"Stryders Journey"

I finally got a video converted. I have a few more that I will be posting too.
Stryder is outside playing. He is so complaint with everything, and will do everything you ask, we are working on giving him his own voice.

Most parents think it would be great to have a child that will listen and do what you ask, but it's not and I feel sad for him. He will do things that are even uncomfortable and not talk back about it. He is unable to make choices for himself, too. One of the 'tests" that Jayme keeps repeating is asking him what he wants and making him choose while playing with things such as play dough.

For example, Stryder said that he wanted green playdough and there were two different greens. Jayme held both asking which he wanted, but he would point to both and say the last thing you say. Jayme wanted to test this by putting her shoe in one hand and asking. Again, he wouldn't choose, pointing to both when it's obvious he would not want to play with. I am going to try to get a video of this but Stryder tends to not want to do anything when he is on camera LOL.

Here is a video of him playing and talking in the front yard. At the end you will see Jayme show up, she is his speech therapist and he loves her- it's going to be hard to leave such a great person, but hopefully we will find another great therapist. It's going to be a lot of work0 I have to get him tested for the preschool program in Oregon and line up all of his therapy there.

Yesterday was a good day for Stryder- He had a good therapy session working on some words. He knows all of his colors- Yellow is LaLa, Green is Neee, Red is eh, purple is PoPo, Orange is dooo, Blue is Bu and he has even learned black, grey and brown. He did great at signs too. He would point to an apple and sign it saying the word -baba. He is able to say the word Bee great and found a game with a bee on it, repeating the word over and over, very proud of his accomplishment. He also kept repeating Oh Maaaaannnn sarcastily, although he would say oooo naaaaaa, but it's clear what he is trying to say because his tone is so accurate. He also sang his ABC's for Jayme, singing right on tune, but using lalalala. It's just amazing how his tone and syllables are right on, better than anyone I know, but the letter sounds are not there. It's actually quite adorable watching him talk because he is so expressive. I will get some videos on here to show just how adorable he is.

After therapy, we went to the pool where he got to play with lots of other little kids. He tried talking to them and one little girl was so mad because he couldn't say her name, she was in tears but they just don't understand at that age. There was another little boy there the same age as Stryder an he was cute, but very into the terrible two's. He has an older sister the same age as Kasiah and his mom said that she was told her son wasn't talking because they did it for him and that is what could be wrong with Stryder because her son now talks very well because they made him talk instead of doing it for him. We get that a lot and it makes me mad because Stryder does talk, it's just that he cannot be understood, but I shouldn't let it get to me. After they listen and see him talking, they can see that he does try, he just can not. He tries so hard though. It's just so amazing to see other kids his same age talking away. Stryder is so little that not talking doesn't seem too abnormal, he is still so young- that will change as he gets older, but as long as he is learning how to communicate in his own way, he will do great.

Yesterday Styder had lots of therapy, for several hours. He is so cute and tries so hard. Jayme tried to get him to make a "g" sound, but he just can't get it and we tried every trick LOL. He loves playing with his therapy "friends". We will keep trying for a new word and are hopeful, but realistic.

We went to a baseball game on Sunday and we got boxed seats through Warren work. Stryder loved that he could go in and out he door and did so probably 200 times. Every time he would come in he would talk to whoever was sitting in front of the door and the poor man that was sitting there had no idea what to make of Stryder because he would come through the door and start saying something and since 80% of his words (and almost every sentence is dadadada) are dada the guy thought Stryder was calling him Dada. It was quite humorous actually and that guy just kept saying "I'm not your Dada," and Strdyer was having fun knowing full well that he wasn't dada. Kasiah had a blast too, although she is turing ten in a couple weeks and is at the age where she thinks she has to look and act "cool". Last year when the costumed people would come to her, she was excited, this year she wanted nothing to do with them, and the giant tree was trying to take her hat-it was fun to watch this little girl trying not to care when this big tree was trying so hard to make her care.

This last week it has rained a lot, even though the days are usually very sunny the rain comes in buckets and leaves. Because of that, we have a HUGe mud puddle in the back yard that he and Hershey find a lot of fun. Stryder HATES baths and has since he was a baby, so why a mud puddle is so much fun, I don't know. Hershey is a Chocolate Lab, so that's a given, but those two can get into a lot of trouble when left together. They decided today would be a great day to play in the water :( which also means that Stryder will come running in because he has realized that mud puddles have mud in them and it's on him. He really does not like to have ANYTHING on him. We call them little panic attacks, but he will be back out there to see if he can jump in again later, I'm sure.

Stryder is starting to get a cold which can cause seizures, coma or even death-but you just look at him and think that is the farthest thing from this little boy. I just hope we get the test results back so we can make our plan on which direction to go. We are starting to make plans to move back to Oregon, even though we never wanted to do that-with Stryder's new development, we need to. We are tentatively planning for the fall, or at least after we get all the assessments done and our goals outlined. I have checked with the speech programs they have there and they are just as good as here. Unfortunately, the hospital isn't equipped to deal with Maple Syrup Urine Disorder, but most aren't. We will have to do some research to see what our options are, but for now I remain positive and hopeful because Stryder's happiness is the main goal and always will be. It will be good to be around family again, but we really do love this area and there are a lot of fun things we have got to do.

Stryder loves his big sissy. The other day we went to Frankie's Fun Center and they had so much fun. This was taken in a photo booth.

Yesterday's therapy with Jayme was fun. Stryder was very different and was jumping around and playing quite a bit. This is a far cry from when he first started out. Jayme mentioned how the during the first month, Stryder was almost robotic. Very eager to do what was asked but didn't really show any emotion. He was, and is, very compliant, but never smiled and seemed to do anything only because he was asked, not because he wanted. Yesterday, he was different-finally telling Jayme when he was all done with an activity, standing up and kicking around, being his normal, fun self and laughing the entire time. Jayme was laughing along side too.

After explaining to Jayme what the genetics DR had said, she was relieved to know that she was not alone in saying that she had never witnessed the speech patterns that Stryder had. I told her how the DR was intrigued with his case. It was as if he had his own language, that no one else understood. We also talked about the prognosis of having Maple Syrup Urine Disease and she was concerned for me, telling me not to go on the internet and reading about it until we know for sure. It is a very dangerous disorder and the only "cure" is a liver transplant, but it can be somewhat managed through his diet, but if he gets even a small cold it can cause brain damage, seizures, coma or even death. We are still in the beginning stages of finding out about this disease, but as I have said before I feel like we are on the right track and can start protecting him from further damage.

After therapy, we went to the pool and Stryder had a blast. He was talking with a lot of the parents and even found a little girl to play with that was exactly the same age as Stryder. They ran and played and even talked with each other. It was so fun to watch, expecially because this was the very first time he has ever played with another child and didn't ignore or turn away. He has definitely come around 180 degrees from where he was just 6 months ago and I am so grateful that he is learning to be more social even with his disability!