Happy Birthday Seamus!

This past weekend was busy getting ready for Seamus’ birthday party on Sunday. Everyone came over Sunday afternoon and had a great time at the party. Seamus got a lot of neat toys. He really enjoyed his day!

Liam has been much the same with the anxiety and fits the past few days. Liam has been asking a lot of the same questions repeatedly about school, my work, where mommy goes, his birthday, Aidan and Brendan’s birthday, and where other family members are at. It seems like the same questions have been repeatedly asked over and over. For example, while Liam was in the bath tonight, he asked me 4 times if I had to go to work tomorrow. He then asked when his birthday was a few times. We have also been noticing him stuttering more when he talks. Quite often it seems like the words are coming out faster than he can think them. Liam has been receiving speech therapy at Middleburg. The therapist there believes he needs continued therapy with his speech. The contrast here was that the speech therapist at Olmsted Falls felt Liam did not need speech therapy any longer. Jill and I both feel more comfortable with what the therapist at Middleburg says. We will be sure to press the issue with Olmsted Falls in the fall.

Liam’s fits lately have been more out us not allowing him to go where he wants and do what he wants. He always wants to be with Seamus and play with his friends. Seamus goes down the street or even a street over. The problem is Liam does not know how to play with kids Seamus’ age. We do not feel it is safe for him to be out of our sight. We think he will just wander off or get into whatever he impulse he feels. It is a shame that this is the way it is, but we have a feeling it will always be that way, or that way for a long while. Liam’s fits last both short periods and long periods. Trying to soothe him or redirect him can be quite a challenge. This happens every night, and it can become quite taxing.

Liam had another good day at school. It always seems to start out with Liam being
anxious and needing to be coerced to go in. Once he gets in he really does well. It is a big change from how it went last year. When Jill picks Liam up she notices a difference in how his temperament is on the way home. Liam is quite chatty with Jill and talks all about what he did in school. While on the way home from Olmsted Falls Liam was often whiny and would have fits in the van on the way home. One of the other students in Liam’s class is also from Olmsted Falls. Her mother has said she even notices a difference in Liam when he comes out of school. She has even said her daughter has responded better after school. The whole environment at Middleburg is handled by specialists for children with special needs. The class environment is also smaller and that allows for more one on one interaction. We will see this fall how things work out.

This evening we had a bit of a scary moment as Liam, Aidan, and Brendan, were following me home from a neighbor’s house. I got in our drive and turned around to see Liam and Brendan standing on a driveway apron looking at the street as a car approached. I thought they were looking at a dog that was being walked across the street. After the car went by, Liam runs in the street and I immediately started looking for other cars and ran to him yelling to him to get out of the street. As it turned out Liam was picking up their Frisbee that somehow ended up in the street. Liam immediately grabbed it and got out of the street. I hope that the reason he did not go in the street right away was because he saw a car coming, but I am not so sure. I will choose to error on the side of caution this time. I hope it does not happen again. This just reminds me that even as Liam gets older, he still needs to be watched every moment.