

People like that are what give Christianity a bad name. It took me most of the day to LET THIS GO....but finally did. I think I was just mostly amazed that someone would actually SAY something like that to begin with. I mean it is not like you are 13 or 15 or something. You are a little 6 year old boy and with ME. I would never let a 6 year old boy go into any public men's restoom alone! I don't care if it is inside a church. TOO many things can happen in a matter of seconds or minutes!

SO anyway.....that was then and this is now. You were oblivious to it all anyway which is a "good thing" as Martha would say..hahah

Love you to the moon and back again my little Angel boy!

Mommy

Dear Noah:

Well you got your NEW BIKE yesterday! WHOO HOOO! A nice shiny new blue, red and neon green...your favorite colors "this week". We of course had to take you back to the park to test ride it...which you did for a long time. No wonder you are still asleep this morning. I imagine you are exhausted as are your little legs.

We tried watching the Incredibles last night with daddy. For some reason you and I just could not get into it. Daddy seemed to enjoy it. SO we did other things while he watched the movie.

Kind of cloudy today and cooler...temperature is 39 degrees since you are so FOND of the weather and temperatures right now. You will sit for hours if I let you...typing in different states, countries or zip codes to find out what the weather is like there. You are always good about giving us OUR weather FORECAST!

Today we will head to the Butterfly Pavilion after church and lunch for a "field trip" since we have been studying frogs, butterflies and now bugs in your science class at school here at home. They have all those things and then some so it should be fun!

Love you lots!

Mommy (I only took digital video clips of you riding your bike yesterday. I will have to take some digital shots of you too so I can post a picture online!)

Dear Noah:

Well...we went to run some errands today. I kind of got the feeling you were going to have a harder day than usual. Not sure why but I could "sense" it. Anyway...we went down to get in the car and and Daddy went to open the car door in the back on your side and you started screaming and crying. I thought he had shut your foot in the door or something. Come to find out...after I asked him....AND you...that you heard a "plane" flying overhead and it was hurting your ears. You used to sometimes act like you were almost afraid of planes...but you have always not liked how they sound. However...I you seemed to get more used to them and they were not bothering you so much anymore. Till today. Out of the blue you were screaming and crying because the plane was flying outside and you wanted to keep the car doors shut so the sound would not hurt your ears. I opened my side of the back door once the plane was farther away....and asked if it hurt your ears and you said yes. You then proceeded to tell me you could still HEAR the plane and to shut the door. You were crying big time.

This is a typical example of how UNPREDICTABLE some of your responses sometimes can be. We plan pretty well to manuever you through the day with the least stress or sensory overload....and events like this...ones we would never anticipate...occur. You stress out big time. In a matter of SECONDS. AND within a matter of minutes....thank goodness...the entire event is over...you wipe your eyes and blow your nose and you move on to wondering what the current gas prices are down the street.

You became upset like that a couple of times....so over dramatic for what we would probably think was nothing...but things that were very real and painful to you physically. So hard to understand but we are doing better. As are you.

I will love you to the moon and back forever and ever and ever.....

Mommy

Dear Noah:

So many choices to make and decisions to make my head is spinning! Your pediatrician called me and told me he was in the process of making all of your referrals. I guess you will see a pediatric cardiologist at the hospital for further evaluation of your heart murmur. The good news is it could be what they call and "innocent murmur" that can come and go your entire life and not really cause you any problem. Or it could be something else or more serious. You sure do seem to get out of breath pretty quick and your heart will POUND! Course mine has always done that too.

We will have to decide where to send you for speech therapy and occupational therapy.....but it sounds like our insurance will cover it...at least for now. I will find out all the details later I guess. We are also checking into JFK Partners. They provide many services for autistic spectrum kids. You have been doing very well in school here at home. It has been so much easier than when you were IN the public school setting...and you are learning so much more so much more quickly! I mean they were not even teaching you the things you are learning now at home. In kindergarten you were bringing home all these silly pre-school type papers. You are doing 1st grade work now and even some 2nd grade work and doing it well. You are learning all the states and capitals which is way beyond the 1st and 2nd grade. You are learning the oceans and continents! You and I went shopping yesterday and found a great globe on sale at K-Mart for 11.99 and got it for you! You spent the afternoon checking it out. You are learning things in science too. See in your old public school kindergarten you were NOT learning any social studies or science or art or music. We incorporate all those into your schedule here at home along with 1st grade math and English and spelling/writing of course. You are enjoying yourself. You are learning at least 8-10 new words every week in your spelling class and being tested and passing with flying colors! Anyway.... you are doing great and I love you! (Mommy)

