Dogs, Ponies & Speaking Devices

This being the week that the kids are at camp and I've reverted back to having just one child, I had plans to get a very large shirt order finished. You know how many shirts I did today? Go ahead, take a guess. The one who correctly said ZERO would be the winner.

What did I do today? That would be a good question. I vaccinated and dewormed the puppies. Shockingly, this takes so much longer than I plan for. Catch a puppy, administer worm meds, mix vaccine dosages, inject, safely dispose of sharps, repeat x10. Then I get to record all of that in 10 little tiny puppy health records. And on my permanent record books. The bookkeeping will be the death of me someday. I'll be taking out an ad for a secretary in the local paper if anyone is interested.

This afternoon we took the ponies down to camp for the kids to ride. Thankfully the kids are over the age of wanting to come home with me. Instead they see me and kinda gravitate in another direction. Oh my word, it's my mom. Right here at camp in front of all my friends. Please don't let her call my name or embarrass me in any way.

After giving an entire camp full of kids pony rides we killed 2 hours and incurred one slight injury. The dramatic teen counselor is so sure her toe will need to be amputated next week because oh my gosh, the bone is sticking out! But upon close inspection by both myself and the nurse it was determined that she was stupid to lead a pony in flip flops. She's expected to make a full recovery but may not go home from camp asking her mom for a pony this year.

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I tried in vain to contact the DynaVox company and finally gave up after getting the run-around. I went to Prentke-Romich and got much better customer service, but not very good news. I had fears this would be the case. I'm an instant gratification kind of person and apparently anything involved with Micah will never be instant.

I can rent a communicative device for $75/week but in reality a week won't tell me or anyone much of anything. I can get one free through a certified speech therapist. His therapist is not certified but can become so after a 10 week training and approval. I need to contact the preschool and his kindergarten therapists to see if they're on the approved list. I'm not having an easy time getting in touch with people over summer. This is the better route, even besides the obvious free thing. They would then be trained in the communicative devices and would have a better idea of which one would suit Micah. And have access to several different ones to try. Clearly the smarter route. And slower. Welcome to Holland.

But on an incredibly positive note, they're pretty sure that one of his insurances will cover the device should we decide to make a purchase. I'm flabbergasted, astounded and taken aback. I had no idea. And it makes me all teary again.

The Boy. He makes me cry when he does completely normal things like run through the yard and play in the sandbox, just like a regular kid. He makes me cry when he makes attempts to talk that people just can't understand except through the ear filters of love. He makes me cry because of all the wonderful people that we've had the pleasure of crossing paths with that love him nearly as much as I do. He makes me cry for no reason at all except that we've been blessed to be his parents.

Thank You, God. We are humbled beyond words. He's ours and we're incredibly blessed.