Brotherly Love To The Max

When I found out that I was pregnant with Nate I worried about the 6 years age difference, how Nate would accept Timmy with his disabilities and how well the two of them would interact, being that in a short period of time Nate would surpass Timmy's developmental abilities cognitively and physically.

Those worries were quickly pushed aside. At only a couple of months old Nate has delighted and insisted on spending time with Timmy each morning while Timmy is getting ready to face the day. If for some reason, like Timmy has a Doctor appointment out of town, and Nate is unable to see or spend time with Timmy in the morning it's like Nate's world has come crashing down onto him. And his day has been totally turned upside down until Timmy graces Nate with his presence.

I believe that Nate has early on realized Timmy's limitations and Nate has adapted his interests and interactions with Timmy to Timmy's level. Nate really enjoys just sitting with Timmy and listening to music or having books read. One of Timmy's current interest has to do anything related to Pirates. So Nate has also taken up this same interest and enjoys pretend play of Pirates with Timmy.

There has also been times when Nate has taken the role of Brotherly Love to the Max. One evening after Timmy's Home Nurse had finished brushing Timmy's teeth, with Nate's supervision, she left the room to go clean Timmy's toothbrush. Upon her returning to the room she found Nate had crawled onto Timmy's lap and was licking the excess toothpaste from Timmy's teeth.

It warms my heart to know that Timmy's siblings have shown a great deal of interest in Timmy's day to day care. And Nate is no exception. At an early age we have taken the time to show and allow the siblings to help with Timmy's daily care where approperate. One thing that we allow the siblings to start helping with is supplimental G-tube feedings. We even explain that the G-tube needs to sometime be cleaned.

Well, on our most recent train trip to Chicago for Christmas Nate took this daily task to an extreme. I was gathering up the kids things for their nightly bath when I heard Nate sucking on something. My first thought was Oh Boy what have you picked up off of the floor and put in your mouth now? When I looked up what did I see? Nate was "cleaning" Timmy's G-tube! Yeah you got it. Nate had pulled out Timmy's G-tube and was fiercely sucking on the balloon! Just the sight was gross, funny and shocking all at the same time that I didn't know which reaction to display first. Of course I quickly regained myself and took the G-tube from Nate, cleaned it and replaced it. Being thankful that the force of Nate removing the G-tube with the balloon still inflated that their was no damage done.

I can only imagine what the future holds with the funny and not so funny antics that Nate has in store for us......

Some Cuteness To Share

Timmy's Autumn Kindergarten Picture. Is he just the cutest?!

My 13 year old son, Zachary, was given a class assignment during the 1st. week of school. The assignment was for him to write a short biography about himself. This assignment was to help the teacher to get to know her students better. Zachary's teacher called me yesterday to discuss the paper that Zachary had submitted to her. She just thought that it was so touching, even though it wasn't exactly what the assignment that was assigned was suppose to be. When Zachary got home, I asked him why he hadn't followed the directions that the teacher had given him for his biography. With tears welling up in his eyes, he says, "I'm sorry mom! But my teacher has the next 9 months to get to know me. I feel that everyone should get to know Timmy too." All I could do was to give him a hug! What a loving and caring big brother Timmy has. Here is a copy of the paper that Zachary submitted to his teacher. I asked his teacher to email me a copy and she did. I worn you, this brought tears to my eyes. Maybe it is because I'm the proud parent of both of these special boys!

Zachary
September 2, 2009
Nowell-3rd

Timothy

It was five years ago when my little brother was born. I was 7 years old. I remember he weighed 1lbs 6 ounces and he was only a foot in length. He was born 2 months early, so he had to stay in the hospital. I remember my mom sitting down with me and explaining to me that my little brother was very sick. And because he was so sick he had to be on a speical machine, which was helping him to breathe. I also remember her telling me that he had Down Syndrome, that his brain was abnormal, he has a small head, was born without any eyes, that he has diabetes and that no one was sure if he could hear. I started to cry and I asked, "Will he ever be able to play with me?" My mom told me that yes he would be able to play with me, but only in a different way. That no one was sure, but Timmy may never be able to walk, run or talk.

Being I was so young, my mom had to get special permission from someone at the hospital, so that I could go and see him. He was so small and was hooked up to alot of wires. I was so scared! I remember thinking, if I could have 1 wish, it would be for my brother to be on and to come home soon. My mom broought along a book for me to read to him. I don't remember the name of the book. I did have fun reading to him. And all of the nurses in the NICU told me I was so cute.

Four and a half months after he was born, it sure seemed a lot longer than that to me, the doctor's said it was ok for him to go home. While my mom was busy getting things at her house ready for Timmy to come home, I had to stay with my dad, at his house. When Timmy finally was home and I was able to see him, I asked my mom if I could hold him. She said yes. He was still very smal, weighing only 7lbs 2ozs. But I enjoyed holding him for the first time.

One afternoon when I got home from school, I noticed an unfamiliar car in our driveway. When I entered the door I found a strange person in out living room. I went to ask my mom who she was. My mom told me that we were going to have nurses to help us care for Timmy. I personally didn’t like this nurse, because she was boring, rude and never paid much attention to Timmy. All she did was read a lot. My mom didn't keep this nurse around very long.

The one thing that Timmy hates the most is having his teeth brushed. One morning not too long ago, Timmy's nurse told him it was time for him to get his teeth brushed. Timmy did what he usually does, which was to shake his head no. But this time when the nurse had him to touch the tooth brush he said "Oh man!" That was so funny!! It was also the first time that I had heard Timmy say something other than MaMa.

When my brother was born he had to have a tracheostomy to help him breathe, because both of his nasal passages were blocked. Two months ago he had a sleep study. When he came back the doctors had taken his trach out. I was so happy and proud of my little brother.

Timmy has alot of medical issues, I still enjoy playing with him. My favorite game that we both like to play is when I take him for a fast ride around the house, pushing him in his toddler rocker. We use to play a similar game, when Timmy was younger and used a baby walker. He just thinks this game is so very funny. I love to hear him laugh, because it makes me feel good to know that I'm making him happy.

I LOVE my brother Timmy!!!!!!!!

Sibling Love

Mid Year Testing

I apologize for being a bit behind on getting this posted. But we have been busy with Doctor appointments and the such. That Floyd just has had a chance to scan and upload Emily's Mid Year Test Results.

We have been luck this year so far with Emily. She has been very healthy and hasn't had to miss any time from school due to illness. The 6 days that she was absent from school was the extended vacation days which we allowed her to take so that she could go with Daddy to visit Grandma over Christmas break.

As you can see from the graph below, Emily has made great progress in all areas since the beginning of the school year. She is testing At or Above her age level.

The top green boxes contain the scores from the "beginning" of the school year. The bottom row of green boxes reflex Emily's Mid Year Test Scores. Note the red boxes in each row? These indicate where Emily incorrectly answered a question. Once she fails to approperately answer 3 questions in a row that part of the test is complete.

The only real problem which Emily's teacher addressed with us, is the fact that Emily is unable to stay focused on what she is suppose to be doing. Emily is too curiouus as to what the other children are doing and she wants to help them on their work/project.

We were given the "core" words that Emily will be expected to know next year. So that we can start helping her work on them. The teacher also sufggested that we continue to encourage Emily to practice her writing skills. She also gave us a few very good websites that the school uses for the children in the computer lab, that Emily really enjoys exploring and learning from.

Emily is a very happy, birght, curious, creative, imaginative, and caring little girl. Now if only I could convince her to keep her room cleaned up from all of the toy clutter!