Dear Noah:

You just came back from the park with your dad. I rarely let you go anyplace with him alone because you and him seem to get into it too often and he does not always know how to KEEP YOU CALM! Anyway....in you came bawling...no surprise to me. You apparently wanted to USE the PORT-A-POTTY at the park but because of the long line your dad convinced you to just walk back home and use our bathroom. Little did he know the end result....the thing that would happen...that you would come inside and OBSESS about the PORT-A-POTTY on and on and on and on until we all about lose our minds. Then you proceeded to talk about using another park's PORT-A-POTTY...on and on and on. I told you with that attitude you would not be going anywhere (as by this time you were slamming yourself into the front door and trying to get out....lying on the floor having a fit although mild one thankfully...etc.).

This went on so long your father and you just left....he is driving you BACK to the park and the PORT-A-POTTY so you can USE IT! Maybe he will eventually learn...it is just easier to let you do these things you are obsessed with than to try to FIGHT you on them all the time and make you CONFORM into our round holes when you are definitely a square peg and there is NOTHING wrong with a square peg! They just are NOT made to ever fit into a round hole. I bet you wish everyone around you would quit trying!!

So...hopefully when you get back you will be calm and FINE again. Hopefully I can get some much needed rest as I have been fighting off some kind of cold or sinus infection or whatever. I feel crappy today that is for sure.

Here you two are...back in the car pulling up now. I bet I will see you smiling!

I love you to the moon and back! From one "OVAL" peg to a FABULOUS square one!!!

Mommy

My homemade pizza! I wish you would try it I know you would like it!! 

Our mountains 

You and Audrey last Easter 

Your cousin AUDREY! 

Your two grandmas! 

Your Kindergarten Picture 

The FINISHED results! 

Coloring Easter Eggs 

You are truly my little Angel Boy!! 

Dear Noah:

I know a lot of people if their child were diagnosed as autistic would think "oh no....it is the end of the world" for their child..etc. BUT we have never actually felt like that...which is actually a GOOD THING. We should NOT feel that way...so hopefully that will never be a problem. Does not mean there aren't trying times.....as there have been and will be. But that is part of life. We will just have more trying times than some...and there are some who have more than us. I think I would tend to cry more over lack of help for Noah than anything....but I don't even cry about that. I don't feel like crying....I guess cause I don't look at this as a sad diagnosis. I know when I told my physician that time when I went in for my physical that Noah was autistic...she rolled her chair back from the computer immediately and said "OH NO!" and looked really sad. I was kind of surprised and wondered WHY she did that. BUT I think that is pretty typical...and I am not sure why we have not ever had that reaction. I guess that is why God put Noah in our family....maybe He knew we would NOT think that way and Noah would have a better chance? I don't know.....things like that and too deep of thinking makes my head hurt!! hahahahah

Have a good night. It is 72 degrees and sunny here today! WHOOO HOOOO

Dear Noah: (Your formal evaluation day)

Well I guess I did such a good job sending in Noah's past medical history and film clips and sound clips etc...that they did not need to do too much more today at the actual physician's office. She did check his muscle tone...which we already knew he had low muscle tone in his upper body as well as other parts of his body...but we had been told it had improved since he had overcome many of the obstacles he used to have problems with. Apparently Noah still has pretty severe low muscle tone.....upper body....arms....no grip.....chest.....all over...but mainly upper body. She said he basically had no upper body muscle strengths/tone. We already knew this and have been working on things but had backed off a bit as we were told he had improved. Guess not. Keith has no upper body strength/tone either though. However..she also noticed he had oral motor skill problems which means he cannot move just his tongue without also moving his entire jaw...etc....or move his tongue properly....his jaw/mouth properly....and that combined with his sensory integration issues definitely affects what he can eat or will eat. SO he will need intense occupational therapy....I am sure a lot more than what he had been getting before which was only 30 minutes per week. He seemed to be right handed but can do things with both hands...always been a problem for him as he cannot make up his mind which hand to use. However...she believes he will be right handed and is....but he has more problems with his right side/hand.

He still has a pretty bad speech language delay....she called it severe but we know it has improved. However...it still exists...and she said he needs intense therapy there too. Probably again more than the 60 minutes he had been receiving (we now have him doing 30 minutes ever day here at home).

They did say he has MANY signs and symptoms of MANY different things...but he DOES INDEED HAVE AUTISM. He does NOT HAVE Asperger syndrome because Noah did not even try to start talking till he was like 3 years old. You have to be able to talk really well and very very early with Asperger syndrome. We knew that part never fit but some of his teachers had wondered if he had it. So he has autism. She said he has many symptoms and characteristics of many PARTS of the autistic spectrum disorder classification....and she does NOT just single a child out with autism as having like high functioning autism or pervasive developmental disorder or ADHD or Asperger or any of the like 7 different parts of the spectrum his symptoms could fall into. See...Autistic Spectrum Disorder is like a huge umbrella and all those other more specific labels/diagnoses fall under the umbrella. However....they all also (bits and pieces from each) can make up the big umbrella. Kind of confusing...but basically it just means he has AUTISM. SO....we already suspected that so that was also no really new news.

They DID notice he had a heart murmur on his exam today...a pretty obvious one. The other woman in there helping also heard it. Noah's pediatricians have never mentioned it before. I have mentioned to them before how he will stop sometimes and say his heart is beating...and I tell him that is good cause it has to beat....but he goes on and on about it. That I know is not normal and I was going to take him back to be checked. I know his heart can really pound away sometimes. So.....we have to take him to a cardiologist....to have his heart checked. He could have problems with a valve or something causing the murmur. If so....you have to be careful when kids get infections or go to the dentist and things like that as any infection can settle in their heart and attack it and then if you get cardiomyopathy there is nothing you can do other than have a heart transplant. So you have to take preventative antibiotics or antibiotics early with infections...etc. SO he will have to see a cardiologist and have an echocardiogram done. We will go from there on that.

She noticed some things about his feet...his middle toes seeming to be connected to a point I guess....Keith and I do not have toes like that.....things that correlated with the low muscle tone...same with his hands and arms....etc. His ribs were flared...signs of low muscle tone....She noticed his right eye was a bit smaller than his left..which we had already mentioned....and she said he sometimes seemed to be squinting it shut and looking mostly with his left eye. While he has better than normal vision she suggested he be evaluated by a pediatric ophthalmologist. So we will see.

ALSO...she said it was best if they could do genetic testing to see what caused his autism. Only about 20% of the time however do they actually find out what caused it. However..IF they can find out....they know how to treat those kids better cause they know what types of therapies work better for them. Not sure how accurate that is but she is the expert so I guess she should know. However...so far we have not had much success with the so-called experts...at least not in the public school system.

As far as what to do now...we go back to his pediatrician who will need to make all the referrals for the other physicians and therapies. We will end up having to decide where to send Noah for his therapies or HOW to provide those for him...etc. Some our insurance covers and some would be out of pocket and very expensive. However..if we cannot do his therapies somewhere closer than downtown at the hospital all the time I would seriously consider checking into them coming to our home. They don't really provide you with a MANUAL of what to do and where to go once your child is diagnosed with autism. She asked if I had any questions but really after all the research we have done what is there left to ask? so.....we will have to do more searching and check into where would be the best place for him to get his therapies and what he will need. His pediatrician might be able to refer us to someplace...but they have to specialize in autistic kids. That is hard to come by it seems. SO we are kind of back where we originally were as far as the end result goes. We will still have to check into things and find out where to either send Noah or how to supply him with all he needs here from home or somewhere close by...etc. She agreed he will need social skills classes/training. Autistic kids can be taught.....but it is extremely time consuming and you have to do constant over and over play acting. She also stated right now Noah REQUIRED a lot of movement (which again we already knew). She could not believe they were not letting him have recess at school. She said that was something that should never be taken away from him. I told her we have him out pretty much every day to run around at the parks and to play and move....and are on the go a lot. He requires a lot of movement just to make up for his sensory integration issues and his low muscle tone/occupational issues and his autism. She said it was easier for him to just keep going full speed all the time rather than stopping and restarting and stopping and starting. We already knew that and keep him busy and always have something else ready for him to do all the time. She said if he was not always given something else to do next he could get into trouble and snickered. Again we knew that as it happened apparently at school all the time. She was not surprised to see us bring in a backpack for him with all kinds of things he could keep doing. Right now she said everything he does has to be done in a hurry and kind of out of control. She asked him to draw a picture and he did it in like 5 seconds. It was a picture of me. Good but very fast and erratic. The goal is to teach him to be more slow and to be in more control and take more time with things and handle transitions better...etc. He is doing better with all that at home but today in her office he was at his limit within 1 hour. She got to see first hand how he can be...right down to his sounds..etc. BUT at least she GOT IT. She was not too surprised to hear that Jefferson County our school district...did not do what they should have for Noah. She said that was the same district that when she said a child had Autistic Spectrum Disorder...they would still call to ask her WHAT the diagnosis was. She would say..THAT IS THE DIAGNOSIS. SO...they don't get it. AND they don't really have trained staff and personnel to deal with autistic kids.

So....it was not a lot of information we did not already know. He has great memory skills and can repeat things and some will THINK he has gotten something....but in reality he has not. It is time consuming "ACTING out" that actually teaches him things...so she said my doing the social stories with him was great....however...we will eventually need to broaden that out and let him interact with a few peers....till eventually he might be able to handle working around larger groups. Right now however...he just cannot handle it....and she agreed if he was running away from the school and the playground while at school or leaving the building..it was not the safest choice for him NOW anyway.

So............guess that is about it. She examined him.....mostly muscle/neurological stuff. He has some deficits...we knew that. He has autism. We already also suspected that. He has speech/language delays...we also knew that. He has a heart murmur...that we did NOT know. His eye issue...we knew about his right eye being smaller and him looking/squinting at things with the left side.....so we did not really learn anything much new. However....we basically GOT the "official" diagnosis, which I guess will help us to get any therapies he needs. Many we could not take advantage of before because he had no official diagnosis.

SO taking each thing a day and step at a time. Noah has made great improvements but still has a long way to go.

That is what we found out today.

Dear Noah

Noah today you came out first thing in the morning after getting up and said:
" I want a magic wand". "I want a magic wand so I can make Dick and Jane come to my house and play". See...you have been reading TONS of Dick and Jane stories lately...and have really been getting into them. This was so cute and sweet but also kind of sad cause you were so upset and crying.

"I want a magic wand....I want to make Dick and Jane REAL so they can come into my house and play".

I proceeded to tell you then how there were probably no real magic wands and that if you found one it would most likely be a PRETEND wand. I told you how you could PRETEND to make Dick and Jane come to life and be a part of their lives and you a part of theirs every time you READ a story about them.

You still stood there crying. Then said: " I want to skidoo"...."I want to skidoo like Steve does on Blues Clues". "I want to skidoo into the Dick and Jane book and play with them". All the while crying and crying.

I asked you if you dreamed about Dick and Jane. You told me no. I held you on the sofa and explained how you could pretend to skidoo...that READING was a way to skidoo INTO a book and become a PART OF IT and pretend YOU WERE the characters in the book...that that was what Steve was really doing on Blues Clues as he was PRETENDING and that he could not really jump into a book but he was THINKING about how it would be by reading it. It was like BEING in the book and being a part of it. I told you to read more stories and pretend to skidoo like Steve does....you cried out" but I don't know how"...."I don't know how to skidoo like Steve does". SO I went through the entire process and told you how to read and then THINK about what it would be like to be DICK in the Dick and Jane stories and then to imagine YOU were DICK. You calmed down more.

You then said "Mommy I want more friends" (crying more again now) "I want more friends like Dick and Jane to come and play with me". Kind of sad to mommy to hear you say that as you are an only child. I told you we take you places and you could pretend with others you were Dick. I told you that your cousin Audrey could be Jane. You asked me who could be Sally. I said maybe one of Jane's dolls could be Jane. You were finally calm....and seemed to understand.

Daddy got up. You came out and told me I could be JANE...you were Dick and when daddy walked out here you told him "you can be Sally".

So here we sit.....during a major snowstorm on a Sunday morning all pretending to be Dick, Jane and Sally and playing. You are happy again. I am thankful.

I also told you to learn to write your letters better so you could write sentences and then make up your own stories like Dick and Jane. You smiled.

So another hurdle out of the way. Now for breakfast.

I love you to the moon and back again and again and again....forever and ever and ever!

Mommy

Dear Noah:

You are too cute! Last night I had made low fat oven fried chicken for daddy and me along with potato salad and baked beans. You had your usual chicken nuggets and tater tots. You looked all around the table and said "WOW...this is a FEAST!". I thought that was so sweet. You are so considerate and thoughtful and come up with the most amazing things lately.

I gave you a digital camera (SMALL ONE) to play with and take pictures. You are doing great for a 6 year old! AND taking some unusual shots...like a view UP to the ceiling fan. Looks really strange but is unique!

JUST LIKE YOU.

I love you to the moon and back again...forever and ever and ever!

Mommy